Bellefonte, Pa., December 4, 1914.
THE BROOK.
1 steal by lawns and grassy plots,
1 slide by hazel covers;
I move the sweet forget-me-nots
That grow for happy lovers.
1 slip, I slide, I gloom, I glance,
Among my skimming swaliows;
I make the netted sunbeam dance
Against my sandy shallows.
I murmur under moon and stars
In brambly wildernesses;
I linger by my shingly bars;
1 loiter round my cresses;
And out again I curve and flow
To.join the brimming river,
For men may come and men may go,
But I go on forever.
—By Alfred Tennyson.
THE ADVENTURE OF “LONE BOY”
When he was yet a small lad he had
earned the name of “Lone Boy,” because
of solitary tramps which took him a long
way from his own Sioux village. He
was, in fact, best content when wander-
ing among the breaks and canons of the
Smoky Hill River. :
At eleven years he met with an ad-
yenture which gave him another name
among people. :
He had learned to set snares for wild
animals, and one day discovered the fresh
path of a doe and two fawns, which were !
in the habit of going to drink at a cer-
tain point on the river. ’
After several attempts Lone Boy suc-
ceeded in snaring one of the fawns. But
when he came up with his game a pair
of bald eagles had already attacked and
killed the fawn.
The young Sioux was very angry. He
had intended, if he should take a young
deer alive to carry the animal home for
a pet. For some time he had known
where this pair of eagles—at least, as he |
believed—had their nest. He had indeed
planned to watch the growth of their
young ones, and to lie in wait to shoot
them on their first unwary descent from
the aerie. It was sometimes quite easy
to secure the much-prized tail feathers
of the bald eagle in this way.
However, there was always the risk
that another hunter might be on the
watch, and so secure the prize at the op-
portune moment. Upon reflection, Lone
Boy determined at once to attempt a
capture of the young eagles, and so re-
venge himself upon the parent birds for
the killing of his young deer.
More than once from an imposing’
height he marked the position of the
eagles’ nest. The huge pile of sticks
was built upon a cleft rock near to the
top of a cliff which overhung the sandy’
bed of a canon.
This cliff was nearly a half-day’s jour-
ney up the river, but Lone Boy set out
at the coyote’s gait, and before noon had |
reached the crest of the height directly .
above the nest.
Here he seated himself beneath a pine’
and watched. Presently he saw both the
old eagles sail away into the ether.
Then Lone Boy rose and began the
descent—a perilous business. Hitherto
he had refrained from attempting it only
because of the apparent impossibility of
bringing the birds back, even should he
succeed in reaching their perch. Now
he had determined to descend to them if
"he eould, and to pitch them off into the
canon, where he could pluck the coveted
feathers at his leisure.
To go directly down the face of the
ledge was impossible; so he made his
way along the seams and crevices of the
crowning rocks, keeping in view as much
as possible the top of a leaning pine
which stood beside the eagles’ nest.
For some ' lengths of his body the de-
scent was easier than the lad had thought,
and he was already calculating with
much satisfaction that he could really
bring those young eagles up one at a
time, when he came to orizontal crev-
ice which he knew to be the main ob-
stacle to success.
Eagerly he stretched his length upon a
sharp crown of rock and perched down
upon a shelf some yards below, where
the leaning pine had its root. Near the
tree was a heap of sticks, bones, feathers
and refuse, and two great squabs of
birds, feathered yet downy, sprawled
upon the pile.
It was such a little way to drop, and
yet, crane his neck as he might, Lone
Boy could see no shrub nor projection
which he might lay hold upon.
He crawled along the rim of the crev-
ice looking down from every possible
point of view; but everywhere the in-
cline dipped inward, the edges of the
rocks projecting like the rim of a basin
above the eagles’ aerie.
Finally, almost despairing, the lad let
himself down, clinging with both hands
to the edges
with his moccasined toes the face of the
ledge, seeking for some niche or coign of
vantage.
