The Burlington weekly hawk-eye. [volume] (Burlington [Iowa]) 1860-1876, 1865-03-04

NATURES Nothing is re-
garded with more loathing IN dwelling
Than the living vermin which penetrate
pantries and closets, and scatter Them |
selves over Kitchens, dining-rooms, and
into recesses. Vet the ants, cockroaches
and flies which move 80 much disgust and
produce 90 much discomfort, are the agents
which nature employs to get rid of animal
and vegetable refuse, and feculent matter,
which would otherwise faint the atmos-
phere, and render large cities unwhole-
some. As bees about flowers are the evil
dences of sweetness, go vormin in a city
are indications OF the presence Of matter
which would be injurious to the common
health, bu, for the rapidity with which
sion, rid it Of unwholesome and putrefying
substances. The ant, with diligence that
would put the most industrious workers
to sha me, will pick up q particle Of animal
food twice it's own size, or a dead insect
vastly disproportioned to its own oulk,
and will carry It off to bury in the common
laboratory which transmutes putrefact;on
into, elemental purity. Three flesh-flies,
Linn9us says, will eat the carcass Of a
horse sooner than hungry lion could do
it. The common horse-fy il more delicate
in It's tastes, but as grub, or In its larva
state, it has 3 voracious appetite for decay
ing flesh, and will gobble it up quicker
Union scouts. The tribe of beetles to which
the loathsome cockroach belongs, arc the
most ravenous thing in nature, and carry
off fostering substances quicker than the
cszrion crow. All these insects purify the
atmosphere the same as fishes and frogs do
the water, making IL tit for the use Of hu-
Menity.
Though, as naturalits, we may find profit
and delight in studying the habits Of i'm
eects, and see a compensatory dispensation
in the workings OF nature, which convert .
common and widespread nuisance into q
sanitary benefit, as domestic economists,
We doubt whether any feeling Of respect
the most enthusiastic lover of nature to the
thought of colonizing such insects in his
cupboarGs, or allowing the limited accom-
daiione Of y hsbitation to be devoted to their
entertainment. We know that we are now
occupying delicate ground. and that we
shall have some OF our more fastdjous
housewives down in judgment upon our
temerity for touching subject which
seems solely within the province of their
direction and superintendence. But the
contemplation Of the subject inspires our
SO holiness, and We must drop the suggestive
hint which cones at this time into our
mind; il is for the domestic comfort of
housewives, though it may temporarily
so,lr their teOpers; besides, we like, when
ever opportunity occurs. to give pxacti-
cal application 20 our thoughts. The geo.
graphical. distribution OF insect scavengers
is said to be in exact accordance with the
need for their services. In temperate cli-
mates, where decomposition is slow, their
number is large. In hot and arid climates,
where animal substances dry before putre-
faction, there are none. Apply this prin-
ciple TO our hahitatiOns and We will see
that the abundance OF vermin in dwellings
comes from some cause within our own
control. The uses they subservo can by
no possibility be separated from the idea of
the causes which produce them, and how
ever vulgar the prejudice may be, an in.
stinct of purity revolts at their presence
We have imagined, indeed, that the degree
Of this purity can be measured by the dis
gust the objects themselves produce, and
hence that We may have q tolerably accu-
rate insight into the sweetness and econO-
my presiding over kitchen administration
BY it's total exclusion Of all opportunities
Tor pursuing chronological studies. The
Russians, who are not remarkable for
household cleanliness, are 80 Overrun with
cockroaches that, it is said, they burn their
dwellings when the annoyance Is no longer
toierable. Without advocating the Rus
sian practice, when insurance is 30 uncer-
tain, We think there is great virtue in soap
and hot water frequently and thoroughly
administered, and that il il untidiness and
waste-the scatteEings OF lOOse-handed exc
travagance-neglect and cleanliness, when
left to their own authority and dominion,
which create and perpetuate common
nuisance which Few city residences are free
from.