The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1875-02-26
LECTURE ON THE EAT.

Milan has society which enjoys the
.euphoneous title Of the Bear Club It
hold It's meetings enthusiastically, and
discusses variety Of subjects, among
which Natural History comes IN for its
share. The Milan Advertiser has re-
Gently undertaken to give reports of the
proceedings, and on a recent occasion
when the subject of ''The Bat" was I'M
der consideration it thus reports the
lecture of the "Bear," who had been
chosen for the occasion:
Brethren of the Bear Club, in re-
sponse to your generous invitation to
deliver a short lecture upon ''Bats, and
the incidental questions submitted with
the subject, 1 am here tonight, and
without consuming your time by intro
ducing remarks, will at once take up
the subject, A little boy, once being
required to spell the word bat and de-
fine it, replied, "B-a-t-Bat, little ami
NAL, about the size Of a piece, of chalk
flies about at night and can see best with
its eyes shut" and that little boy was
not so far out Of the way either, as there
are various sized bats, as well as various
kinds of bats. There is the common
bat, and the long-eared bat, the YAM
pire bat, and the Kalong bat, the Noe
tule bat, and the greater horse shoe bat,
together with about 130 other species OF
bats, to say nothing of the brick-bat, the
baseball bat, the acrobat, and the bat
along -side-your-head, the latter species
being commonly in use among children
of pugnacious disposition. Bats, as o
general thing, have an affection for in
sects, which occasions them to seek
their company, though the liking is not
known to be reciprocal. They are
neither fish nor flesh and though Their
locomotion is in the air, they are not re-
garded as fowl, although like the base
baller, they are ''out on fowls at nights. y
Their early education was evidently
very much neglected, as they have ac-
quired a habit of roaming about at
night, not essential to good morals.
Some of them are very diminutive bats,
while others are rather gigantic and
when out on an excursion carry spread
of five feet or over, from tip to tip. The
Vampires are regular blood suckers
while the acro-bats are noted for feast
Of strength and dexterity. The latter
class do not have wings, but GO
flying through the air in a very
exciting manner at times. This
class usually inhabit circus tents, and
are mainly of the masculine gender,
though occasionally one of the softer
sex appears among them. The audience
1 have noticed, are usually more inter
ested when there is one of that kind
with the show. Brick-bats are about
the ugliest of all the bats, and have
seen a shower OF them disperse a crowd
about as quick as fire engine, when the
stream happens to point in the wrong
direction.
There is one peculiarly about the bal
which would indicate that it is kind
of second cousin to the woodchuck. Il
freezes up in winter, and thaws out ir
the spring, when it becomes as lively af
cricket. But whether it makes its ap.
pearance on the I'd of February or not,
its historians do not relate. A friend Of
mine once found frozen bat in mid
winter, and being of an inquiring tur1
of mind, as well as philanthropical in
disposition, he wrapped it up in fan
mel cloth and carried it into his study, il
order to watch the process of resuscita
ton. He tended it carefully for few
days, but one day when he had business
down street. his better half got hunting
round for dead rat or mouse which sht
had reason to believe was in his room
and somehow the bat disappeared ant
was never seen any more. Whether i
came to and "lit out" while he was gone
or what became of it he never could dis
cover. 1t is barely possible it had beer
frozen a little too much--overdone, as
were, and was mistaken by his wife TO
the dead rat she was looking for.
also notice that my friend is not S,
much interested in the study of natura
history as he was before. He don
seem to care whether bats resuscitate o,
not.
Bats are not very desirable birds t,
have round the house. They are sure t
create quite commotion, and call int
requisition all the old brooms and sun
dry other articles which the household
II