Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1882-05-17
Enemies of the Wires,

Enemies of the Wires,
A writer in Youth and Pleasure says /:
II YOU will kick or pound on telegraph
pole, or place your ear against one on a
windy day, what will it remind you Of?
A hive Of bees? Precisely. So it
does The bears in Norway. Bears are
psssionately found of honey, and when,
iu one of the wild districts, bruin hears
che humn.ing OF the wires, he follows
the sound to the post where it is loud
est and begins to tear away the stones
heaped around the post in rock soil to
steady them. in order 10 get at the
hive which he imagines 10 be there.
In his disappointment and disgust he
usually leaves savage marks OF bis
claws 10 the wood.
Nor is he the only victim OF the wires.
In the electric exhibit ON Of Paris they
show the top OF thick pine telegraph
post through which woodpecker has
drilled a hole several inches in dame
Ter. The bird had apparently perched
on the pole and taken The hunming oi
the wires Tor the buzzing of nest OF
insects iu the wood. and he set himself
manfully-or bir6fully-to dig them
out.
Wolves will not stay in Norway
where telegraph line has been built.
1t was formerly the custom to protect
farms by planting poles around them
strsng with corks, something like rab'
bit snares, and gradually the wolves
came to respect these precautions, so
that line stretched across the neck OF
peninsula would protect the whole
district. The wolves take the tele-
g,aph for new and improved snare,
and promptly leave the country when
line is built.
On our own treeless plains the buffalo
halls the telegraph poles as an ingen-
ious conriyance for his own benefit.
Like all cattle he delights iD scratching
himself, and he goes through the per-
torrance so energeticallY that he
knocks down the post. An early bull
der of the telegraph undertook to pro-
tect the posts by inserting brad-awls
into the wood, but tie thick-skinned
buffalo found the brad-aWl an improve
ment, as affording him new sensation,
and scratched down more poles than
ever.
In Sumalra the elephants are sys-
tema .ically opposed to telegraph lines'
and at least twenty times year make
raids on them. In May, 1870. the
elephants tore down the poles for
distance of several furlongs, and hld
the wires and insulalors in the cane
Jungle, and for three nights in success
sion they repeated the performances as
regularly as the reparers built the line
during the day. The monkeys and
apes are aLont as formidable enemies,
as they use the wires Tor swings and
apezes, and carry of the glass insula'
tors as valuable prizes; then, when
the repairer goes to correct tho mis-
chief, he may he pounced upon bJ
TIGER or driven 10 the post by mad
buffalo.
In Japan the special enemies OF the
telegraph are The spiders, which grow
TO an immense size, and avail them.
selves of the wires as excellent frame.
works tor their webs. SO thick are the
cords the japanese spiders spin that
cflen. esp. clall, when they are cover
ed with dew, they serve to connect the
wires aith each other o. with the
ground, aud so to stop them from work
ing.
Ia the sea the wires are not any
safer as a small worm has developed
since cables came into fashion which
bores its way through iron wire and
gutta pcrcha, lets in the water, aud so
destroys a line worth millions OF dollars.
When a great storm comes on In the
centre of the ocean and the cable breaks
while it is being lpld, or threatens to
break. no Que is alarmed. They fasten
the cable to buoy and coma alter
ward and pick it up, or If it Is at the
bottom of the sea, they drop dredge
with mile or so of rope and fish out
the precious thread, as large as one oil
your fingers, almost as easily as you
would ish up penny from the bottom
of a tub of water with the tongs. But
the little worm no bigger than needle
il more formidable than the elephant
on shore or the hurricane at sea.