brighter days are in store for the commercial department the increase in facilities and additional teaching force to be added next year will make it possible to introduce advanced ideas and to strengthen very materially the present work next year the bookkeeping department will occupy the large room on the second floor of the new building this room will be newly and specially furnished the students in first year bookkeeping have done better and more work than students of previous years most of them will complete the three budgets of the sadler-rowe system the first year phonography students completed the manual about april first and since that time have been reviewing and practicing for speed one afternoon while i was sitting on a box at the south end of an old shack my attention was attracted by a male sparrow looking for straws with which to build his nest he was as i afterward found out by comparison an unusually large and beautiful specimen he seemed to know that he possessed more than ordinary strength as he seized a large straw from which hung smaller ones and a bunch of matted string i thought that he had got hold of more than he could carry to his nest but i was mistaken he dropped his load hopped around it several times before he could decide on the best way to take hold of it picked it up and flew with it to a nearby fence he rested there for a moment and then flew to the roof of a barn from there he hopped with his load to a place under an eave where he was helping his mate to build a nest i sat and watched the two work for some time then the thought came to me catch mr sparrow and see what his mate will do i got a long piece of string made a slip-knot loop in one end and greased the loop so that it would slip easily i then got a ladder and climbed up to to the nest set the loop in a place close to the nest in such a manner that the birds would have to hop within the loop to reach the nest and then ran the string down to my box seat i sat down to wait for the sparrows to fly to the nest i had to wait about fifteen minutes before the birds would again approach mrs sparrow was the first to fly to their fu ture home she hopped within the loop and i gave the string a jerk she dropped the straw that she was carrying and flew away before the loop had time to tighten around her leg i again set the trap and sat down to wait this time neither mr nor mrs sparrow would come near the nest while i was in sight i ran the string through a crack in the shack and went inside to watch and wait as soon as they saw that i was out of sight they began in a timid way to approach the unfinished nest their caution almost outdid my patience they would fly to the roof of the barn then in a tree back again to the barn then to the fence until it seemed half of an hour to me before one of them got courage to fly to the nest i thought that i would wait until both became careless before attempting to catch mr sparrow after they had been working for some time mrs sparrow took hold of several straws broken and twisted together and tried to raise them to her nest she tried twice without success each time she dropped the straws before getting to the roof of the barn mr sparrow then took upon himself the task of rais ing the load he also tried twice without success but being persistent he tried again he got a good hold of it flew to the fence and from there to the barn as he had done several times before with largre and heavy loads he had some trouble in adjusting it however and for a few moments hopped around within the loop of the string this was the chance that i had been waiting for just as he went to pick up the straws i gave the string a jerk and had the satisfaction of seeing it tighten around his leg mr sparrow was mine i drew him to me and picked him up no sooner had i touched him than the courageous little fellow took hold of my fore-finger