While he was thus dangling over the
rim of the ledge he heard a shrill, pierc-
«ing scream overhead, and looked up to
see both the old eagles hovering along
the scrap not a bow-shot above his head.
One of them had poised, flapping its
great wings, the tips of which almost
brushed the rocks and he could see the
craned neck and angry red eyes of the
bird as it stooped for a swoop.
The lad made 2 frantic effort to draw
himself upward, and in the same instant
the eagle shot downwards like a hurled
missile, with a hissing scream that set
Lone Boy’s nerves all a-tingle.
He had drawn himself half-way up, and
was about to fling a knee upon the rim
of the rock when he got a fierce buffet
from the eagle’s wing. He was flung
backward, and his hold upon the rock
was broken. E
Like a falling stone he dropped to the
shelf below, and would have tumbled
headlong into the canon below but for
the friendly leaning pine, which stretched
some limbs across the path of his descent.
For a moment Lone Boy hung, cling-
ing to these boughs, half-suspended over
the depths; then scrambled to safety
under the sheltering pine. He did this
just in time to escape a fresh onset from
one of the eagles, which swooped at him,
screaming wrathfully.
The leaning pine had grown a net-
work of small limbs, and its foliage was
very dense. Crawling under the droop-
ing boughs, Lorie Boy was able to hide
himself completely even from the keen
eyes of the eagles. Yet the birds con-
tinued to wheel about their aerie, noisily
excited for a time.
The lad lay very still within his shel-
Thus cautiously he felt
CEE STR,
i ter, peering from under cover at the pair
| of newly fledged eaglets, which had flop-
| ped awkwardly off their pile of sticks
| when the intruder dropped upon their
: perch. :
| These young birds now hugged the
ledge with bodies flattened and wings
drooping, evidently much depressed by
| the descent of this strange creature and
| by the worried screams of the parent
; birds.
{ However, as Lone Boy continued in
| hiding, the old eagles became calmer,
' and after a time seemed to have forgot-
ten altogether the causeof alarm. They
i finally sailed away in search of fresh
| prey.
Lone Boy now crawled cautiously out
of his hiding-place. His first move, boy-
like, was to pounce upon the young
eagles, giving them no opportunity to
flop off their perch and into a canon.
In a brief time, sitting astride the two,
the lad had cut strings from his buck-
skin leggings, and made fast a leg of
each bird to pine shrubs which grew
close to their nest. He tied them far
| enough apart so that they could not be-
{ come entangled. 3
When this was done he began to take
account of his situation; and very soon
upon keen scrutinizing of the edge above
and below, he discovered that without
rescue by some passing hunter or person
in search of him, there could be no hope
of escape.
He was trapped as the wolf is trapped,
or even as he had snared the fawn. The
narrow shelf upon which the eagles’ nest
had been built, and from which the
leaning pine had grown, was only some
ten steps in length, and but a pace or
two in width at the widest. It was a
hollow trough enclosed by a basin-like
rim, and was filled with pine cones, nee-
dles and other rubbish. And this little
shelf suspended in mid-air was halfa
bow-shot above the bottom of a canon.
In vain Lone Boy scanned the face of
the ledge from which he had dropped.
| There was no possible handhold within
reach, and the bushy pine had leaned so
far out to catch the sunlight, its flimsy
tops came nowhere near the rock rim
above.
If within a very few days some one
should pass within hailing distance, there
{ should be a chance of rescue; otherwise
: not.
| Again the lad crawled within the tent-
: like shelter of the pine, where for a time
he watched the uneasy eaglets flop about
jand peck at annoying strings which
| hampered them. Toward night the old
| eagles returned and one of them bore a
| cock-sage grouse in its talons.
{ Lone Boy was near to laughter when
' the dead bird was deposited: upon the
! nest, for the tied eaglets struggled spite-
, fully, jerking the quarry back and forth,
flapping their wings, and pulling against
| each other for possession. In the mean-
time the old eagle sat with a solemn
look of inquiry upon his face, and finally
flew away, croaking in apparent disgust.
