Knoxville journal. [volume] (Knoxville, Iowa) 1874-1986, 1875-06-03


1t troubleth him not.
Ask the prophets of Kansas;
Ask the wise men of Nebraska;
And they will answer likewise;
But the relief-cemmittee agent lifteth
up his voice and calleth the hopper
Blessed.
The patriotic grasshopper cometh from
the mythical western land, where the
glorious orb of day sinks in roseate
splendor to his evening couch;
The realm of Brigham;
The land of Mormons;
Whence cometh many bad things and
some that are good;
The hopper is one of them;
Several of them;
But he is not good.
He cometh in the latter summer DAYS,
In sun-darkening myriads;
AS the winds come when forests are
rended,
AS the waves come when navies are
stranded.
He alighteth on the potato-vine;
And on the fragrant tomato-tree;
And the succulent roasting ear, whilst
it is yet in the milk and toothsome;
And upon all other fruits of the field
that cometh late into market:
And they all disappear and are seen
after that evil day no more forever.
And the lady grasshopper maketh
straightway her nest down in the corn
field"
And in the wheat stubble;
And upon the hillside;
And all over the sandy plain;
And everywhere else under the sun,
And she filleth the nest with eggs
every day, until the winter days cometh
and the ground freezeth hard, when no
grasshopper can make nests.
And the eggs, are they not ranch eggs9
: With double yolks?
And warranted to hatch?
Yea, verify, and the warranty is good.
And the lady grasshopper's mate, what
of him?
Verify, say unto you, he stitch upon
the sweet-potato vine and singeth all the
gla dsme summer day;
He climbeth up the corn-stalk and lop-
peth off its verdant branches;
He taketh no heed for the morrow;
Nor of the groans and curses of the
irate ranchman.
And in the hottest autumn days he
leadeth the fisherman beside the bub-
bling waters;
And up the steep mountain side;
And over prickly pears;
And through soap-weeds;
And among thorny bushes;
And when at last the fisherman falls
up: his knees and puts his hands upon
Mr. Hopper, where is he?
Alas! he is not there;
But he soareth aloft;
And cracketh his heels together;
And laugheth out of his left optic at
! the fisherman, who is seated on the hill
! side,
Digging cactus thorns from his hands
and knees,
And framing cuss words,
And he will never kneel any more.
And when in the fullness of time the
Wintry days have come;
And stIlled his voice in death;
With Frost's icy mantle about him, he
goeth hence to his fathers,
Content with the fitting close to a
well-spent life,
And happy in the reflection that he
will live again in his children,
When gentle spring shall come again.
And again,
And again, forever,
In the returning cycle of returning
years.
IT'S spring.
Winter hath loosed his icy letters;
Robin Redbreasts carol in the cotton
woods;
The beechertilton trial is well on;
Jenkins busyeth himself writing par.
dons,
And genial sunshine again bathes thu
earth.
Are those eggs spoiled?
Not by jug-full.
In the earliest warm sunny days.
Forth come few millions of the ju
yenile hoppers;
Tiny, mitey, midgeto;
The pickets, the scouts, the avant eour
lers of countless hosts that soon will fol
low;
Ye "hcnest ranchman" laugheth in hi
sleeve, and sayeth:
"Tke hoppers are Matching, sprin,
frost and SHOWS will fix them"
Alas! the fallacy Of mans faith;
The little hopper relies on Providence
And his reliance is sublime;
II putteth the "shoddy" religion o
man TO shame.
Drown him in the floods that woult
have appalled, Noah;
Bury IN in Arctic SHOWS;
Subject him to frosts that freezeth tn
ears OF brass monkey;
incase him in the heart of an iceberg
Let Old Boreas caress him with Chi
ago winds, or fondle him in his icy EN-
SSace, the little martyr calmly folds VI
y arms, draws up his neither limbs AM
suteth.
CIV Nalseth for the next sunrise, when h
,,%; ~ to breakfast gay as school
~ ssa ana with an appetite that is Away
positive luxury.
lou can't kill him. n-Denper Neus.
The Petroleum Industry.
eesau, early history of petroleum
b,n;. Known and employed 70
on Whg iiom remote ANTIQUITY in th