Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1884-08-31

4 Dissertation on the Most Unpopular of
Guests


Why are flies so unpopular? asks the
London Telegraph. That everybody dis
likes them everybody knows. Luther
hated them and massacred them without
mercy. he said they were ''emissaries of
Diabolus and the ghosts OF hereties," be-
cause, whenever ne was reading a mons
DOOR, tney paTanctu about upon it to dis
u "0' - attention. Long before Luther's
time, however, they were specially affili-
ated upon BeeIzebub, the patriarch-prince
of blue-bOttles. The monks abOmiuated
them and said they were immoral. Reli-
gious legends of the Talmud are to the
discredit Of the dipter0us YagabOnd. The
Mussulman brings his slipper down on
fly sin the name of the prophet" In hot
countries special engines are prepared
for their discontinue and destruction
pr0digIOus Whisks Of hOrsehaiT or yak-tail,
round flaps of leather attached to long
handles of cane. SanchO PanZa cursed
them as being enemies to sleep, and all
through southern Europe they are under
the ban of a universal eXecratOn. Fly
time" is in halt the world a season OF ter
rOrs, when commerce hesitates to busy
itself, social arrangements are in abey-
ance, and everything is dislOcated and in
disorder, simply because the flies are
abroad. One of the plaques of Egypt was
the fly. 1t Is one Of the penalties Of pur-
gatory. All this, of course, very much to
the discredit of this small satellite Of man,
this importunate dependent of humanity.
1t resembles the sparrow in its assump-
ton of familiarity, and also in its appar-
1t server Does 1t spin silk, or make
honey, or even jam? On the contrary, it
eats ali it can alight upon, and spoils
more than it eats. 1t rOuts the pleasant
SAUNDERS Of the tree-shaded citizen, and
buzzes in eXasperating pertinacity in the
blind-darkened room. Out of doors it
pQrsues the pedestrian with a Steadiness
Ofpurpose nothing lest than heroic, and
when he rests within the house, affiicts
him with a mOnOt0nOus perseverance
which, in a generous mind, should arouse
admiration. Yet who admires the fly?
1t is true that Homer compares the val
liant Greek to a fly, and never was smile
more apt. For what can exceed the
astonishing courage of this insect. the
reckless intrepidlty of its assault, or the
desperate persistence of it? Supposing
man were out walking, and a seVen-acre
Held suddenly turned upside down with
him, this is exactly what happens to a fly
every time you Whisk it off your hand.
Yet it comes back exactly to the same
spot! what man OF us would DO as
much? 1t is true that the fly has made
itself familiar with such sudden up
heavals of an apparently solid surface,
and this argues no trifling degree of nerve
and resource. II the thing were block
head and Ounce, and got killed for its
clumsiness every time it sat down, it
would be another affair altogether: and
the blue bottle would be only a kind of
Mr.. Feeble, who gave in to the first giant
he met. But this is not so, for in the
matter of lives it takes about nine cats to
make one fly. They graduate in adven-
lures, like Gil Bias of Santillane, accept
the most appalling disasters of existence
with the Indifference Of Sinbad, treat
bodily peril with the lofty scorn of Don
QuiXOte. The fly, in fact, is an expert in !
the evasion of sudden death. 1t is as
sailed by the equivalents of thunder and
OF cannon, fire and volcanic
explosion, but escapes them all. Dyna- |
mite is sprung upon it without avail. 1t |
laughs to scOrn the shaking of a spear.
Honest hostility, in fact, is Of no use. 1t |
would not care in the least for all the I
kings horses and all the kings men. But |
against indirect assault what courage is |
OF avail? Beset by the blandishment of |
a false friendship, what herOism can be /
proof? SO the fly findsit it's end in poisoned |
treacle, and the insect that would have I
braved, if necessary, the thunders of AS
sage, falls a victim to the sticky insidi- I
BUSINESS Of the F'KiIl-em-Ouick -