The Bird

First there was a telegram saying that

"the editors of the Harvard daily newspaper have voted to present a large ornamental bird to Ambassador Vishinsky for use on the spire of Moscow University."

Then two Harvardmen showed up one morning last week at the headquarters of

the Soviet delegation to the U.N. Though Vishinsky was not on hand, his first deputy, Semen Tsarapkin, was, and he obviously tried his best to seem pleased with

the weird, heron-like copper bird he was getting. "Tell me, what does it symbolize?" he asked. "Oh," replied the Harvardmen, "it's a sort of American peace dove." "Well," said Tsarapkin, "it is a very fine gift. Peace be with you and yours."

Next day the Crimson trumpeted the news. In a straight-faced story, it solemnly reported that its old campus rival, the Lampoon, had given the Russians its ibis, the sacred bird that has stood on the Lampoon roof for 43 years--off & on. But as everyone knew, it was all a hoax, perpetrated by the Crimson itself. Cried one Lampoon staffer, as he entered negotiations to get his bird back: "The Crimson men have no imagination. This was just addleheaded vandalism."

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