Star-dust in Hollywood (1930)

Los ^Angeles — -from a Bungalow Qourt watering days. We need have had no fear for the blackbirds* youngsters, for the parents outfaced the cat in a Jack the Giant-killer style. They hopped about her, enticing her to spring at them, they flew in circles over her head, they pounced upon her from the roof-ledge, curving upward at the critical moment. In fact, they played with her much as a bull-fighter harries the bull, tiring her out, and, at the first signs of a less speedy response, with spring or with claw, they flew in and planted sharp stabs with their beaks as they swooped by. After a few days of this aerial corrida the cat tired of the profitless chase and left the blackbirds in a possession so triumphant that they would swoop at the heads of human intruders. The mocking-birds, who mock only in the archaic sense of the word, imitating the songs of other birds with a delightful variety and virtuosity, were more timid. They stole our guava flowers in the early morning and repaid us with a roundelay to the rising sun, until the daily tide of radios smothered the voice of Nature. The grocer's wife learned that we had written books, and even had lectured to the Friday Morning Club. From that moment she flaunted Jo as a star customer, and, should any other * regular ' be purchasing, the groceress would lean her plump body across the counter and make a ceremonious introduction. Fat and jolly the groceress was until the prevailing craze swept her from her balance and in a trice destroyed all her easy geniality. Determined to grow thin, she confined her diet to mere water alone, striving like the bear in winter-time to consume her own adipose, and reshape once more the form now hidden in the lump. This was indeed a penance to past appetite. The mariner starving on [41]