A few undoubtedly winter in the southern counties every year, and dur ing exceptionally mild winters large flocks may remain.

While the Robin is a general favorite with people as a whole, the small fruit grower complains bitterly of his losses caused by this bird, and the question as to the real value of the Robin-whether the good done by insect-eating fairly offsets the harm done by fruit destructionhas been argued, for more than two hundred years and will probably never be settled satisfactorily to all concerned. That the good done as a whole fairly balances the harm done as a whole, is very likely true, but the losses fall heavily on a few persons, while the benefits are distributed among the many. The fruit grower's losses can be computed with some exactness but the value of the Robin's song and presence can hardly be expressed in terms of dollars and cents, and it seems likely that in this case the sentiment or the masses will govern and the fruitgrower will have to make the best of an unpleasant situation.

Its

75. BLUEBIRD; EASTERN BLUEBIRD; BLUE ROBIN; BLUE REDBREAST. Known at a glance by the bright blue of the upper parts, including wings and tail, and the deep cinnamon-brown of the breast and sides, only the belly and under tail-coverts being white. This beautiful bird is common in all parts of the state for a large part of the year, arriving and departing at about the same time as the Robin. In spring it is almost invariably seen in pairs, but in late summer and autumn always in little family parties or larger flocks of perhaps half a dozen families. beauty, simple but pleasing warble, and its return to us in earliest spring has endeared it to dwellers in town and country alike and rendered it a favorite with nature lovers everywhere. It has no objectionable traits, eats no cultivated fruits, though partial to many wild berries, and is a voracious consumer of insects, of which it eats an immense variety. Its food comes mainly from the ground and so includes some of the beneficial ground beetles, but it also eats caterpillars, cut worms, grasshoppers and a host of others which are always injurious.

It builds a nest of grasses and feathers in a hollow tree, old woodpecker's hole, or bird box, and lays four or five pale blue, unspotted eggs. Formerly it nested in numbers about every village and farm, but since the advent of the English Sparrow it has been driven to seek its home elsewhere and at present is nowhere more abundant than among the blackened or bleached stumps of the desolate plains of the north where it finds congenial food and shelter and freedom from the endless persecution of the Sparrow.

East Lansing, Michigan,

Jan. 30, 1911.

MEMORIAL DAY

MAY THIRTIETH

QUOTATIONS FOR MEMORIAL DAY

I will treasure up the memory of the Nation's dead and on every suitable occasion, as long as life lasts, will present them anew to the youth of this country, as noble examples of heroism and patriotism. -General William T. Sherman.

Rest, comrades, rest and sleep!
The thoughts of men should be
As sentinels to keep

Your rest from danger free.

-Longfellow.

Till the mountains are worn out, and the rivers forget to flow; till the clouds are weary of replenishing springs, and the springs forget to gush, and the rills to sing; shall their names be kept fresh with reverent honor, which are inscribed upon the book of National Remembrance. Henry Ward Beecher.

The only debt that the nation can never repay is the one to her old soldiers.

Bring ye blossoms of the May
For the brave beloved dead;
Tender memories rise today

O'er each fallen hero's bed.

Bring ye blossoms of the May

Strew each humble soldier's grave;

Liberty shall kneel today

Honoring the true and brave.

Of the Blue or the Gray, what matter today!
For each some fond heart weeps;

So, children dear, make the spot less drear
Wherever a soldier sleeps.

Selected.

-W. D. Howells,

Let little hands bring blossoms sweet
To brave men lying low;

Let little hearts to soldiers dead
Their love and honor show.

We'll love the flag they loved so well,
The dear old banner bright;

We'll love the land for which they fell
With soul and strength and might.

Grave deep their memory on your hearts,
Keep ye their country free;

Live for the flag for which they died

This is their legacy.

-N. M. Lowater.

The army of Grant and the army of Lee are together. They are one in faith, one in hope, in fraternity, in purpose, and in an invincible patriotism. In justice strong, in policy secure, and in devotion to the flag, all one.-William McKinley.

It is little we can do

To show our love for you,

O warriors blest;

But our fairest, choicest flowers
Shall fall in fragrant showers
Where you rest.

Thank God for deeds of valor done!
Thank God for victories hardly won!
That such as you need never know
The anguish of those days of woe;

For time and peace old wounds have healed,
And flowers now strew the battlefield.

They were the defenders of humanity, the destroyers of prejudice, the breakers of chains, and in the name of the future they slew the monster of their time. All honor to the brave! They kept our country on the map of the world, and our flag in heaven.-Robert G. Ingersoll.

Stand by the flag! Its folds have streamed in glory,
To foes a fear, to friends a festal robe;
And spread in rhythmic lines the sacred story
Of Freedom's triumphs over all the globe.

Stand by the flag! On land and ocean billow,
By it our fathers stood unmoved and true;

Living, defended; dying, for their pillow,

With their last blessing passed it on to you.

Stand by the flag! All doubt and treason scorning,
Believe, with courage firm and faith sublime,

That it will float until the eternal morning
Pales in its glories all the lights of time.

-Anon.

THE SCHOOL AND THE FLAG

Ye who love the Republic, remember the claim
Ye owe to her fortunes, ye owe to her name,
To her years of prosperity past and in store,
A hundred behind you, a thousand before.
"Tis the schoolhouse stands by the flag,

Let the Nation stand by the school;

"Tis the school-bell that rings for our Liberty old,
'Tis the schoolboy whose ballot will rule.

The blue arch above us is Liberty's dome,

The green fields beneath us, Equality's home.
But the schoolroom to-day is humanity's friend,-
Let the people the flag and the schoolhouse defend.
"Tis the schoolhouse stands by the flag,

Let the Nation stand by the school;

"Tis the school-bell that rings for our Liberty old,
'Tis the schoolboy whose ballot shall rule.

-Butterworth on "The Schoolhouse Stands by the Flag."