Dozens are killed as tornadoes and severe weather strike southern states

ORNITHOLOGY is one of the natural sciences, the study of which may be said to be enjoined by Holy Writ. For in the good book the fowls of the air are set before us as a pattern of right living. “Behold them,” said the Master; and he meant to say, “ Do as they do.” Well, one of the most strikingly characteristic of their doings is their annual flight toward the tropics as the frost begins to show its hand in the so-called temperate region where they were born, and where, with a patriotism that one must often wonder at, they continue to claim a residence. As years and wisdom increase, I grow better and better persuaded that their example is a good one; and being so persuaded, here I am again in Florida. I have followed the birds; for how is a man to behold them, unless he goes where they are ? I arrived on Friday, two days before Christmas. Two days before that, having a few hours between trains in Washington (how happy are our exemplars, I often think, who make the passage by the … [Read more...] about A Bay-Window in Florida

MARCH, 1905 BY MARGARET SHERWOOD I UNDER the sun-smitten branches of the woodland and along the open road that curved, all golden with dust, over hill and through hollow, the warm air was full of the breath of pine and juniper and fern, and of the poignant sweetness of the sea. Now leaf shadows fell on the face of the girl who was being driven rapidly in a light carriage toward the east, and then the full sunlight of June lay there. The beat, beat, beat of the horse’s hoofs seemed to set the world in motion; the quick, uneven wind, the fluttering yellow butterflies, the slow black wings of crows overhead, even the gently floating white clouds against the dim blue, were to her full of the sudden joy of those that move and escape. Leaning back in her seat she closed her eyes, opening them now and then to steal a half fearful glance to the right, where, between dark tree trunks or beyond the gray-green tangles of a bit of moorland, the sea lay, incredibly blue. This undreamed … [Read more...] about The Coming of the Tide

The public forms its impressions of the administration of the criminal law in the county of New York—very naturally—from the accounts it reads of important and intricate cases, and therefore—very naturally, again—believes that defendants languish long in prison, awaiting trial; that the majority of them go free, or that, if convicted, the punishment of most of them is either defeated or delayed by technicalities and appeals. As a matter of fact, these impressions are entirely erroneous, so far as the general enforcement of the criminal law in New York County is concerned. During the year 1903, the average length of time between a defendant’s arrest for felony and his trial—in cases where he was imprisoned awaiting trial—was less than two weeks. There were 2400 convictions by plea or verdict, to 615 acquittals; while out of 11,011 convictions during the five years 1898 to 1902 inclusive, the number of appeals brought to hearing was only ninety-five, and out of that number the ratio of … [Read more...] about In the District Attorney’s Office