The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1871-02-10
Miscellaneous.
SLANDERED NEIGHBOI.S.

misjudged. Some are praised and hon.
ored for imaginary virtues, which they
never possessed and Others are hated
and prosecuted, who are far better than
their reputation. This Is especially
the case with animals which are not
directly useful to man. He sees every
virtue In those he has domesticated,
because they render him manifold SER
vices but the poor, nocturnal animals,
which are forced to go in search Of
their food under shelter of darkness,
whose life Is unknown to him, and
whose form is not pleasing to his eye
these he views with disgust and perse-
cutes with unrelenting severity. Popu-
lar legends connect them with evil
spirits; superstition endows them with
marvellous but malignant powers, and
gross ignorance ascribes to them a
thousand misdeeds and grievous crimes
of which they are not only innocent,
but utterly incapable.
And yet it is not only the duty of
man, but all-important to his success in
garden, field and forest, that he should
know which are his friends and which
his foes among the countless hosts by
which he Is constantly surrounded. He
may kill his best friends, thinking
them his enemies, as the Indians do,
when they slaughter mercilessly the
little birds, which we import at consd.
cradle cost and entertain with lavish
hospitality, or he may admire and
cherish beautiful creatures, which in
reality are either utterly useless, or ac-
tually his worst enemies. Nor can he
ever hope to be as successful in his crut
sades against really dangerous foes as
appointed for the purpose. All the
professional rat .catchers Of England do
not destroy as many rats in year rs
the owls of a single county do in a
month; to say nothing of the fee they
demand, while the owls do their work
without charge. The difficulty becomes
still greater, when the enemy is almost
invisible, as is the case with many
worms and maggots, which escape our
observation, while the marvelously
sharp eye of the bird or the insect, that
feeds on them, sees them at glance
Thus a renowned naturalist, Fabre, o.
Avignon, noticing that certain wasT
always chose large black beetle, in
order to use its fat body as a depository
for its eggs, was very desirous to pro-
cure two of these unlucky creatures
TO make quite sure of the species, he
managed first to rob the wasp severa
times of its prey on its return to the
nest; but In ten minutes, on an aver
age, the indefatigable wasp invariably
brought new victim home. Then tho
professor himself went on his hunt
armed with his supreme intelligence
land all the ingenious contrivances de
fvsed by mans wit for the purpose
LWhat was the result? After two days
incessant work in vineyards and clover
fields, searching through meadows and
hedge-rows, stone-heaps and waste
strips of land, he returned, crestallen
with three wretched specimens in sucl
a state of mutilation that no wasl
would have thought them worth catch
ing!
Men speak much of the calm peac,
which reigns in Nature! Peace, for
sooth 1t is all war, incessant, merci
less warfare, throughout all the realm:
of Nature. Men lie on the soft, greer
moss, under the dim shadow of wide
spreading branches, near the bank of {
purling brook, at the hour when the
great Pan is asleep and all seems peace
and harmony to them. But nothing il
more treac herous than this impression
That tiny, bright -colored bird, which
the eye follows with delight as it fit,
from branch to branch, ever and anon
uttering sweet, low note, is bent upon
murder, and is all eagerness to catch
the golden flies summing themselves on
the green leaves. The wood-pecker
whose busy, merry knocking is heard
from afar, feasts upon worms and bee
ties which he tears ruthlessly from theil
dark homes and the beautiful dragon
flies, which dash merrily, and as if il
mere wanton sport, across the brigh
water, are even then pursuing theil
own brethren with hideous voracity. l.
the ibis, whom the old Egyptians wor
SHIPPED as a deity, is the stork, viewet
by thousands with Il feeling Of almos
sacred awe; is the swallow, to whom W.
grant home under our own roof-tree
less of murderer than the buzzar(
whom we nail ignominiously to ou
barn door, or the mole whom we xii
without remorse, whenever we NEE
him on his nightly wanderings:
Among the prejudices cherished b,
the masses against harmless animals
few are stronger than that felt almos
universally against bats, arising proba
bly, from the simple fact that they ar
children Of the night, and forced to car
ry on their search after food in dark
ness. 1t may be, however, that thei
peculiar hideousness has given addi
tional strength TO this feeling, for tn
Jewish legislation already declare,
them unclean and accursed, and tn
Greeks borrowed their wings for th
harpies, az Christians have done for tn
devil. A poor, lost bat need but fly in
to a room filled with company and ey
erybody Is frightened. Superstition
people tremble at their mere presenc
as an evil omen, and the stronger
minded among the fair excuse thei
terror by pretended fear for thei
harlan apprehension which could b
well founded only, If the accounts {
insects being harbored in their CHG
, mons should be verified. 1t is trut
> these children of darkness are neitht
1 fair in form nor amiable in temper
4 The naked, black skin Of their wing
) stretched out between their enormousl
= leng gthened fingers, like the silk of a
0 umbrella between the whalebone
7, the frame, the ugly claws of their hin