Bird Time

378 IMPROVEMENT ERA. onstration; but on the following day, Sunday, 22nd, some 12,500 working men, among whom were politicians and agitators, assembled in the famous Nevsky Prospect, and began their march under the leadership of Father Gapon, a priest, who was in full sympathy with the laboring classes. The petition which they would present to the Czar, the Little Father, asked, "(1) For equal political rights for all classes; (2) for freedom from search by the police; (3) for freedom of speech and religious belief; (4) for a determination by representative vote of the question whether or not the war with Japan should be stopped." In this procession men took along with them their wives and children. They were met before they reached the palace by the soldiers, and ordered to disperse. Upon their failure to obey the command, a volley of blank cartridges was fired. The second order was given, and a refusal to make hasty compliance with it, resulted in a volley of bullets that wounded and killed many men, women, and children. There has always been a semi-savage disposition on the part of Cossack soldiers to act hastily and cruelly upon all opponents, so that the punishment they are receiving at the present time at the hands of the Japanese in Manchuria is richly merited. As body guards, however, to the Czar, these Cossacks have little sympathy with the masses of the people, and would fire as quickly upon them as upon a foreign foe. During the day, crowds of onlookers, drawn into the street out of a spirit of curiosity, were fired upon and killed. It is estimated that large numbers of the people were either killed or wounded during the massacre on that fatal Sunday. The generally accepted explanation is that the Czar and his advisers determined by these drastic measures to strike such terror into the hearts of the people that they would desist from further demonstrations, but in this they were disappointed. Strikers left factories and carried on hostile demonstrations throughout the empire; and what must be more alarming to the Czar and his uncles is the manner in which the leading citizens of the empire outside of the autocracy, favor some measure of governmental reform. Petitions come in from the municipal authorities of the leading cities, so that the movement has assumed an almost uni-

TOPICS OF MOMENT. 879 versal character. The needless massacre of so many people on that fatal Sunday has done much to shake the confidence of the Russian peasant who hitherto has been the Czar's greatest support. In order that the internal troubles of Russia might be diverted, it was thought advisable to order an advance on the Japanese in Manchuria. This was done on January 26; Kuropatkin massed more than one hundred thousand men on the Japanese left, in order to take possession of Sandepas and make a road, if possible, around the left wing of the Japanese army. The attack was evidently hotly contested, as the Russians were driven back with great loss in a three-days' battle that cost the Japanese in killed and wounded five thousand men. The Russian loss must certainly have exceeded at least double that number. But the internal troubles are not averted, for on February 17, Grand Duke Sergius, the Czar's uncle and chief adviser, was assassinated, in Moscow, by a bomb thrown under his carriage; and other serious acts indicate the continuation of the revolution. The fact that the war is looked upon with such universal disfavor by the Muscovites removes from those who would prosecute it to the bitter end, that popular support needed to assure any measure of success. During the early part of February, reports gained currency that the Czar would welcome some favorable opportunity to sue for peace, and later peace with Japan was earnestly discussed with his advisers. He would, however, like a single victory that would retrieve in some slight measure the lost military honor in the eyes of the world. He would like to save his face. BIRD TIME. (For the Improvement Era.) South winds whisper through the woodlands, In a sweet aeolian strain; Wild birds flit around in beauty, While they hear the soft refrain; From the south-land comes the blue-bird, Welcome herald of our springs,

380 IMPROVEMENT ERA. Azure skies reflecting ever In the hue upon his wings. Refrain: Carol, carol, pipe and warble, While you make the welkin ring; Wake the wild flowers from their slumber, 0 bird harbingers of spring! Now 'tis bird-time in the meadows, And 'tis bird-time on the hills; Songs of gladness fill the willows Where the lark his chorus trills, And the morning sun awakens Into voice a minstrel throng, With a fluting warbling choru3 Filling all the land with song. Now the wild flowers hear the music, Where beneath the soil they creep; Over all the fields and forests They awaken from their sleep; And with bud and bloom they welcome All the songsters to their bowers, With the early spicy fragrance, And the rich hues of their flowers. Over yonder on the hillside Where we oft our rambles take, There are little buds and blossoms That the birds can not awake: Little wild flowers sweetly sleeping With their spirits flown away; Little ones whom God is keeping Till the resurrection day. Refrain: Carol, carol, pipe and warble, While you make the welkin ring, But our tender little wild flowers Heareth not, 0 birds of Spring! Payson, Utah.