The People's vindicator., 1875-07-10
Do you feel 'em Crawl ?

Do you feel 'em Crawl =?
lie was from Nebraska. 11o had
eaten nothing but grasshoppers since
the 4th of July, 1874, and his stom-
ach was in an awful condition-it was
full of grassl,oppers! Ho could feel
them jumping about and trying to
kick their way out, but their toe-nails
scratched his alimertary canal, and a
spasmodic movement Of the muscles
of this thorax, forced them back into
the cavity before they reached tho
root of his tongue. He had left a
wife and nine famishcd children at
home, and come to st. Louis to coll
lect funds to save his neighbors from
starvation. He had not been success
ful-perllaps because his 'crcden.
tials' were not strong enous h. And
now, if that barkeeper would accom-
modate him with spoonful Of whis.
ky-it was the only thing that would
keep the grasshoppcrs quiet in his
and safaRscit it ,.S kinder stuperea t4e%, m,
several hours, but as soon as they
became sobered up, they became live.
ly as crickets, and played leapfrog in
the pit of his stomach. He killed a
good many Of them with whisky, but
their eggs were all the time Matching,
and he belicd there were at least TO-.
600 live ones OCCUPYING the space de-
signed by nature for the laboratory of
bread and meat and such other things.
He had no money, and if the barkeep-
er would trust him for a few drops Of
crow foot, he would remune,ate
him out of the first collection for the
sufferers. By adding a little pepper.
mint aud few grains of sugar to the
liquor, the medicine would I've made
more potent; or if there was no pep
permint convenient, o drop of ginger
would do as we'll.
The barkeeper deeply sympathizel
with the grasshopper-stricken people
Of Nebraska. He piticd any man
who had grasshoppers in his stomach.
If whisky and peppermint and ginger
or anything else his BARRON afforded,
would relieve him, no was welcome
to partake. He could not accept
thanks for SO small a favor: was only
sorry he didn't have whisky and
peppermint enough to destroy all the
grasshoppers in Nebraska.
The barkceper poured two table,
sp0onfuls of the essence of Jamaica
ginger into Il tumbler, added an equal
quantity of pepper-sauce, shook in a
thimbleful of cayenne pepper, empti.
ed small vial of sulphuric acid on
top, and then sprinkled q few drops
Of tanglefoot over tho mixture, and
handing the tumbler to the Ncbras.
khan, told him to "swallow it quick >
The grasshopper-plagued stranger
waited for DO second invitation, but
poured the decoction down his throat
at one swallow.
elbow do you like iti" asked the
hnI'i iaeg ggffssssnoppered lndlvluual ,uaue
no reply. His eyes rolled in their
sockets, and the tears ran out Of them
in streams. His mouth was open
wide enough to swallow the barkeep-
er and all his decanters. He placed
both hands over his stomach aud cast
an imploring glance toward the water
pitcher. !. 'f' >
"Do you feel 'em crawl Z" said the
barkeeper in the anxious tone Of q
sick nurse. -a.
The stranger made no reply, but
continued to press his stomach, and
watered tie floor with his tears:
"Take some of this horseradish," /"
said the barkeeper /; ."it will do you
good"
The stranger still made no reply,
but gradually his mouth grew small
er; and his lips contracted, and the
air rushed into his throat with q
whistling sound, like the winter wind
through a broken window pane.
At length the barkeeper took com.
passion upon his writhing customer
and gave him q glass Of ice water to
cool lis throat. When tho stranger
was able to speak, he looked reproach.
fully at the "medicine man" aud said
''See here, stranger, if that's the
kind Of stuff you give q man for
grasshoppers, Id like to know what
in - you'd give a fellow if he had
a tape worm !"