The boy crawled from hiding. Some
of that grouse he must have, and he se-
i cured the leg and a portion of the breast
for his supper. This, of course, he was
forced to eat raw.
That night he slept fitfully, and before
morning his throat was parched with
thirst. When an eagle brought a rabbit
to the aerie, and he had secured a portion
he was unable to eat more than a mouth-
ful or two. So he lay within the pine’s
shelter, watching the eagles, and listen-
ing for any stir of life’ which should be-
token a hunter within sound of his voice.
The eaglets had grown sullen pulling at
the strings and each lay or sat upon its
own side of the nest, sourly dozing, ex-
cept when a parent bird apeared. Then
there ;were strange contortions of the
body, with wings raised aloft and gaping
red maws. Lone Boy now noted, too,
that the old birds fed their young sepa-
rately, apparently accepting the situation
without further inquiry. After bringing
some small bird or animal, either eagle
would sit for a time perched and preen-
ing, upon some nearby crag wholly ob-
livious of its rapacious off-spring.
Watching these birds, Lone Boy retain-
ed his interest in life for another sun;
then the fever of thirst consumed him.
For several days he lay under the pine in
a semi-conscious state. Half the people
of his village might have passed through
the canon looking for him, and he could
not have heeded, much less have answer-
ed their calls.
Then, on a cool morning, when a
heavy dew was glittering upon the pine
needles, he came suddenly into posses-
sion of his faculties. Feeling strangly
light of head and body, but with every
sense alert, he came out from hiding.
He felt as if walking upon air, and
stood upon the rock rim, looking down
into the canon, feeling that he was quite
capable of jumping down there upon the
sands without taking hurt. If only he
might jump far enough! He looked
down at his hands and bare arms, which
appeared to be nothing but skin and
bone, and a startling though came into
his mind.
Why not take the young eagles and
jump!
They would help to bear up his light-
ened weight.
No sooner thought than put in execu-
tion. He turned to the eaglets, untied
the hissing, pecking birds, now almost
full-grown and full-feathered, and cut the
thongs which bound them. They flapped
their wings strongly, and nearly wrench-
ed their legs out of his weak hands.
Then, in a sudden desperate rush, he
bore them over the verge of the rock
shelf and dropped into the spaces of the
canon. Down, down they dropped, the
| boy’s arms wide spread and the eaglets
flapping their untried wings. .
| The descent was appallingly swift,
| but the vigorous efforts of the birds car-
ried the trio forward in a slant which
plunged them into the sand at the can-
on’s bottom. Lone Boy staggered to his
feet, alive and whole.
A half-hour later he was able to visit a
patch of ripe raspberries, and despite his
swollen tongue was able to eat heartily
of the luscious fruit.
Still dizzy and feeling very queer, the
lad saw the earth spin round him for a
moment. Then again tying the eaglets’
legs, he staggered to the river bank, a
half-bow shot’s distance. There he
quenched his thirst after the cautious
manner of his kind. :
A half-eaten rabbit, which he had kick-
ed off the eagles’ perch, still further
renewed his vigor, and after a half-day’s
rest he was able to go slowly homeward,
dragging his captives after him.
At the Brule Sioux village, in honor of
this exploit, he was named Wambli Yuza,
Catches Eagles, by which name he is
known to this day.
——The WATCHMAN enjoys the proud
distinction of being the best and cleanest
county paper published.
FROM INDIA.
By One on Medical Duty in that Far Eastern
Country. Description of a Camping Tour
Further into the Snow-capped Mountains of
India.
SRINAGAR, SEPTEMBER 24th, 1913.
Dear Home Folk:
After a week of house-boat living I
must confess already the novelty has
worn off and I am ready for new worlds
to conquer, so we are hoping to be off
tomorrow on a ten days’ or two week’s
camping tour.
