The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1874-10-01

The insect itself differs from the
common grasshopper. In addition to
its jump-apparatus, it is furnished
with four white wings, which do not
simply help il to hop, but on which
il flies indefinite distances--miles-
perhaps hundreds Of miles. II is no
doub. nearly identical with the locust
of Scripture. The second chapter oi
Joel contains very fine poeticAl de-
scription of an invasion OF locusts
1t might be all literally applied to
these Western plains to-day. They
come like "a strong people in battle
array'-with noise like "chariots
on the top of the mountains-or FIRE
that devoureth the stubble.' .'Thev
march every one ON his own way,
and do not break their ranks
"rhey run up upon the WALL climb
upon the houses, and enter in al the
windows" Before them the people
are "pained, aud all faces gather
blackness. 1.-The land is as gar
den of Eden before them, behind
them desolate Wilderness Man
is helpless before them as before the
elements of God. There is no re
slsting, or destroying, or turning
them. They come like fire or food,
sweeping all before them. There
seems to be no limit TO their numbers
or destructiveness. No matter how
rich country may be, they can lay
it waste while we are looking at
them.
Whence do they come, and whittier
do they gos They are not natives of
this country, neither do they perpetu-
ate their race here. In the fall they
fill the soil with their eggs, and in
the spring the Young grasshoppers
come forth in numbers SO vast that it
almost seems as if the dust itself had
been vitalized. But they proceed at
once southeast
I'm the paths their fathers trod,''
and are never heard of again. Each
invasion is new stock-fresh from
the plains among the Rocky Noun
tains. There they are born and
brought up; but, like Stephen A.
Douglass with Vermont, find it "a
good place to emigrate FROM" Their
incursions are more limited than this
year. One year it is Minnesota, an
other Arizona, another Kansas. But
this wear il seems .to thunder all
around the sky
But will they not prove fatal
objection to that region OF country,
and paralyze its prosperity? Many
of our people, smarting under their
terrible losses, are now almost ready
to say so. We have our ".Job Good
win" here, "who snuff calamity atar
off, as the horses OF Scripture do the
battle. have even heard the pre-
diction that this country will be
found uninhabiialle in consequence.
A single glance will show the alb
surdity OF any such conclusion. All
countries have their drawbacks -
usually in proportion to their advan-
tages. These grasshoppers are one
of the draw backs to this wonderfully
rich soil. But it is So rich hat If the
whole crop were consumed every sec
ond year it would still support dense
population. Bot the grasshoppers
have only come three times in TWEEN
ty ycars-and twice they came SO late
as to do little damage. This year the
ravages are fearful, aud the losses
will count up among the millions.
The western part Of the State-which
is new and dependent on the corn
crop, is completely destitute. In
the older sections, however, fine
wheat crop has been secured, and
half the corn was too nearly mature
to be destroyed. So, doubtless, this
country will survive and prosper not
withstandipg.
The humors of the campaign are
not few. At Topeka they said they
''eat the peaches from the trees and
then threw the stones at the people
as they passed" In Wisconsin they
say "they stopped a train one morn
ing, seized the daily papers, and there
learning that a section had been
missed by them, turned back and fin
ished the job" Stopping the train
is no joke. They have frequently
piled themselves on the track SO ss
to cause the driving wheels to stick
on heir broken bodies. The ladies'
have special aversion to them, as
they cannot walk out without cap
turing from fifty to two hundred and
bringing them home. In church you
can safely assume that every lady
has few score hidden in the folds
of her robes. A sudden twiichng OF
the features, clutching Of the fin
gers, or faint scream, will indicate
that one of these captives has ''struck
for liberty"
The grasshopner is bound to play
an important part III our history. II"
is already an element in our politics.
and parties may yet ride into power
on his back. They are certainly a
mighty people, and whatever we may
think of them, we have ceased to de-
spise them. We have learned to fear
them, and almost to stand in awe Of
them. We fear them for their power,
and we stand in awe at the evident
intelligence that underlies and guides
their movements.-Io Iongf.
People live to good old age in
Vermont. Green mountain air is in