The Cheerful Habits of Singing Birds
By William Covert
THE lark is cheerful, yet his nest is low and his feathers are plain. He meets the day with a song, and seems content with little. Would that man would be in cheerfulness like the lark, and as ready to manifest contentedness when favors are small; or that he would be in faith as this cheerful bird is in fact, mounting with the dawning day high up into the heavens, out of the sight of man on earth, to get an advanced view of and say "Good morning" to the rising sun; or as the woodcock, which climbs the air with his wings, as if he were ascending a perpendicular shaft twice the altitude of Eiffel Tower, whistling as upward he goes, until the sound of his voice is no more audible to men,—this that he may bid "Good night" to the receding day! In his return to the earth he alights upon the very spot whence he ascended, and looks delighted with all that surrounds him. His evening farewell is preceded by the beautiful lay of the robin redbreast, that sings from the tallest tree top his latest expression of thankfulness for the favors which have come to him during the day. In the morning a thousand voices sing the Maker's praises, and in the evening as many of the feathered tribe close their work with a grateful benediction. In the beginning of the day, after the meadow-lark has said her "Good morning" to the sun, a number of vigorous redheads, with their bills for drumsticks and protruding shingles or hollow limbs for drums, sound the reveille for their tribes. Then in their peculiar way the tribal roll is called before they enter upon their regular work for the day. Indeed, there are many humble little creatures made to live in our midst that set an example of patience and good will for man to imitate, and many of these lessons come to us from the singing birds. Some of these make their homes where the light of the day is longest. They build and perch where the morning comes early and the evening lingers late. Let men do their best to abide in the light and to maintain confidence and courage in the Lord. WILLIAM COVERT.