We had a delightful view of this coun-
try and the ‘curious old city yesterday,
for it is surrounded by high peaks and
situated on the top of one of these is an
old Temple, formerly a Mohammedan
Mosque, but being conquered by the
Hindus was torn down and the present
Temple erected. This “Temple of Solo-
mon,” as it is called, surely does com-
mand a most magnificent view of all the
surrounding land; but the climb of near-
i pants having sought new homes evident-
i ly; the coolies have now attached a rope
to our floating home and are walking
along the bank pulling, while we glide
‘along. You should see the native
“dunga,” (boat) perhaps twenty or thir-
. ty feet long, heavy cumbersome bottom
“with a top made of woven rushes. They
"are very ungainly looking but seemed to
be the freight boat of this section. Ap-
ple, stone, wood and grain ladened ones
all have passed us, being polled down
the stream—the boatmen’s entire family
i always occupying the rear part, for the
| women take their share of poling as well :
! as the men, and just now we passed a
| woman and man pulling together a big
boat of grain going up stream.
{A native village is just passing, built of
i sun-baked mud bricks, two-storied af-
| fairs with grass-thatched roofs; again no
' grass, but beautifur chenar trees. Just
in front of me the whack of the “dhobi’s”
washing chimes into the call of the
' coolie as they put forth energy to push
walnut trees are covered with beautiful
mistletoe. (Oh, for a man!)
Well, we gathered one hundred wal-
‘nuts and now the storm is royal, the
peaks are seemingly in a swirl of snow
and a great gorgeous rainbow has
been flung like God's arch across the
valley. We poor, puny humans can sit
and shake with the cold and the rain is
good enough for us, but it has turned
my silver-gray peaks to black with tiny
mottlings of white, and the war has been
carried into new territory.
(Continued next week.)
Habit—A Curse or a Blessing.
Little Talks on Health & Hygiene by Samuel G.
Dixon, M. D., LL. D., Commissioner of Health.
Someone said that “Man is a creature
of habit” permitting us to draw our own
conclusions. We are perfectly familiar
with bad habits. Even if we were not
liberally supplied with conscience, teach-
| ers and moralists have said enough to
ly a thousand feet in three miles made us up the stream. Off to the north the familiarize us with this side of the ques-
me puff and puff. ;
The river makes big S shaped curves
and the intervening meadow land is most
rich and fertile.
we stood thrust itself forward between
the lake we saw on Sunday and the riv-
er’s course and then all around us was
the city—built as all Indian cities are
built—on as little ground as possible; | And such a lazy life, one feels as though !
narrow, alley-like streets, but with the
difference that all the houses are of two
story. They are built of wood—evidently A breakfast and then we sit at the front of |
white ants are not feared here as they
are on the plains—and everyone shows
the national trade of wood-carving, in
which these people do excel.
The great mountain ranges stretched
out as far as the eye could see, nearly
all covered with the snows, although this
is the fall and the fresh snows have not:
fallen as yet. The sun was just up and
its golden rays upon these mountain '
fields of ice was indeed a glorious pic-
ture. We stayed to enjoy it until our.
feelings warned us that it was nearing
the breakfast hour and down we came;
my muscles are still telling me how much |
they resented that hill climb.
Last night we tock a boat and four
oarsmen and down the river we went to |
get a view of this city from the river, as |
it is built along the river on either bank. |
Such a dilapidated place you could
scarcely imagine; all the houses are of
wood yand are narrow and high built
overhanging the river atthe second story;
the foundation, to be sure, is of stone
but great tree trunks, set out at an angle
of 30 degrees, are used to support the
upper overhanging story. As there have
been many earthquakes and floods here
you may know that in many, places these
block packed houses look muchly dam-
aged—added to which these people use
no paint in any form on wood, so that
with the old river mud coating the under
story, no plant life to give greenness and |
a sullen, deep, dark looking river—it may
be picturesque, but is not my idea of at-
tractiveness.
