New-York tribune., 1881-07-17
IN ET Y TINE

Doubtless 1t would be impossible, even if it
were desirable, to say anything new about the
house-fly recently arrived and now buzzing on
the pane. 1t has pretty much all been said.
Said in all languages and largely in profane.
The fly must have been discussed more or less in
the Sanslrit, Coptic and Syriac, besides hav-
lug his character and habits dssected in
cuneifOrm by the early photographers. There
was time when the Egyptians must have had
a good deal to say about him when he ilut-
tered the surface of all conversation
aud was the prevailing scum on every
body's soup; when, in the tgurativc
speech of the baseball field, the Israeites
would have gone ont on the fly if Pharaoh
hadn't fumbed " and "mufled" when there
rest for the tails of the sacred bulls in
the Memphian temples, and the hotel-keepers
in Goshen were advertising, &" No flies here
this season. Hebrews only invited" No doubt
they discussed the fly with great energy
in Egypt that season. The vocabulary of
cjaculatCry profanity must have been
greatly expanded and enlarged in the progress
of time 10y the simple, uuaided efforts of this
earnest, untiring bird. For there are crises in
every mans life when he seems to pass the
point where existing foras of expression seem
adequate, and in a great and stormy burst of
emotion he wrcaks himself upon the vernacu-
lar and adds a forcetul idiom to the mother
tongue.
More often than any other bird the common
housc-Gy goads the carnaI man to this creative
impulse. ln this regard his equal cannot be
found in the entire range of omthol0gv. 1t
Is barely possible that the bird with teeth
which Professor Marsh discovered in the Rocky
Mountains and endowed with composite
Greek name as long rs an elephants tusl
hi sht have had habits which made life a burden
to the early man whose society he trequentcd,
but We can hardly imagine the odOntornithos
arouSing the TrOglodyte from his matutinal
slumbcrs 10y aiShting on his nose and buzzing
into his countenance the trite and unintcrest-
ing announcement that it is sunrise, and the
first bell has just rung. No bird except the
housc-tly does that. Fancy decent and
respectable fowl-Say the 0Strich-doing that
sort of thing. and then, when his Internal
purpose is accomplished, retiring to his perch
on the bcd-poSt, before you can get Il whack
AT him, to sharpen his fore-p and wait for
yon to get to sleep again. Did the ostrich
have the eXasperating habits of the fly he
would be eXterlinated. He would rot be
tolerated even in circus. The ostrich, TO
be sure, is larger than the fly, but the prim-
ciple holds good why should we tolerate in the
fly what we should resent with a double
barrclled gun in the ostrich The truth
is, are too tolerant of the fly
1t has often been remarked, but we take
leave to repeat it here and now, as being in
season, the fly is altogether too familiar on
short acquaintance. He is as fond of sugar as
a Stalwart and he sticks and flies away, and
comes back and pairs of, and is as hard to
put your finger on Senator Forster.
And we are now just in the vcstibule OF the
fly season. We are at the middle of July. but the
fly has only Just embarked upon his mdsum-
mer career. Now he winkS at us from behind
the cnbes of cut sugar. OF filings himself in
playful gymnastics upon the ebon buckle
berry. Already he begins To skate on the
butter dish and lave his foge-foot in the ink
stand he will presently infest the cream pot
and plunge madly into the soup. Then come
the dog days and he prevails everywhere.
Then one experienced fly in a bed cham
Der will do the business of several
muczzins though he wakes the slceprrs to
anything but prayer and family that keeps
fly Will have no use for an alam-cloclx
Then with the coming of dawn's roseate
bues, the suddenly awakened head of the fam
lily will wildly fling his hand across his nose
and say things he viii be sorry for while
the iluttcring bird that woke him sits on
the pillow taking dry wash and musing
over the utter deprayity of mankind. Such
are the days that are coming; such the oxpe-
rcnccs in store. And for the next six weeks
at least we may be sarc that to Mr.. Mallock's
earnest question " Is life worth liviMg2" the
human family viii unanimously respond, "Not
in lly-tmc."