Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1885-01-09
THE f FLY.
Desptsed and Dctrsted, 1t Must be Aa.
mired for IT'S Expertness in the Evasion
of Deuth.


Desptsed and Dctested, 1t Must be Al.
mired for It's Experiences in the Evasion
of Death.
Why are flies SO unpopular That
everybody dislikes them everybody
knows. Luther hated and massacred
them without mercy. He said they were.
"emissaries of Diabolus and the ghosts
of heretics," because whenever he was
reading a pious boob, they paraded
around upon it to distract his attention.
Long before Luther's time. however,
they were specially afflicted upon Bel
zebub; the patriarch prince of blue,
bottles. The monks abominated them,,
and said they were immoral. Rclig-
ious legends of the Talmud are to the
discredit Of the dipterous vagabond.
The Mussulman brings his slipper down
on a fly "in the name OF the
In hot countries special engines are
prepared for their discontinue and
neutrality-suspicious. whisks ofhorse-
hair or yak-tail, round flaps Of leather
attached to long handles of cane. San
cho Panza cursed them as enemies to
sleep, and all through Southern Europe
they are under the ban of = universal
eSecration. "Fly-time" is in half the
world a season of t%errors, when COM
merce hesitates to busy itself, social ar
rangements are in allegiance, and every
thing is dislocated andi in disorder simply
because the flies are abroad. One of the
plaques of Egypt was the fly. 1t is one
of the penalties of purgatory. All this is
OF course very much to the discredit Of
this small satellite of man, this impor-
tunate dependant of humanity. 1t re-
sembles the sparrow in its assumption
of familiarity, also in its apparent use
less mission. What object does it
serve? Does it spin silk, or make
honey, or even jam? On the contrary
it eats all it can alight upon, and spoils
more than it eats. 1t routs the pleasant
slumbers of the trec-shaded citizen, and
buzzes in exasperating persistency in
the bl~ind-darkened room. Out of doors
it pursues the pedestrian with a steadi-
ness OF purpose nothing less than he
roic, and when he rests within the
house at1icts him with a m]onotonous
perseverance which, in a generous
mind, should rouse admiration.
Yet. who admires the fly? 1t is true
that Homer compares the valiant Greek
to a fly, and never was smile more apt.
For what a exceed the astonishing
courage of this insect, the reckless in
trepidity of its assault. or the desperate
persistence OF it? Surprising a mar
were out walking and a seven-acre
field suddenly turned upside down with
him, this is what exactly happens to a
lily 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 upheav-
ais of ar apparently solid surface, and
this argues no tritiing degree of nerve
and If the thing were a
blockhead and a Ounce, and got killed
for its clumsiness every time it sat
down. it would be another affair alto
gether; and the %bluebottle would only
be 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 adventures, like Gil
Bias of Santillane,' accept the most APP
palling disasters Of existence with the
indifference of Sinbad, treat bodily
peril with the lofty scorn of Don Quix-
ote.
The fly, in fact, is an expert in the
evasion Of sudden death. It.is assailed
by the equivalents of thunder and light
ming, of cannon fire and volcanic ex-
plosions, 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 Kings horses and all the
Kings men. But against indirect as
sault, what courage is of avail?: Beset
by the Establishments of a false friend
ship, what heroism can be proof? So
the fly finds its end Imprisoned ~treacle,
and the insect that would have braved,
if necessary, the thunders of Assaye.
falls a victim to the sticky insiduous.
ness of the Catch
London Telegraph.