The river is spanned by seven bridges
and when you wish to go to a shop you
are told “so and so by the first bridge,”
etc., and you get into a small boat and
are taken there—or at least to a pair of
high steps, and you then find your own
way through a native bazaar. Of course
there are beautiful roads and houses with
very beautiful gardens, some distance
back from the river, and motor cars
of every description are flying around,
but to me they are tame and uninterest-
ing beside the boat and river.
We called upon a woman doctor who
has charge of the State hospita! for wom-
en and she proved to be very nice and
has a very nice hospital, well equipped,
and I am afraid we stayed later than we
should have for the sun had gone down
and only a glow of gold was in the West
turning the snow peaks to a beauteous
pink and a most beautiful effect was pro-
duced. I saw the nearby mountains
quite in darkness while a great snow-
capped range rising behind was in bril-
liant light, just as though a lime-light
had been thrown on their peaks to bring
out their beauty. But itall faded before
we had gotten rightly. started and night
dropped down like a pall. It was a ghost-
ly experience for neither our boat nor
any of the others about us had lights
and only the stars to give us light. The
river has electric lights along its banks
but as usual, they are so dim that they
acted only as stars.
We would be gliding along rapidly
when out from the night, almost upon
us, another boat would be shot like a
stealthy night-prowler, and the boatmen
would call out a warning and the boat |
that looked so terrifying before would
almost at once be swallowed up in the
darkness behind, only to be followed by
another. Three hours hard rowing final-
ly landed us at our doorway and as din-
ner was ready we hungry travelers were
soon fed and then to bed we went, for
one has nothing to do at night so bed
sounds nice.
This morning as we are to go to Pahl-
gam, we were up early to attend to a
few things before starting; to go for the
mail, of which I got none, (would think
my last letter had so tired you, you
couldn’t write but know you have not
received it as yet,) and then we were off,
three coolies poling from the sides
with immense poles and one seated at
the back with a paddle, steering.
The scenery, so far as the mountains
are concerned, is the same, but we pass
sheep being washed for their clipping,
natives swimming, others bringing in
house-boats, empty, their recent occu-
The peak upon which |
‘ river’s bend puts the mountains behind |
. and nothing does the eye see but fertile |
i side of a hill in sort of steps, and long
{ snows and the cloud$ are making a white
| spot between the intense blue of the sky,
i the purplish brown of the mountain’s
body which lower down becomes a vivid
! emerald green and then the yellow earth
Call reflected perfectly in the deep gray-
green water—so perfect one almost thinks
| they must be standing on their heads.
i you could just float on and on.
Morning comes and we have our little
the boat and watch the ever magnificent |
1
scenery change, for occasionally the
|
|
rice and corn fields spread out like a car-
pet, and so the days glide by, each like
the one before except that the scenery
becomes wilder. For three days we go |
thus and then we come to a native vil- |
lage, Bijbehara, it is most picturesquely |
situated; a great wooden bridge across !
the river from the butts of which grow
great trees and the city is built on the |
!
flights of stone steps lead down to the!
river, that is now very low. It is beauti- |
ful, with the great mountains directly
behind—and to walk through the bazaar,
with dust inches deep, the shops not
more than eight feet from each other
| tion. Fortunately there are good habits
! and they are often a blessing thinly dis-
guised. Our general health and well-
| being depends largely upon the char-
| acter of our habits.
i Regularity partakes something of vir-
' tue. This is especially true when it per-
| tains to eating, sleeping, labor and recrea-
tion which covers the daily program of
| the majority of mankind. In the prim-
| itive state it was impossible for our
, ancestors to eat regularly. The hunter
might be successful. and again he might
not. Periods of enforced fasting were
followed by corresponding overindulgence
when the chase was successful. The de-
mand for food at regular intervals was |
the first stimulus to civilization. We
have achieved a state where three meals
a day are possible to the most of us.
gratitude we should strive for moderation
knowing that in a few hours more food
will be forthcoming.
Sleep is the great restorer of both body
and brain. Irregular hours of rest result
in an excessive strain upon the nervous
system which in turn reacts unfavorably |
upon the human economy. Regularity
in the periods of rest make for even
temper and physical stability.
