The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1874-09-17

not fable. Many a one has dreamed it,
and dreams it still, and nations will rise
and decline, thrones will crumble, and
entire races will be obliterated from the
face of the earth; but as longas mankind
exists there will also be men who say:
/" i would like to be bigm
A father had two sons; one was tall
and stout, the other short and slim.
Ones name was Tobias, and because he
was little, folks called him Little Tobias
" l want to be big" said Tobias to the
folks who called him Little Tobias.
And he called his brother to his side,
and stood upon the tips of his toes and
stretched his neck, and asked:
cam l bigger now?"
"No," said the folks.
And Tobias, perceiving that he was
not particle bigger, said to himself:
Il will have to try some other plan"
Then he became poet, and wrote
verses as beautiful as those of Schiller,
and tragedies as grand as those of Shaks-
peare, and comedies as sparkling as those
of Moliere-at least, that was what he
imagined-and he fourished them aloft,
and stood upon the tips of his toes, and
asked:
Am l bigger now?"
Then came Criticism and Good Taste,
and stood at his side and measured him,
and said:
No, you are not"
Then Tobias studied philosophy and
science and literature, and wrote a his
tory of the classics, like Vilmar; and a
book proving that life is a mutation OF
matter, like Moleschott; and treatise
showing that the life of a man cores
ponds with what he eats and drinks, like
VOgt; and with these he raised himself
upon the tips Of his toes, and asked:
Am / bigger now?"
Then appeared Reason and Common
Sense, and placed themselves at his side,
and they lowered high above him, and
said:
No, yon are notp'
Then Tobias studied jurisprudence,
and cameralistics, and international law,
and political economy, and geography,
and statistics, and whatever else is es-
sential to qualify diplomat, and then
he was appointed a minister to a foreign
power, and he stood upon the balcony OF
his embassy and demanded:
Am any bigger now p?
Then History suddenly rose to his side,
and Tobias appeared to himself, and to
everybody else, mere pigmy.
Tobias had nearly given up in despair,
when, by pure accident, lie became a
king.
He built himself throne which was
loftier than all the thrones in the world.
Upon this throne he seated himself and
gazed down upon the legions who sur
rounded it, and they appeared to him
enthusiastically small and insignificant,
and he exclaimed, with an air of con-
fidence that was touching:
"Ill bet anything that / am. bigger
noww
Then came Science, and Art, and His
tory, and Civilization, and Reason, and
Common Sense, and Liberty, and Pro-
gress, and many other grand and start
ling apparitions, that raised their fronts
unto the heavens, and stood opposite the
throne.
Then Tobias saw perfectly we'll that he
was as small as ever, and thenceforth was
silent.
Little Tobias still lives.
A TREE THAT KEEPS A STANDING
ARMY.-Here's story that bright lit
tie humming-bird told me the other day.
AS it started from somewhere in the
tropics, it grew to be pretty long ac-
count by the time it reached me here in
New York State; but it is founded
strictly upon fact:
"What makes you live in such a
thorny tree?' said the humming-bird to
one Of her neighbors, who always builds
her nest on the bulls-horn thorn.
It's a capital place." said her friend.
"The thorns keep the monkeys away
from my babies, and the army drives off
all the crawling pests that make house.
keeping so troublesome to little birds in
other trees"
" Armyl What armyT
"Why, our army" said the little bird.
Don't you know that our tree keeps an
army?"
You, may be sure the humming-bird
was surprised to hear that. Twas. And
if | didn't know her so well should have
suspected her of spinning travellers
yarns. But she's honest what she says
can be depended on.
To make long story short, I'll tell
you about that army-keeping tree. It's
thorn tree, you must know, and as the
thorns grow in pairs, curved out like
bulls horns, the tree gets its name from
them. When the thOrns are green they
are soft, and filled with q sugary pulp,
which is greatly liked by kind of small
black singing ants, which are never
found except on these trees, and the
ants, at least in that part of the world.
The ants, bite. small hole near the tip
of ole of each pair of thorns, then grad
ually eat out the interior of the two.
The hollow shells make capital houses
for their young ones, and never go with
out tenants.
How do the ants live after the houses
are cleared Of food? The tree attends
to that. On the stem of each leaf is a
honeywell, always full, where the ants
can sip to their hearts content. These
wells supply them with drink. The
leaves furnish the necessary solid food
in an abundance of small yellow fruits,
like little golden pears. They do not
ripen all at once, but one after another,
so that the soldiers have n steady supply
of ever-ripening fruit to eat, and are
kept busy all the time running up and
down the leaves to see how their crops
come on. When an ant finds a pear
ready for eating, he bites the stem, bends
back the fruit, and breaking it of, car
ries 1t in triumph to the nest.
IL would be a cowardly ant that would
not fight for home like that, and these
ants are no towards. Just touch limb
so as to jar il, and the valiant little SOL
diers will swarm out from the thorns in
great numbers, and attack the intruder
with jaws and stings. Not caterpillar,
leaf-cutter, beetle, or any other enemy OF
the tree can touchVne of the leaves with
out paying the penalty. Thus the tree
thrives, where it would otherwise be de-
stroyed and the ants find their reward
IN snug houses, with plenty to drink and
to eat. The small birds, which hurt
seither the ants nor the leaves, also find
protection with them, and, let us hope,
nay good rent in morning and evening
pongs. Isn't that a profitable partner.