The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1878-10-18
Natural History for Small People.

The whale is generally spoken of by po,
cts as ''the monster of the deep" DO
you see how lively he is? The whale is the
most sportive fish under water The
shark can take joke and crack one, but
for broad rifi1ing humor the whale knocks
all the funny almanacs into slivers.
How long is the whale?
Some whales are eighty feet long but if
you ever see one, and rush into printing
office to nave an item built on the fact, il
would be better for your children if you
said that the whale was forty feet long.
L he world can forgive man for exaggera-
ting the facts of a tornado freShet or steam-
boat disaster, but the man who lies about
fish is gone up for that moment. That's
the reason why no true, good man ever
goes a fishing.
''Cau a whale crack q hickorv-nut with
his teeth p
''ie can, but he doesn't fool around with
such trifies. When lie opens his mouth to
bite he prefers to crack a whale boat or a
bald headed sea captain from Nantucket
one Of those tough old fellows who come
back from the Arctic seas and tell about
seeing four moons in the sky at once"
is whales mouth as large as the
Capitol building at Washington p
- haJ's according to whose book on
whaling you have confidence in. Some
writer's can open a whales mouth wide
enough to chuck in most any building,
while others who want to go to heaven
state that no whale could gulp down .
street car, without loosing some of his
teeth. The trouble is that no newspaper
Han ever finds time to go off On a cruise
after whales, and therefore eau secure no
reiabe figures and statistics
'HOw cid do whales live to be -
You have got us now. We never saw
the same whale over three or fonr times,
bat whether they died of grief over that
fact, or swan away to make new acquain-
tances, we could never find out, When a
man tells you that whale lives to be sew
EN-, seventy or seven hundred years old,
ask him to submit the proofs"
"Where are whales mostly found ?''
''In the waller They never come to
land until tired of life and ready for
change"
''How fast can they swim ?''
"That is auother disputed point. a
Nantucket captain says lie one speed
ing ar the rate of thirty miles an hour,
while New Bedford captain sa " one go
ing at the rate OF milea minute. Horace
Greely could have settled the dispute in
his. 'RecolectioDs of Busy Life bus he
seems To have avoided doing so. HOwev-
er, If You are ever chased 10y whale, it
will be prudent for you to make 100 miles
an hour, if you can"
DO whales prefer shelled corn to corh
on ;he cob ~
''No. No we'll regulated whale would
be in the least put out after swallowing a
wagon loaG Of cubs."
''Do whales tight with each other ?"
Not often. II whale comes fooling
around, clustering what he can do and
putting on airs. be is generally rolled in
the mud To- take the conccits ont Of him (;
but, as a rule, the whale prefers to rest his
nose on a coral reef and give himself up TO
planning the social elevation of the walrus
and the squd.
is it cruel to haTpnon a whale ?''
''It is. There slpa!d be a law obliging
the whaleTs To catch their victims with a
noosed rope and stupefy them with chlorO-
form. Continue L. 81" gnod boy, and be
glad that You are nOV i whale"