Labor to achieve worthy accomplish-
ment must be steady and persevering.
| The habit of work is a necessity for one
In|
Russia; Its Youth and Its Life.
Rugsia is the land of poradoxes and
contrasts. Itis at once the most auto-
cratic and the most Democratic of Eu-
ropean nations. It presents the most
extreme example of imperial power in
national affairs and the most extreme
type of popular sovereignty in local af-
fairs. It exhibits at the same time the
most stately magnificence and the most
abject poverty. It has the most splendid
court and the most servile people. It
shows the richest culture and the deep-
est debasement. It offers much that is
singularly attractive and much that is
singularly repulsive.
St. Petersburg is one of the imposing
capitals of the world. It was built by
Peter the Great in the midst of a swamp;
now it ranks among the marvels of
modern development. That wonderful
Titanic genius wanted a window to look
out on Europe. He saw the naval power
of the Western nations, and he wanted
to be on the water.
He chose the miasmatic delta of the
Neva, and although his capital is younger
than Boston and Philadelphia, it is one
of the greatest cities of the world. With
its wide streets, its stately palaces, its
grand churches, its cosmopolitan people
and its dashing life, it has a distinct
character of its own.
The rigor of the climate has led to
stuccoed buildings, and the yellowish-red
color which prevails so extensively is not
pleasing to the Western eye. The city
as a whole is not so handsome as Paris,
not so impressive as the new Berlin, not
so solidly majestic as London; but it has
many features which are remarkably in-
teresting.
The Winter Palace is the largest and
finest in Europe. It combines Oriental
splendor with Western civilization. The
opulence of its treasures is only sur-
passed by those of the Kremlin at Mos-
cow.
The Hermitage ranks among the few
great galleries of art, and surprises most
visitors, who had not looked for so superb
a collection in the remote capital of the
North. The Cathedral of St. Isaac’s
stands next to St. Peter’s at Rome in its
| majesty and grandeur.
The Neva is the noblest river which
any capital can boast, and there is no
such open, attractive place of residence
.in any great city as on the magnificent
quay which stretches for three miles
| along its course.
| Tke scene on the streets in the char-
; acteristic winter life is one of great ani-
mation. The Nevskiy Prospekt, which
'is the Broadway of St. Petersburg, is
| thronged with a motley crowd of pedes
| trians and sledges.
{ There is the prince with his rich sables
{and the muzhik with his unsavory sheep-
i skin. There is the Turk, the Armenian
land the Persian. There is the Great
Russian with his fair, full beard and the
‘across the street and each having its
| keeper sitting awaiting customers. But
| the smell was so horrid that I took my
| views in a few minutes, mentally, and
|'went back across the river to our boat.
| The evening we spent under the most
beautiful chenar trees you could ever im-
{ agine; trunk atleast eight feet in diameter
{ and the grass was like velvet, while great
{beds of iris and narcissus, now past
| blooming, grew wild on every hand, and
i it was from here we watched the sun go
{ down. No, I am not going to try to de-
I scribe it for there are limits to my
| ability. We met here a charming woman
whom Mrs. R. had known three years
ago; she was passing and asking where
we came from our servants said Jhansi,
so we had a charming call from her.
This morning bright and early we
packed our goods for a ten day’s camp-
ing trip up into the Liddar valley, said to
be one of the most beautiful in this mag-
nificent country. Seven ponies, three
servants and three coolies it took to take
our modest belongings and ourselves.
Yes, we were a funny sight sitting astride
a small pony that wouldn’t jump or run
even if a bomb went off under him. I
started out bravely to walk the twelve
miles to our first camping ground but
the brown shoes beat me out after seven
miles so I had to take to the pony’s back.
