Iowa voter. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1867-1874, 1873-10-30
The Wicked Flea.

MARSHALL is full Of heas. Every new
town has them. They are the aborigines
of the country. They contend for their
old stamping grounds with more persist
ence than the willy savage. Though lit
tie less dangerous, fieas are Of nearly the
same color as the Indian, and possess
many Indian traits of character, principal
among which is their uneasiness. Fleas
have a special fancy for women, small
children and dogs. Fleas much dislike
the smell of tobacco and whisky, and
hence seldom trouble man. In their
tastes they are much unlike the Indian.
To capture and execute flea coniers
more happiness upon representative OF
the female sex than wearing "a new bonnet
in "A crowd tor the same length Of time.
The reader will please pardon little per
sonal experience with feas.
We will first state that wife and baby
are absent on visit. Also that we can
not afford any "luxHries" while running a
7x9 country newspaper. Hence we are
no better Off so far as fleas are concerned,
than women and barking quadrGpeds.
OF course we board Thinking To save
expense, we concluded To furnish our own
bed put up in a vacant house rented for
housekeeping purposes when our better
half returns. The house was formerly
occupied by railroad boarders. About
five minutes after retiring we experienced
a feeling of a dozen or more needles
pricking different parts Of the body at the
same time Our hands were passed spas
medically about 10 ascertain the cause,
but we could feel nothing unusual. just
then the printer who bunked with Us be
gan series Of quick, convulsive move
meH;s, reaching for his shoulder with one
hand and his left foot with the other at
the same time, changing hands about
every second, and twisting his body like
streaked snake in the grass. Thinking
he had an attack Of ST. Anthony's dance,
we arose and lit the lamp. The printer
said he felt better, but there was some
thing in the bed. Cautiously turning
down the bed-clothes, we discovered what
seemed To be a quantity OF onion seed
nicely distributed over the sheet. Imme-
diately the seeds commenced dancing
like kernels Of popcorn on hot griddle.
simultaneously we shouted "Fieas." and
rushed 10 the attack There they were,
great hungry fellows, that probably had
had nothing to eat since the railroad
hands left, some three weeks before, and
they didn't seem at all inclined to run.
Not until we had killed seventy three Of
the varmints did they beat a retreat.
After clearing the bed and sighting
through one or two unmentionable gar
ments for the twentieth time, we again
sought horizontal position, hoping soon
to forget our troubles in refreshing
sleep. Vain hope Scarcely had the
lamp been extinguished before the i'm
placable foe again assembled in myriads,
and commenced an onslaught upon our
persons compared with which the first
was scarcely foretaste. All at once we
thought of a method of defense which
promised success. We would try kerO-
sene. Quietly the burner was removed
from the lamp, fingers were dipped in the
unusually repulsiye fluid, and we began
our kerosene bath. The neck and one
shoulder were nicely saturated, when
there came TO our mind the horrid remem-
brance Of kerosene incident, which fill
ed us with dismay. Our big brother
once poured kerosene upon the back of a
calf, to kill certain insects less active and
less respected than the flea, and the re-
suit was dead insects-also dead calf
Lucky we thought of il in time. With q
feeling of relief at having cheated some
editor out of kerosene item, we again lie
do xn, thinking the disagreeable smell of