The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1875-05-26
COLUMBIA.,S.C
Wednesday Morning, May 2e, 1879.
Tho Crass.hopper Plague.

grass-hopper invasion which is:deyastat.
ing several Of the Northwestern States.
Remembering the terrible scourge in
ficted last year by these formidable
pests,4 thee denials published weekaor
two since of some Of the statements of
their ravages were gladly and thankfully
accepted, Itswas hoped, that, the hard
winter had extensively killed the eggs.
Butthis seems to have been the case to q
limited extent only in Minnesota, on the
low. damp lands. The evil now appears
hardly 70 hare boen exaggerated. The
despptnhes published yesterday morning,
from Kansas City, inform us that the
plague Of Egypt had penetrated to the
heaEs o1 that CITY. and that vast army Of
graas-hoppers >was moving North, de-
strSyipg everything before them, not pro-
tected In o green-house. Two summers
suSoes4ively Of .suoh dire visitors must
indeed be appalling. The Governor Of
Missouri has ISSUED bis proclamation, set
ting apart q day, Of fasting and prayer for
deliXeganoe from this overpowering ana
resibtless invasion. The calamity. the
dread it, has struck in the hearts of the
people, their. appeal to Him who sends
rain npon the. Just and the Unjust, who
inflicts disasters and Furnishes wrong
doing as he showers blessings and re-
wards faith, remind us of old Scripture
descriptions, where we read of King
Solomon at the dedication of the temple,
including this soourge among the most
terrible that can befall country, and
commanding tthe people to humble them
selves, and through purgation ask its
removal; . y Z" -
IF there be in the land famine" he
said, ''if there be pestilence, blasting,
mlidew, locust; or if there be caterpillar;
vhatsoever plague, whatsoever sickness
there be; 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."
There is much solace, there is the re-
vival of hope and the renewal of energy
In going in our earthly troubles to Him
who holds US and all things in the hol-
low Of His hands. But it is no less
duty to discover and observe the laws
which He has given us for guidance,
whether they concern the moral and
spiritual or the material world. It may
be worth inquiring whether or not the
caterpillar and worm, which blast the
cotton planters hopes, the fly and rust,
which injure the wheat, or the rot which
assails the potato, as well as the grass
hopper which marches in destructive
armies over the Northwest, destroying
alrwegetation before them, are not all
due to .yiolstions of simple but impera-
tive laws. We cannot neglect the rules
of health without being made pretty soon
to feel the penalty. The laws of nature,
as we phrase them, are as binding as the
moral law. The punishment for trans
crossing them,, though different, is, as
certain in one case as the. other. Many
things which happen to our chagrin. loss
and disappointment in, this domain, are
but the results of our folly, ignorance,
self-will and perverseness. We extir-
pate the fish in our streams, and then
complain that they "bite" no longer.
We destroy innocent. and useful birds,
and then wonder why destructive insects
are sent to afflict us. We cut down the
fresh growth, and then grumble against
drought and food, whose way we have
carefully prepared. And, to apply the
lesson to our suffering citizens of the
Northwestern States, we borrow the
pointed language of the Philadelphih
Times. :
"We have killed off" it says, tall the
wild fowl from the Western prairies, the
most effective enemy that nature pro-
vided for grasshoppers and pototo bugs
and when the insects increase, and We
find that we cannot do what the birds
did, we begin to talk of the mysterious
dispensationS of Providence, or of m.
lures inscrutable, ways. Let US 60 down
on our knees, by all means; we have sins
enough and follies enough to repent
But LET rs NOT suppose that the stupid
cafelessness which has characterized
every step Of civilization on this magnif
cent continent cnni fail to bring its pu
nishInent." 49,
The colored army wagoners and cooks
who were assessed Sic. 900. 900 by Score
tary Stanton during the wnr for the sup
port of INDECENT freedmen, are desiroui
of knowing where the money went