The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1885-05-07
THE HUMAN MOSQUITO.
A Creature Which Exists But to
Torment.
How He Wounds and TOrtures his Hap
less Victims-The Different Varieties
of the Species-A Possible Rea-
son for his Existence.

of the Species-A Possible Rea-
son for his Existence.
He is ubiquitous; and, taking him
morally, he has solved the problem OF
perpetual motion; for he is never quiet,
never tranquil, and as for letting well
or his fellow creatures alone. he does
that as little as he pays the national
debt. Like his chronological proto-
type, the human mosquito has various
methods of attack. Now he comes on
you silly, without note of warning pre-
facing attack, and the first proof of his
presence-a sting: now the shrill dis
cordance of his challenge rouses you to
attention and the vain attempt at de-
Tense and retaliation. For you can not
defend yourself nor yet re:aliate. The
human mosquito is too subtle in his at
tack to be evaded, too quick in his re-
treat to be caught; and your hands only
fight the air, when they do not fall, like
boomerangs. with a sounding blow on
your own pate.
The life's business of the human
mosquito is to wound, and his mildest
pleasure is to annoy. Woe to you, poor
hapless wight, if, in weak moment.
YOU have allowed the tormentor to find
out your sore places or discover the
secret of the weak joint in your armor.
HencefOrth you may bid adieu to peace
for so long as this creature is within
hail. He never lets drop a subject which
he knows is painful; and when he has
once been able to make you vince, he
never wearies of repeating the expert
ment. 1t is such fun to him to see your
lip culver, your cheek blanch, your eyes
flash with Unsurpassed fury, if you are
a man-with VoiceleSS Scorn or darken-
ing tears, if you are a wOman-such
fun! He would not forego that pleasure
for worlds, life, indeed, having no
greater to bestow. TiviSectiOn? Are
there not men who would vivisect for
the mere love of torturing, and the
brutal curiosity of seeing the victim
behavior under pain? So in like man
ner does the human mosquito torment
and torture you for the mere love of
the sport and to make YOU dance to
his piping. shod in the red-hot shoes of
the German fairy tale, is rs exquisite
a delight to him as were the
cries of the racked hereto to Torque-
mazda, as are the fluttering agonieS
of the wounded bird TO the snake. Has
Your favOrite son proved failure, with
passages in his history Won would
rather not remember, still less have
remembered by others? The human
mosquito never meets You without ask
ing carefully after Young Graceless -
where is he-what is he doing and has
he paid his debts yet? and is that SEN
tence of Outlawry rescinded? and what
a grief it must be to YOU that one who
promised so well when he was lad
should have kicked over the traces to
such an extent as he has donei Did
YOUR daughter run off with the penniless
Lieutenant. and are you VIGOROUSLY I'M
recOnciled to the marriage-hOpeless
as is your diSpleasure? The human
mosquito takes every opportunity of
speaking in your presence of the regi-
ment to which your unwelcome son-in-
law belongs; and though he can not tell
YOU personally, does tell your neighbor
in your hearing. where it is, what
it is doing, and how this officer
and that have distinguished themselves
aud been rewarded, your undesirable
connection being cOnspicuouSly absent
from the roll-call of merit. If your old
aunt has died and left you nothing,
while she favored your cousin and made
him her heir, TO your not unnatural dis
appointment. the human mosquito de-
velopS the most extraordinary interest
- i ~ Il
YOU of his well-being under his new
honorS, or gives you anecdotes of the
Splendor of his surroundings and the
astounding luxury of his home-anec-
dOteS which set your teeth on edge,
hampered as you are in all your goingS
and comingS. Or, if it be the other
way, and you have been the favored
and the rightful heir has been diSpOs-
seSSed, then does the tormentor regale
You with narrowing accounts of the dis.
graced ones trials and penury, and the
bitterness of his disappointment which
clings TO him like NeSsuS shirt, poison
inc the very current of his blood.
Not to be successfully fought, not
to be captured, not to be barred out
this tormentor of mems lives is as ter
the air and bring woe illimitable to al
who breathe them. Your only chance
with him is impenetrable reserve; wrap
ping yourself up in silence which moth
ing can cause to break into confidence
or self-betrayal; showing demeanor a.
stolid as triple wall of brass; suffo
eating your feelings, your very thought.
as though they were crimes which would
land you in the county jail if repeated
aloud. This is your only chance-thC
sole kind of moSquito-net which will pro
tect YOU. No appeal to reason will b,
successful; still less VIII have chanc'
of an appeal to feeling, humanity, graf
itude. OF gratitude. indeed. he has NJ
more knowledge than he has of the orr
gin of life or the cause of capitalization
for ingratitude is his characteristic, a
with some kinds-insolence is tn
method. Like the brute which turn
aud rends the hand that has fed him
this kind of creature, this human mos