Our way was through big, big rice
fields—red, white, black—that is the husk,
so that it is not ‘only interesting to see
but very beautiful in its ripeness, as it
now is. Not an ounce is allowed to be
shipped out of Kashmir and so prices are
not going up as to that necessity. The
mountains, great tall, silver-gray topped
ones with jagged pointed tops rose on
either side of us and way off we could
| see many with snow moon-bonnets; I
can’t say they made them look as exqui-
site as the maidens in the Ladie’'s Home
Journal, but these wearers are majestic
and the snow-bonnets add cold, at least,
to my northern knowledge. But up we
go and the rice fields become less broad
and the way becomes less attractive,
from a farmer’s standpoint, for this coun-
try is planted full of willows, and sheep
and goats are here in thousands. The
willows are now being cut, the young,
this year’s green growth, and is being
stored in the remaining bare forks of the
trees to dry for this winter's feeding of
these self-same sheep and goats. The
whole valley is irrigated and so water is
seen on every side in artificial canals;
but it all lends itself to the scenery and
adds to it.
We reached our camping ground at
two o'clock and I took off my stockings
and shoes and dipped my hot, tired feet
into an icy-cold mountain stream and
then laid down under a big English wal-
nut tree and to sleep I went, thus wait-
ing until the servants and the luggage
would come. It is here and the small
tents in place; the Behrer is preparing
tea and I have just finished making my
couch, which came in sections, and am
now rather muchly interested in an im-
mense storm that is preparing to descend
upon us from those far off ice fields.
The wind is making these great walnut
trecs twist and writhe and give up their
fruit, and as though from the earth
springs native women and girls, all dirty,
all “khurta” clad, to gather these delica-
cies and I too must gather a few. These
who would realize his ambitions.
Even in our recreations the majority of
us are better for a certain degree of sys-
tem for otherwise it is apt to become a
case of over or under indulgence.
It is the same with our bodily func-
tions—temperance and regularity are
conducive to obtaining the maximum of
efficiency for the longest period of time.
Excessive friction and rust are equally
hard upon machinery.
The formation of good habits in the
care of the teeth, bathing, daily evacua-
tions, eating, sleeping, exercise and liv-
ing in fresh air will go far toward mak-
ing the doctor’s visit less frequent.
The Chameleon Spider.
Every traveler that returns from trop-
ical regions has extraordinary stories to
tell of the strange mimicry of leaves and
flowers by insects. Sometimes the pur-
pose of the imitation seems to be conceal-
ment, and sometimes the laying of a snare
to catch other insects. A curious instance
of this was noticed on the Gold Coast of
Africa by a member of a Britlsh scien-
ine a singular-looking white flower with
a blue centre.
He found, to his astonishment, that it
was not a flower at all but a spider’s web,
and that the supposed light-blue heart of
the flower was the spider itself lying in
wait for its prey. The legs of the cun-
ning spider, yellow mottled with brown,
were extended in such a way as to re-
semble the divisions between the petals
of the flower.
The web itself, very delicately woven
into a rosette pattern, was white, and the
threads that suspended it from the bush-
es were so fine as to be almost invisible.
The whole thing had the appearance of
being suspended in the air upon a stem
concealed beneath.
When the scientist knocked the spider
from its perch into a white gauze
net his surprise was increased upon see-
to white.
practised as a snare; now it was playing
a similar game for the sake of conceal-
ment.
But the end of the performance was
not yet reached. When the investigator
shook his captive its body again changed
color, becoming this time of a dull green-
ish-brown. Later he captured another
larger specimen of the same species of
spider, whose flower web resembled an
orchid. This spider exhibited the same
remarkable power of changing its color.
How Mosquitoes Reached Hawaii.
