The Waco daily examiner. [volume] (Waco, Tex.) 187?-1888, 1882-04-30
WASHINGTON LETTER.
Mrs. MOhI's Weekly Budget of
Notes and Opinions.
specfa, Cor. Of TIE Esa~jaer.

| WASHINGTON, April 2O.-lle citizens
or rather dwellers, for Washington ha,
no citizens-of the capital were favored
with a copiOus and unique shower o
hail on Saturday, consisting OF tiny pei
let's Of snow instead of Jumps of ice gen
orally used in hail storms. 1t was as
though millions.of fairies were playing
SNOWFALL in the air. On Sunday We had
| a pher smeual snow storm. In the frs
place the oldest inhabitant has not seen
snow fall so late as the 24th of April,
and secondly was confined to an area
of ten TO twelve miles square. North
and west OF us it was rain: the RAIN
| cloud paused over us, when a sudden
fall of the mercury to 81 degrees changed
the rain to snow, which came down stead,
! lily and plentifully for several hours
| then the clouds went south and east and
shed rain on more favored regions
| Scientists here pronounce it very re-
markable phenomenon and entirely I'M
accountable. My washerwoman says it
| fOretel the end of the world fur the
bible says when the snow lays white on
the open flowers and green leaves you
may know the end is nigh" She seemed
greatly relieved when [ told her the
Bible said no such thing, and explained
rs well as could the real text she was
reaching after IN her blindness.
"Now jiss look at that maam! that's
the way the pc black folks is always git
ten foOled-deed it is M.
reject as untenable the theory that
the meeting of the
ACADEMY OF SCIENCES
here last week. in any way caused the
snow storm.
Iattended the meetings of said Acad-
envy very industriously and as usual was
deeply interested in most [ heard,
though some of my favurite takers were
either alb cut or silent. The papers that
interested me most were Mr.. Frank
Cushing paper on "the mythology Of
the Zuni Indians,' and Prof Riley's
paper on insects injurious to orange
and cotton culture" or words to that
effect; and the one that interested me
least was Gan error IN Induction" by a
gen leman | have not heard before and
whose name I forgot. To my intense
surprise this paper reused Newcomb,
and Hildgard and several others to
very animated discussion which | did
enjoy. 10 me it was very absurd. He
began by puttingithree letters, NJ. T., and
). on the black board. Then he said if
you took number Of these letters, hap
hazard out Of hat or any where else,
the Ms, by some occult and myster-
ious process, would become PSI | real
Iy wondered why the venerab e Pres
ident, Prof. Rogers, could let the man
90 on as he did without calling him to
order for insulting the common sense,
to say nothing OF learning-of that
august body; but fancy my surprise to
see the assembled science of America
listen with huge delight and amusement.
There was a big joke somewhere, which
| was to stupid or too ignorant to see,
but which those pundits enjoyed with the
keen, fresh relish they take in fun of all
kinds. No, they were not laughing at
| the man, but with him. as the remarks
| abundently proved, and called it an
interesting paper"
"Hhe Mythology of the Zunis Indians
illustrated, as it were, by five living
specimens of that tribe of Pueblos, in
terested me intensely throughout. Mr..
Cushing of the L. S. Geological Survey,
though quite a young man, has spent
three years among this re pie, and cary
in his Indian career was forced, in order
to save his life, to adopt their dress,
religion and habits. He seems to have
had no religion to speak of before, and
even Zuni faith is better than none. He
is priest of two orders, the civil and mil
ltary. or in Xunis, the "Order of the
Bow and
ORDER OF THE PARROTT.'
Which last order indicates a keen
sense of humor in at least one tribe of
Indians. They call the religious priest
hood, "rhe Order OF Light" One tradi-
ton | will mention " hen the Zunis
were young, there came,to their country
stranger, fair man, who taught them
the useful arts and made them know
that peace was better than war. But
although his words We're wise and kind,
and his deeds full of tenderness and love
to all, although he was wonderful
medicine man, who cured all he tended,
although he was their best friend in
every way, yet the Zunls prosecuted him
and mistreated him for years, until one
| day he went down into the earth and
has never come back again. But the
| God of the sea and stars took him and
set him ON the Throne of Light, where
he still pleads with the Great S irit for
the Zunis, and some day he will return
| to them again, be their king and make
them a great nation. Iconsider this the
possible result of the teachings of the
| Spanish Prize It's, although the Zunis say
! they had this man with them long be
! fore the Spaniards came to their
country. Could some early missionary
Of apostolic days have made his way to
these people and SO lived what he
/ IL, i h. l.. /
with the Messiah in the remOrse-
stricken hearts of his prosecutors
"For we prayed to him long days ard
nights to come back to us, we oud not
eat nor sleep, but he did not come"
In answer to a question by one Of the
academy, Mr.. Gushing said "No, they
are not fire worshippers, although one
form of their most powerful deity Is
fire They do not keep any fire burning
perpetually in their temples, but believe
it dwells perpetually in the roots Of
trees, and once year at very solemn
festival they get the sacred fire tC
use in their offerings by rubbing
two roots together, and Sc
produce a flame All through thei
mythology there are striking cOinciden
ces of a teacher who understood til,
laws of nature and whose teachings livt
still in the hearts of the people but havo
become traditions OF men, as God
teachings had become to the Jews il
Christ's time.
Prof. Riley's paper would have inter
ested my granger readers even NOR,
than it did me. l will give two point
of especial interest to fruit and cotton
er.wers. lie first is the fact-whick NJ
Riley says he has tested entirely to hi
own satisfaction before he gave it to thu
world-that diluted kerosene may b.
safely used on fruit trees, vine shrubs
etc, without any Injurious result what
ever if applied late in the eveninz afte
the sun has lost its power. This / con
slider Of great interest, as kerosene il
, fatal to ordinary insects, is cheap anC
; easily applied by means of a commo
sprinkler, though Prof. Riley recon
mends an instrument by which the solu
ton may be driven upward in ii fin
l pray aud with great force, as the youn.
] insects feed on the under side of tn
leaves and are not hurt by showers iron
] above. The pro 'essor saws the create.