Word: goldfinch
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...fascinated by the image of birds. The owl has been interpreted as the symbol of wisdom on the one hand and of evil on the other, the raven as a sign of death and of victory. To the Egyptians the hawk represented the sun god; to early Christians the goldfinch depicted the crucifixion. Seldom has this multiform fascination been better illustrated than in the 160 paintings, bronzes, jugs, vases and primitive musical instruments on show last week at the Seattle Art Museum, a display ranging from a bird-shaped Chinese ritual vessel done around 1100 B.C. to the hopping...
Pius XII, now 77, works an 18-hour day, seven days a week. He rises at 6:15 every morning, opens his windows, prays, and takes a cold shower. He shaves with an electric razor. While he shaves, a goldfinch named Gretel-one of five small pet birds he keeps-perches on his arm as it moves with the razor.* Until he goes to sleep in his simple brass bed between 12 and 2 a.m., Gretel is his only entertainment. He rarely listens any more to the records from his fine collection (favorites: Bach, Brahms, Wagner), and he has given...