Weekly Phoenix herald., 1882-10-06

|
 shell that is a. hlr,i as the hide ot
 an old Jacksoninn n Democrat or tho
 bark of boarding house peach pie
 The length of the centiped varie:
 very much according to how a per
 son see, it. If the cen!iped watts (
 mention Tn the paper, he has to
 stretch himself out to about nine
 inches in length. We never read of
 one that measui ed less, anyhow His
 body, which is succession of flat
 scely joints, is not quite so broad as
 some jokes gotten off by a circus
 clown, or quite SD wide as some of
 the blanks ia the Phoenix Demo-
 cratic platform, being not much
 broader than mans finger. The
 centiped is built on the iron-clad
 plan, although it does not make
 quite so much noise as the English | fleet did at the bombardment of Al
 exandria The ccntiped itself, is nat
 nus'cal at all, but if it happens 10
 crawl over a man, as it did over my
 friend Tom Grant, it will make him
 musical immediately.
 Its head or bow, comparing It 10 an ironclad, is armed with a pair of pincers which, besides being as ven omous as the editor of party or gan, can bke the end off an anvil. l Each side is armed with about forty short legs. and each leg is armed with a sting like that of a small
 waisted wasp. The centiped termi : mates in pair of hooks which, like its pinccrs, are rcd-hot and still a heating, so we have been told by an innocent yonng man who undertook 10 pick the thir g up by its stem. 1 tell you when the centiped anchors its head in the f1eshy part of live human beIng and throws out it's two grappling irons from it's rear and then draws its eighty odd, very oGd, claws together it will bring tears 10 to the eyes of a stage driver, yes, even to the eyes of an Irish landlord, to see how the little pet holds on.
 The bite of the centiped rarely causes death, but it makes the bitten party wish he were dead, for q short time at least, and leaves an ugly sore. The statement that the bite of the centipcd does not cause death is open to correction. The centiped is very apt to be- one remains" after it bites Q person, as there is quite prejudice against it. For this reason, it is very much secluded in its habits, living in retirement among the rocks of old buildings and logs around Prescott, etc. Its diet is believed to De insects that are not so heavily armed as he is. Why the centiped was created in the first place, and what good purpose it serves arc pro- found mysteries to us.
 One evening, about q week ago, gentleman of this city of a scientific turn of mind was sitting on his front gallery when his attention was called to an extraordinary meteorologica confederation as circus men gener- ally say. A peculiarly Shaped cloud Seemed to reach down from tEe sky and then draw itself up again, very much in the order Of those cyclonic clouds in the State of Missouri. The gentleman was very much interested in this meteorological perturbation, wlich he attributed at first to atmos- pheric influences in the upper cur rents of air, when it occurred to him that the peculiar cloud or water spout seemeI nearer than the hori- zon. He took off hls straw hat and found that his surmise was correct, for fastened to the brlm of the hat by its hind claws WIS beautiful centiped about nine inches long The ptculiar meteorological phe- nomenon was produced by the in- sect's drawing itself up and letting i,self down again in it's efforts to fini nose or some other feature to at tach itself to in order to facilitate its descent, and as the gentleman has but a comparatively short, small handle to his face, the insect was badly foiled and sorely fooled; but, somehow, the gent eman was bit Or scratcheI and the centiped died shortly afterward in convulsions, as if It were poisoned.
 I have found the centiped in bottle of alconol on tn. show cases of some druggists who have an eye to the beautiful in this particular. Centipeds differ from some men. They ..are much more harmless and peaceful in liquor than otherwise.
 With centipeds as with Indians, the only good ones are those that are dead.
 it came to pass that when Noah | opened the ark and turned the pigs | loose on the range, that he lifted up lis eyes and beAeld the centiped as he sat upon the left ear of one of | those pigs, and Noah said unto him: "Behold! thou art even the most | overbearing, cussedest thing I ever Saw hut hecausn of fhv evcaadinr energy, thou shalt have dominion over the sons of men. And bcholdi | the rocks and the rubbish are given unto thee for dwelling place; yet, shalt thou inhabit every dwelling in the Territory in it's season, and the the loose rock and old trash shall be thine forever. And it shall come to pass that when the husbandman