It may seem strange to us who yearly
fight the mischief-making mosquito that
any country should be entirely free from
these pests; yet, up to within a few
years, the Hawaiian Islands and the
mosquito knew nothing of each other. A
few years ago a ship brought over a few,
not purposely, but quite by accident, in
the hold with some of her cargo. So per-
sistently did these mosquitoes thrive and
make existence miserable for the people
of the islands that the authorities set
about looking for something with which
to exterminate the stinging pests. Re-
ports from the Department of Agricul-
turein Washington mentioned the fact
that in Texas, near Galveston, there
thrived a fish called the “killfish,” which
fed greedily upon the larvae or “Wrig-
glers” of the mosquito. :
As a result, four hundred and fifty of
these fish found themselves at Honolulu. |
One quarter of this number were kept in |
special pounds for breeding purposes, and |
the remainder were liberated in various
rivers and- ponds where mosquitoes
swarmed. So well have these fish done
their work of extermination that the
Hawaiian authorities optimistically de-
clare it will be but a very few years be- !
fore the mosquito will be exterminated '
from the archipelago. |
tific expedition when he stopped to exam-
ing his captive instantly turn from blue
Its former mimicry had been
| Little Russian of a much darker type.
! The thousands of diminutive droshkies
with their little, hardy, scraggy Russian
"horses, and the unkempt Istvostchiks in
| their heavy fur caps and long blue caf-
| tans; the numerous private equippages
+ with their fat, padded drivers in curious,
: velvet pincushion caps, and their shapely
black Ooloffs as swift as the wind—all
| unite to make the spectacle singularly
‘ picturesque and spirited.— Youth’s Com-
| panion.
Greeley the Speller.
|
| No champion of the old-time spelling-
matches, perhaps, ever excelled Horace
Greeley. He was, in fact, a spelling
| prodigy. What would the boys and girls
i of today, who grumble over their daily
i stint of 20 words, think of a child not
| yet six years old who could actually
: spell every word in the English language!
! That is what the young Horace is said
| to have been able to do.
{ His schooling began in his fourth year,
and the art of spelling at once became a
passion with him. In school and out, he
i kept incessantly at its study. Hour after
hour he would lie on the floor, spelling
i over all the difficult words he could find
"in the few books that the family owned.
The fame of his prowess’spread. Nat-
urally, Horace was the first one chosen
' at spelling-matches. He had a lisping,
whining voice, and spelled his words with
the utmost confidence. Sometimes in
winter, when the snow-drifts were so
deep that one of the big boys had to
take him to the school-house on his
back, the little whitehaired fellow would
drop asleep between turns. When his
word came round, his neighbor would
nudge him anxiously; he would wake,
spell his words, and drop asleep again at
once.
So great was the boy’s reputation as a
student of unusal powers that the select-
men of a neighboring town, in passing a
rule forbidding the attendance at the
local school of any pupil from outside
the township, honored him by adding the
clause, “Excepting only Horace Greeley.”
—Presbhyterian Banner.
There was a young man who started
in life with the proposition that he would
believe nathing he cowld not prove for
himself or see with his own eyes. For
that man history was a sealed book, for-
eign lands did not exist, astronomy was
a fable, chemistry a fairy tale. For the
foundation of all knowledge is the ac-
ceptance of facts which have been proven
by other people and belief in the records
of history and geography written by
chroniclers and travelers long dead. That
young man would be doomed to perish
{by his own ignorance, because he
would take no other. man’s word
and trust no other man’s exper-
ience. There is a class of people who
might be blood relations of that young
man who see time and again the state-
ments of cures following the use of Dr.
Pierce’s Golden Medical Discovery. Yet
they go on coughing, spitting blood, and
losing strength with every hour. The
fact that Dr. Pierce’s Goiden Medical
Discovery does cure coughs, bronchitis,
weak lungs, and conditions which tend to
consumption, rests upon evidence as
sound as that which proves the salient
facts of history, geography, or astrono-
my. It is not more certain that Wash-
ington was at Valley Forge, that London
is the Capital of England, or that the sun
rises in the East, than that “Golden Med-
ical Discovery” cures pulmonary dis-
(eases. You can’t afford to doubt this evi-
dence or reject it, if you are sick.
Marks End of Childhood.
Children pass out of a stage—open,
beautiful, exquisitely simple—into si-
lences and discretions beneath an
imposed and artificial life. And they
are lost. Out of the finished, careful,
| watchful, restrained man and woman
no child emerges again—'The Pag.
sionate Friends.”