Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1882-11-29

gave way to distraction the whole half
OF the sanctuary on 20 side OF ths broad
aisle being infested. The third sabbath
nearly the entire ediflce was overrun anf
so grievous had the annoyance become
that the church was closed and the he.
roic remedy resorted to of removing all
the cushions, tearing out all the carpets
andrcplacing the entire fittings with new
There is divergence of opinion CON
corning the conditions favorable 10 the
best development of the sand flea lie and
activity. One man says that he has seen
no fleas this year, "because it was an
early wet season." while another aflirms
that a wet season always brings the fleas.
From one authority il is learned that ileas
revel In hot weather, while another is
positive that a flea can only do his level
best when il is cold.
A careful observer has ascertained
that our Normal Art School was first in
tested with the sand flea some two years
ago, and in this light the only wonder is
that, IL the thing were possible, the leg
islative investigation was not more acri-
monious than II really proved. But the
very climax of malignity is reached
when the wicked flea ensconces himself
In the luxuriant folds of the chair occu-
pied by legislative presiding officer.
He then becomes the we'll authenticated
emissary of the evil one. No one appre-
ciates better than the flea that she who
doubts is damned" and he fixes his vic
tim so that he shall "doubt just at the
critical moment. What can be more
unfortunate than to compel political
aspirant to ''go hunting for fleas' just
rs he Is balancing the niceties Of tie
voteP 1t has been asserted that the Ser
geat-at-Arms of certain western Leg
islature was bribed to pack-not eau
cus-but the seats of certain leading
members with sand fleas, the whole
course OF legislation being changed
thereby.
We learn from surgeon in the army
of the Potomac that ileas never troubled
the troops in Virginia during the late
war, but from quartermasLer, who
served in Florida, we gathered data both
instructive and amusing. The troops
about Pensacola were overrun with the
multitudinous and tormenting pest. 1t
was ascertained that sand flea cannot
jump higher than three feet, and that its
longitudinal leaping capacity is about
the same. One method of circumvent-
ing the flea practiced by the officers there
was to strip stark and climb into elevated
hunks, DOMINIC night clothes aloft. This
expedient was inadequate. They then
made immense cotton pillowcases, in
which they buried themselves at night,
gathering the quicker so closely about
the neck as to prove almost suffocating.
But when, one night, the quaftermaster
had bagged himself up until he consid-
cred that hermetical joint had been
secured about his compressed throat,
and, despite those precautions, had been
driven out of night-bag by sixteen ieas
which somehow got in, he abar doned
the experiment and tried another. On
q white Government blanket drawn from
a vessel in the harbor our quartermaster
could easily detect every flea; and,
again, flea cannot jump on q blanket
with long, soft nap-for once a flea
was outwitted. The ileas in the room
were driven upon this blanket and then
dumped into pail of water, where they
could swim but not jump.
The Hungarian shepherds have an
absolutely infallible remedy for ileas;
and it is here commended to an aesthetic
generation. Those Hungarians of the
pastoral crook simply out-Herod Herod,
They "go one better" than the fleas can
in the filth game. They grease thei.
bodies and the inside of their linen s.tl
over with lard, and week or two of
dusty accretions encase them in an
armory impregnable to feas. From
furniture dealers it is learned that costly
furniture has often been subjected To the
naptha treatment, and this avails f,rthe
buffalo bugs, which indulge i'm RI wages
quite similar to those of the saDd neas,
and whose recent depredation9 about
Boston have driven distracted house
keepers to tear up carpets and resort to
every known expedient for eAtermina~
ton. In the interests of suffering pub
lie dozen of Boston's prominent drug
gists have been called upon in order to
discover and publish the great flea sp"
cific. But the results have been So
dubious that il is safe to announce stiii
open field to inventors, and to assure the
happy genius who shall ''cut the corners
of the pestiferous flea that Edison fam.
and Vanderbilt's fortune are as the smal,
dust in the balance compared with the
emoluments awaiting him, Boston Her.
aid.