The Kenosha telegraph. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1860-1888, 1875-10-07

which fall upon their tops. Some of
this snow slowly melts and runs down
the mountain sides but much remains,
and so the mountains grow higher, year
by year, as each seasons snowfalls upon
/ that left there the year before.
THE MEANING OF HURRAH."
Who can tell the meaning of "hur-
rah?" Jack used it just now little
thoughtlessly, considering its true sense.
The pretty schoolma am says it originated
among the Eastern nations, where it was
used as war-cry, from the belief that all
who died in battle went to heaven.
ssTo Paradise!" (burrGg , men shout
ed to one another, by way of encourage
ment, in the thickest of the fight and,
so, in time, came orr word "hurrah 70
which means almost anything you choose,
SO that it be of good cheer.
THE spIRE OF ST. NICHOLAS.
Have you heard the news, my pets (?
The birds are full of it, and they wish
ne to tell it to the army of bird-defend-
ers, with their compliments. The spire
of Strasburg is no longer the highest In
Europe. What is, then? Why, the
spire of ST. Nicholas, to be sure-the
great church of ST. Nicholas, lately COM
/ pleted at Hamburg! Strasburg sends its
beautiful steeple 1876 feet into the air,
but ST. Nicholas tops this by six feet-a
clear reach of 472 feet, my beloved-the
highest spire in Christendom.
WHO CAN COUNT THE STARS.
Did you ever try to count the stars
used to try to do SO myself, but some
how always fell asleep before I could
get through, and when / woke up could
not tell where / left off. I'm told,
though, that it has been done, and that
there are only about eight thousand visi-
bic to the naked eye. Don't they make
a great showfor number no larger than
that ? But the Raven tells me that his
master, the Astronomer, says that those
we can see with our eyes alone are but a
very trifle compared with the number
that we can see through his telescope.
He says, for instance, that there are
eighteen millions of stars in the Milky
WAY. Now it's of no use I can't even
think of such number as that. Ny
head isn't big enough to hold them.
RATS IN A TREE.
MACON, Ga.-DeGr Jack: / want TO
tell you of something rather curious:
Some years since, occupied a summer
residence in Georgia, surrounded by
mimosa trees of fine, feathery foliage,
with pods rather shorter than those Of
the sweet locust. These pods were filed
with hard, shiny brown seed, often used
by the children for making baskets,
bracelets and necklaces. For several
days noticed, after dark, g. great rust
ling in the tree near my window, as if
the birds on its boughs were peculiarly
restless. [ did not, however, pay them.
much attention, till one evening, sitting,
by the window in the twilight, leaning
on the sill and enjoying the cool air,
gradually became conscious that the
birds were very odd. They seemed to
have no wings, and their tails were long
and stringy, whisking from side to side,
as they ran back and forward with great
agility along the crooked limbs. After
gazing with increasing wonder for some
moments, I called the children. The
moment they arrived, the birds disap
peared; but standing quiet as mice,
we soon saw first one, then an
other small head, with its black,
sharp eyes, peer from under the caves
of the house, then spring quickly to the
nearest branch; and we now discovered
that our birds were not birds at all.
They were not even flying squirrels, but
large brown rats, that lived and fourished
in our roof, and came out to regale them
selves upon the seed of the mimosa, and
gambol among it's boughs. We saw one
greedy rat, in his eagerness to secure a
very tempting pod, slip from the branch
with a squeak of fright, Instantly fol
lowed by a squeak of pain from another,
as, in his frantic efforts to catch hold of
something, he caught his neighbor's
hanging tail in his mouth. This second
rat, in his desperate effort to get away,
dragged the hanging rat near enough to
grasp limb and release the suffering
TAIL During this struggle, the whole
colony stood still, looking on, and squeak
ing in sympathy. The pulling and |
crunching of pods to get the seed, and
the dropping of empty shells on the
ground, sounded like the soft pattering /
Of rain.
The children and I amused ourselves |
till supper time throwing brooms,
brushes and shoes into the trees, to see |
on the instant the busy crowd disappear
Like magic, but with none of the hutter |
and twittering of birds. They would be |
gone without sound. These tree rats |
were source of interest the whole sum-
mer, and we spent many pleasant hours
irving to distinguish them apart, giving
names to some and counting the baby
rats added occasionally to the crowd. -
st. Nicholas for October.