The Louisiana cotton-boll. [volume] (Vermilionville [i.e. Lafayette], Attakapas, La.) 1872-1883, 1879-12-04

it was the first journal ever published,
and what is more, the first that was ever
printed; for it is pretty well settled that
the spread of news by means of written
documents was attempted in Europe at
certain periods long before the day of the
printing press. The contributors to the
Gazette are now and have been for many
centuries, the ablest men in a country
noted for the attention paid to education.
On this account the files of the paper
must, at some future time, prove Of i'm
mence service to the historian who de-
sires to write an account, not only Of the
Chinese Empire, but the Asiatic nations
with which, in times past, she has held
diplomatic intercourse. Although the
paper is published under the immediate
supervision of the Government, this must
be said of it, that its columns have been
open to those holding divergent opinions,
and from this point of veiw it has car
ried out the modern idea of a review
more thoroughly than the modern con-
ceptiCn CT a newspaper. An instance Of
this impartiality can be found in the
recent publication by it of the letter
written by Wu-ko-tu, one of the Board
of Civil Office, Just before his suicide,
rejecting severely on the usurpatious
action of the Expresses Regent. The
intentOf this document Wast to force them
to abdicate, and the arguments against
their further continuance in power were
very strongly given. A civilized despot
would have deemed it advisable to sup
press this seditious communication, but
the Chinese rulers have perhaps shown
their good sense, as they certainly have
their consciousness of strength, by Civ
ing it the publicity its author desired.
Philosophy ana Sclence.-Children,
did you ever stop to consider the i'm
mense power possessed by a bumble-bee?
An insect weighing an eighth of an
ounce is capable of raising" a man
weighing two hundred and twenty
pounds from a bench in the public park
and then having lots Of lifting material
left. Just stop and think Of it! The
stinger of a bee is not neal as large as
the finest needle, but such is the force
behind it that it can be driven through
heavy pants-cloth. backed by merinO
drawers, and into the flesh about sixteen
feet. If a man could WELD a crow bar
in comparison he could drive it through
seven saw-mills and a whisky distilIery
at one blow. Nature could not give the
bee teeth and claws without spelling his
beauty, and to compensate she gave him
this singer as a weapon of attack and
defense. If the bee had no weapon,
ants, beetles and bugs would cuff him
around as they pleased, but as it is he IS
boss of the walk, and won't take a word
from any of them.
The bumble-bee is not naturally of a
quarrelsome disposition, but he can't be
sat down on over half an hour without
feeling as if some one was doing him q
! great wrong. If left to himself he will
| crawl up your coat-sleeve, look around,
and crawl down and 60 about his bust
ness, but if welcomed with a blow be-
tween the eyes he is going to be re-
venged if it breaks a leg. He invariably
closes his eyes when he stings, and You
only to look a bee square in the face to
discover when he is fooling around and
when he means fourteen per cent, per
annum.
The hay-feld is a favorite resort of
the bumble-bee, but you can find him
almost anywhere else if you try hard.
Having no pair of long hind legs, he can
not build his nest in a marsh, like the
frog, and having no beak in which to
carry straWs he cannot nest in a tree like
a bird. He therefore takes to the grass,
| and under the roots of an old stump, or
amidst a pile Of old rails, he rears his
gentle young and gives them printed in
structions as to the difference between
r+;rr11o- civ inch S+nTanIno oDi TI,TNnyTau
boys. The knowledge of old bees is
wonderful. They know where the
schooLbouse is. They know when school
is out. They can sail miles away from
home, get in their work on q farmers
son wedding out corn, and return home
without missing a fence corner or in need
of an afternoon nap. As d rule they are
early risers. Barefooted boys driving
up the COWS at daylight will find the
bumble-bee cut of bed and quite ready
to begin the arduous labors of the day.
Along about shutdown he quits work,
counts noses to see if the family are all
in and then slows himself away for a
night of calm and peaceful repose.
The legs of a bumble-bee are very
crooked. This seems too bad at first
sight, but you will soon discover that
Nature was leye[headed. His legs were
thus shaped to enable him to hang to
the brim of a boys straw hat. Were his
legs straight he could not walk a fence
rail in a high wind, nor could he turn
around after reaching the top of a null
lein stock. The stripes on a bee look like
a waste Of material, but such is not the
case. They furnish an extra covering
over his ribs to keep the frosty air off,
and they serve to stifen his spin~alcolumn
in his flights through the air.
A bumble-bee can fly at the rate of
twenty miles an hour, if he wants to,
but there is no cause for him to fly any
faster than a boy can run. He some
times lives to be three years old, and is
sometimes stricken down before he has
travelled at all. His life is a preearious
one. He mayrun a deacon out of a hay
field to-day, and be the big bee of the
nest, and tomorrow a country school
ma'am may knock his head off with her
umbrella. Nothing in natural history
weighs more for his size than the bee,
and nothing in science works easier
without cog-wheels OF rubber rollers,
than his singer. It is always ready,
never out Of repair, and satisfaction Ito
the bee) is guaranteed in every case.
How Some Boys TaIk.-Have you
not heard how some boys brag about
what they are intending to do? They
are always going to do wonders.
You just wait" they say, "and we
will show you some day what we can
do"
Now IS your chance, we would say to.
you. You are old enough now, and you
will never have a better time. Better
begin now; We are anxious to see your
first effort. Let US at once see you ami
mated by the practical purpose of doing,
not by the dream; and then we will
compute your future for you.
Make an effort. Even if you shall
fail the first time-a hundred times
still continue to try. The result is in.
evitable. IL is only those who falter
that oop,a ~ nr;oe