Martinsburg independent. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1875-1900, 1875-05-29
The Grasshopper Scourge.

y
some sections Of the West,th the
severe cold Of the past winter had
killed the grasshoppers, had but q
short duration, and the parasitic
insects, OF which we heard, that
were expected to destroy what the
winter spared. appear to have been
altogether visionary. From South
ern and Western Kansas from Mis-
souri, and Nebraska and from some
parts of Minnesota and Iowa, we
have the most distressing account
of the ravages Of what is now a
completely naturalized plague. The
grasshoppers are still quite young
and small, but they appear to be
correspondingly active and voraci-
GUS, devouring every green thing
in their path. A correspondent OF
a Western paper, writing from
Southwestern Missouri, says: "The
people are all panic-stricken; cat
tie and horses are dying by the
hundreds from starvation i; they
can find nothing to eat, not even
buds or leaves on the trees in the
woods everything has been eaten
up by the pests.o In the neighbor-
hood of st. Joseph, we read, mil
lions OF grasshoppers have made
their appearance and are eating up
everything In Minnesota, where
the eggs were deposited over the
whole territory visited last season,
considerable numbers have been
destroyed by natural CAUSES, espec-
tally in the low damp lands; but
on dry soil, the st. Paul Press says,
sthe eggs have hatched or are
Matching in such numbers that
the plague of Egypt stands fore
Swallowed upon every knoll.n A
letter from Western Kansas speaks
of the grasshoppers, less than a
quarter of an inch in length, swar-
ming over everything. "Rose
bushes and all the plants are strip
ped of every leaf, and not blade
of grass is left; the wheat is COM
pletely ruined" From Southwest
ern Nebraska comes a similar re
port, with the Responding remark
that latter the long and patti
ent work of the State Aid Society.
/ fear all their labor will be LOST :
our farmers mad q great deal ofseed
sent to them, and planted good
crops, only, as we dread to feed our
Egyptian foes.' 1t is the story of
last year over again. only worse,
since those who bore up under
one stripping of their fields
can hardly bear a second.-
The plague described ia the book
of Exodns seems not more griev-
Gus than this; when the locusts
F" covered the face OF the whole
earth, SO that the land was darken-
ed, and they did eat every herb of
the land, and all the fruit of the
trees which the hail had left; and
there remained not any green
thing in the trees, or in the herbs
of the field, through all the land of
Egypt"
In his sublime prayer at the ded-
ication of the Temple, King Solo
mon included the scourge of grass
hopners among the most terrible
calamiIieS that can befalI q coun-
try, and bring its people on their
knees in supplication. IF there be
in the land famine the prayer
proceeds, ''if there be pestilence.
blasting, mildew, locust, or if there
be caterpillar; if their enemy be-
siege them in the land of their
cities, whatsoever plague, what
soever sickness there be; what
prayer and supplication soever be
made by any man, or by all thy
people Israel, which shallIknow ev-
cry man the plague. of his own
heart and spread forth his hands
toward this house; then hear Thou
in heaven, Thy dwelling place,
and forgive, and do and give TO
every man according to his ways,
whose heart Thou knowest.n The
people of Missouri, overcome at
the magnitude of the calamity that
has befallen them, have now be-
taken themselves to prayer, and
the Governor of the State has set
apart a day of fasting and suppl
cation for deliverance from this
scourge. 1t is not now the fash
ion to think as much of prayer as
Solomon thought of it, but at least
we may say that this proclama-
ton from the Governor of Nilsson
ri is fitting recognition of Pow
er higher than mans weakness
The proclamation comes, too, in
rather better time than usual, for
prayer is commonly sort Of last
resort, thought of when the case
appears hopeless, as something
that,at all events.can do no harm.
This time the Missourians are GO
ing to try prayer at the start, and
it is likely to do them good, 1--WE
speak with all reverence,) since
thew can hardly fail to be remind