Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1874-02-12
The Little WOrm-Hunters of New
York.
BY OLIVE THORNE


| Pretty little fellows they are. with their
neat brown coats and sharp black eyes
What do they hunt worms for? why, to
eat, of course, and to feed their babies
with, and very nice and fat they get, too,
on that curious diet.
But stop-rll tell you the whole story
OF how they came to live in New York,
for they are emlgrants-like the rest OF
us-and came over in a steamship. Sew
eral years ago colony of worms, or cater
pillars, came to the city and settled in the
trees OF New York and Brooklyn, having
nice time, and eating the leaves, with no
one to modest them
Nobody knew where they came from,
and at first the people did not think much
about them, though they had a disagreea-
BILE way of spinning a thread and drop-
ping down on passers by. But as the
years went on, and the colony increased,
| it got to be an intolerable nuisance. La
dies could not go out without being COW
cred with worms, nor step without
crushing one. The poor trees were nearly
eaten up, and half dead, and at last peo-
| pie had to carry umbrellas, and cut down
the prettiest trees, which were fayorites
| with this disagreeable colony.
| After awhile the newspapers began to
| talk about it, and finally it was discovered
by some naturalist 1 dare say-that
there was little fellow living in England
who just delighted in these very worms,
as you do in candies, and who would eat
nothing else so long as he could find one
of them. So the whole big CITY began to
cry out for this little foreigner, and at last
somebody was sent over to England to in
duce part of the family to emigrate.
By means of boys with snares, and in
| other ways, quite a large family-many
hundreds-of the little worm hunters
was collected, provided with suitable
travelling accommodations, and started for
New York.
In the meantime, the people of that
worm-eaten city prepared to welcome the
strangers, by putting up hundreds of
houses for them, for they don't stop at
hotels like other foreigners, they must
| have their own homes before they can feel
contented to stay. The houses were of
| all kinds, from the rustic, bark-covered
cottage fastened up in the fork of tree,
to the gorgeous white villa, trimmed with
| green, and elevated ON a stout post in a
| backyard.
They put these houses up high, because
| these little fellows don't need front steps
| to get In and out, and they have some en-
emies that do, such as cats and bad boys.
l can't begin to tell you how many
| kinds of houses there were, but anyway,
they were all ready when the strangers ar
rived and were let loose in the city to find
homes for themseles. OF course thew
found the snug houses at once, and bush
els of food every way they turned, so thew
settled themselves without further trouble,
furnished the houses principally with
bedding-and began to raise their fami-
lies
Everybody was delighted, unless it was
the Worm family. don't suppose they
liked it very well, because they didn't
have so easy a time as before. If Mamma
Worm showed her green head out of doors
she was apt to be snapped up in a hard
little bill, and stuffed down the throat of
a hungry little baby, and, naturally, she
didn't enjoy it.
But their good time was past. Their
lively little enemies soon had big families
OF hungry children, and the children
grew up and were able to hunt for them
selves, and then they raised families for
| themselves. And when the weather grew
cold, and the Worm family were ali snug
ly asleep in their coy little hid-away
| houses, the people scattered food out of
| the doors and windows for the Sparrow
family, q don't need to tell you New
| York children their nance, so that they
would not get hungry and home -sick, and
go away. And when spring came, and
the Worm family came out as good as
new, prepared to have a nice time, as
their forefathers had done, there were
their enemies all ready for them. They
| were snapped and disposed of by the
hundreds, and thousands, and millions.
Mr. and Mrs. Sparrow had very little trou-
BILE about their marketing, [ can tell you.
All they had to do was to hop around in
their own tree, and help themselves
But after few years of this sort of
thing, the worms got discouraged-or
else eaten up-and there wasn't one to DE
seen. But the Sparrows grew thicker
and tanner, for no one was allowed to kill
one. And the trees came out beautiful
and green as of old, and the whole biz
city feels very grateful to the pretty little
Worm Hunters from England.
Now the whole city is full of them.
They fly about the streets, among the
omnibuses and wagons of Broadway,
picking up food from under the feet of
the horses, coming down in the depots
and ferry-houses to hunt up any stray bit
Of something to eat, and visiting every
doorstep and back yard for crumbs.
They don't care bit for the country
and the woods, not they, they are sociabie
little fellows, and like to i've among men,
and all they ask is retired home in some
city tee, and plenty of food for their
babies. Oh yes! and morning bath, and
l must tell you what gentleman saw one
Sunday morning in the City Hall Park.
He had to go through there quite early
in the morning, and he saw hundreds of
the funny little Sparrow family at their
bath. That fountain seemed to be one of
their regular watering places, and was as
busy and busting as Newport or Long
branch. The basin was full of water, and
the edge was just packed with the little
bathers, dipping their heads in, fiutterino
and scattering, and dashing the water
over themselves, and their neighbors and
having a splendid time generalIy.-
Christian U1aon.
CURE FOR DRUNKENNESS mixture
made up as follows, and taken in uuanti-