Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1879-10-17
The FrOlicsOme Fly,

mer, there are few which seem more
glad to see US, and who like better to
stay with US, than the frolicsome fly.
How lightly and airily he whisks in at
the open window, or doorway, with
hum and a buzz of his wings that
seems to say Hello Here we are |!
glad to see you once more" And then
as he goes humming all round the room
to see what changes have occurred since
he was last here, and, as he buEzes
against all the windows, taking q peep
into the garden and across the street,
you can almost hear him talking to
himself. If you could hear him, you
would probably find that he was making
good resolutions for his summer life.
He says to himself: Now I'm going to
stay with these people all summer, for
they have fallen into shocking bad
habits since the flies were here last sum-
mer, and l will make it my duty, with
the help of the other good flies in this
house and neighborhood, to give these
people good course of training in
self-control, in early rising, ,and in
many other good and valuable traits of
character which it is desirable that ev-
cry person, old and young, should pos
sess. My first duty will be to fly into
the different sleeping-rooms very early
in the morning, and, after buzzing in
the ears of the lazy sleepers to make
them have bad dreams, will gently
wander up and down their faces, and
give them bite that will be pretty
sure to awaken them, and will fly and
buzz about them all day, and give them
plenty of chances of controlling their
tempers and learning not to mind little
annoyances.'
1 certainly think that the fly would
say that he bit you. but he would be
wrong, just as every one else is who
say that flies bite; for they don't bite
because they cannot bite; they haven't
any jaws to bite. But the tongue is
very large, and the end of it, which is
round or oval or heart shaped, has lit
tie ridges running across it. so that it
looks just like little file; and it is a
file, and very good one. too. SO the
fly does not bite, but he rubs this file
of his so rapidly, and it is so hard, that
you might as we'll be bitten, as fur as
the effect of waking you up is concerned.
Then the fly continues:
But, after all, it's pretty discourag-
ing trying to do anything for these PEG
pie, they are so ungrateful and cruel.
They always abuse ne, call me great
nuisance, and l verify believe that
they would not hesitate to kill me if
they had good chance. If they do
not appreciate the training am giving
them now, should think they might
remember the work did for them be-
| / Hx- nj Io 1,o, f,,I f,>r
that. Perhaps, though, they think that
was always q fly and nothing else. so
1 must not judge them too harshly."
Well, this fly, of course, had u
mother. fly, and she laid lot of very
small, shiny, brownish-white eggs, and
when each one of these little eggs
Matched, there came out funny little
yellowish- white maggot, not very act
i've, but very. very hungry. The ap.
petite that these little fellows have is
something really wonderful, and this it
is that helps them to be of such good
use to man. For while they are mag
gots they live around the barns, and eat
up old decaying material that is filing
the air with poisonous gases which
might bring sickness to great many
of us. One little maggot could not eat
very much, of course; but there are so
many Of them, that what they all cat
amounts to a great many hundred wag-
on-loads every year. This is the good
work that the fly spoke Of when he said
that he had done great deal for us be-
fore he became o fly; and you see lie
was right. After the little maggot has
eaten all he can and has grown all he
| 1,r 81, a. ..l 4,
He then becomes shorter and stouter,
stops eating, remains quiet, and in q
few days changes into a small, dark
reddish-brown chrysalis, about quar-
ter of IN inch long. He only lives from
eight TOT fourteen days as chrysalis,
and then, some bright morning, the
skin cracks all along the back, and out
comes Mr.. Fly. He is little stiff and
lazy at first; he comes out drowsily,
stretching his legs, and slowly waving
his wings, after his long sleep of nearly
two weeks. But the warm sunlight
soon takes the cramps out of all his
joints, and, spreading his wings, he
takes his first fight.
He keeps frolicking on until he
reaches the woods, where he finds two
flies so much like himself that he thinks
they must be his brothers; SO he alights
near them and introduces himself. They
are not his brothers but they belong to
another family and are sort of cousins
of his.
I They have nothing like Ale or rasp,
as he has, but in place of it they have .
proboscis, and on the|upper sideIof it, in
q little groove, there are four slender,
very sharp, needle-like organs. They
can thrust these sharp little needles into
an animal and then suck out the blood.
This is the way, too, in which a mos
quito, who is also q fly, bites" as we
usually say; yet. of course he doesn't
really bite, but he pierces" you with
his little needles, Of which he has six.
Now, have only time left to tell you
how you may distinguish a fly from
other kinds of insects. A fly has only
two wings, just one pair. while other in
sects-bees, butterflies, beetles, squash
bugs, grasshoppers and dragon. flies
have two pairs.-S. F. CLARKE, in st.
Nicholas.
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