The herald and mail. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1873-188?, 1875-04-23


toes, incurable gum~boils, prosperity
p. bruises, a death by poison, and a iy
,e lchneumOD! A veritable Egypt is Gu
* leoka, not that it is the seat OF art an
e. science, but because OF the plaques sol
st upon the people. The picture given {
the Ichneumon is not pretty, in fact,
is ugly enough to brighten the lawyer
/. the druggists and undertakers, whoI
It he so cordially invites to come to Cul
1t leOka. | tear his appearance in tn
r school will scatter Prof. Webb's schnl
. ars, and they will start for home NOR
!, frightened than the children Of the vii
lage school were, when the tame bea
walked in and quietly took possession
g of the contents of the dinner baskets
: From what L have learned Of this ami
NAL, called Mem for short, that is wha
he aims to do. One man tells me, tina
} he is rat OF Egypt, OF the bigness of {
r cat, which st. ais into the alligatOr'f
mouth when he gapes, and getting hi
6OaOeis, kills him, or e1tdeGUoTS so to do
in other words, he is burglarious and
predaceous, audacious and mort NAV J.
dacious writer on Natural History
says, The Ichneumons are singular ami
mails, having long bodies and short
limbs they creep into very narrow
places and run their slender shouts in
to every crevice in search of food. An
other writer calls it little thing that
tracks the crocodile or alligator. Mr..
Webster defines it thus: An animal of
the genus viverra or mangusta. Its
body is dotted all over dirty yellow and
slate color, each hair being annulated
muzzle black; tail long and terminated
by a diverging tuft. 1t inhabits Egypt
and feeds on the eggs of crocodiles,
mice and all sorts of small amin ais.
| The viVerra is ferret, and the genus
| include weasels, martens, skunks and
| others. The chief characteristics of
| these are a sanguinary disposition, and
| a strong odor. Some of these are very
offensive. They creep towards their
prey on their short legs, with great agil-
| ity and address and are sometimes
| called YernifOrm or COTDtLike carnivOIa.
| asked boy, good at guessing, what
do you think is meant by viYerra man
gWSta. He replied, "living by eating a
man, sort of cannibal." Probably he
had read the old adsge mon disputan-
dun de gustibus," there is no disputing
about tastes. The reply contained a
truth, if we accept the doctrine of meta
morphosis as GdUGncod by an accom-
nlScbal 10 thn
mon origin and descent of man and the
lower animals from their resemblances
to one another. The metamorphOses of
an animal are the changes which mark
not only its size, shape and color, but
those attributes of the human soul,
which are displayed by inferior ami
mails, such as envy, jealousy, malice
and revenge. Without attempting to
explain the mysteries OF science in
volved in this subject, we will state,
that it was favorite theory with the
early Egyptians: hepce, they had their
sacred animals, as cats, dogs and alli-
gators. No native dared to hurt one OF
these divine creatures. The alligator
was held in special reverence. He was
the river-god who kept the land healthy
after the annual overflow of the Nile,
when decaying substances would heve
filled it with stencil and sickness. He
devoured the dead bodies of men and
animals committed to the sacred stream.
The alligator is less aquatic than the
common crocodile and frequent swamps
and marshes quite as much as rivers,
and acts in sickly settlements as street
scavengers do in crowded cities, In
Egypt, he was the genius OF wisdom,
the symbol of science.
The popularity in the taste of the Ich-
neumon was this, no food was sweet as
that furnished from the alligator's
stomach. lie would track, and WATCH
him and whenever the monster gdped,
steal in, and eat up his bowels. l did
not suspect that this species of Ichneu-
mon was in Culleoka, nor in the region
round about; and am sorry to hear he
is there. 1t is possible that he escaped
from Mr.. Barnum, who used to have
one in his show, 'just to show the Hap
by Family that in the best ordered
households there will be a disturbing
member" The boys must not be sacred
and make "renditional render" as the
polite yankee did to the rough looking
rebel" / hope Ed and Shea will not
be left blooming alone, the other Roses
all scattered and gone. There are all-
gators, plenty Of thA". in Mississippi
and "Fluridy." Hiram, little soldier
boy from the land of flowers, selected
two gentlemen who had travelled in for
| eign countries and saw the sights, in
this sententious style; "You jest dry up,
wur down in Fluridy whar L come from,
there are gators eighteen inches atween
the eyes and you may kill one uvum,
and nail him to tree and go thar
year arter, and the thing will be kick
ing. Strangers, my wurd fur it, and !
| knows, they are 91t9hty hard to kill,
gators is, never will a cairyOn crow
come nigh whaT one is till the meat be-
gins faer to fall OF! then they know he's
| dead"
The Changers had a mass meeting
here on Saturday. The officers of Ew-
ell Grange were publicly installed by
| DIR. Maxwell, Master of the State
| Grange. He then set forth the princi
pies of the Order in a speech of consid-
cradle length, but which by reason OF
its interest seemed very short. Ceres
was present, and according to allegory
the day should have been sacred to her,
for Ceres presided over corn and agricul
ture. She it was who gave her chariot,
drawn by dragons, to Triptolemus thrice
plough and sent him to distribute corn
through the earth. So she has had her
feast-days wherever the seed has been
sown. These festivals were held by
both the Romans and Greeks in the
month of April, in allusion to the OPEN
ing of buds on trees and flowers, and
the development of vegetation. Their
entertainments usually lasted nine
days. The night following the first
day was devoted TO the imitation of can
} didates. What the secrets were is not
r fully known, though most of the mem.
, bers we're women. Ono fact, however