The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1885-02-28
rAE FlTFuL'l Fly.
Despised and Detested, 1t Must be Ad-
mirsd for Its Expertn ess in the Evasion
nf naath


Despised and Detested, 1t Must be ADJ
mired for Its .Expertn ess in the Evasion
= of Death. ,,f. do
Why are flies SO unpopular That
everybody dislikess them everybody,
knows. Luther hated and massacred
themwithout mercy. He said they were
''emissaries of Diabolus and the ghosts
of heretics,n because whenever he was
reading, a pious book, they paraded
around uponit to distracthis attention.
Long before Luther's time, however,
they were specially afflicted upon Bel
Eebub; the patriarch prince of blue
bottles. The monks abominated them,
and said they were immoral. Relig-
ious legends of the Talmud are to the
discredit of the dipterous vagabond.
The Mussulmanbrings his slipper down
on fly sin the name of the
Prophet 8ea saeet
+ In hot countries special engines are
prepared for their discontinue and
destruct --prodiglous whisks of horse
hair oryak-tail, round flaps of leather
attached to long handles of cane. SAM
icho Panzal cursed them as enemies to
sleep, and all through Southern Europe
they are under the ban of a universal
,eXecration. q Ely-tmen is in half tho
world q, season of terrors, when COM
merce hesitates to busy itself, social ar
rangements arc in allegiance, and every
'thingsis dislocated and in disorder simply
because the flies freabroad. One of the
plaques of Egypt was the fly. 1t is one
of the penalties Of purgatory. All this is
ofcourse 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
serveP Does it spin silk, or make
honey, or even jamP On the contrary
it eats sll it can alight,upon. and spoils
more than it eats. 1t routs the pleasant
slumbers of the tree-shaded citizen, and
buzzes in exasperating persistencyl in
the blind-darkened room. Out of doors
I it pursues the pedestrian with q steadi-
ness. of purpose nothing less than he!
roic,k and, swhen he rests within the
house atfiicts him with monotonous
perseverance which, in a. generous
mind, should arouse admiration. q
Yet, who admires the ilyP 1t is true
that Homer compares the valiant Greek
/ to a fly, and never was smile more apt.
For wh$t can exceed. the astonishing
courage of this insect, the reckless in.
.trepidity of its. assault. or the desperate
persistence of itP Surprising. a man
were out walking and seYen-acre
field. suddenly turned upside down with
him, this is what exactly Happens to a
fly every time you whisk il Off your
hand. Yet it comes back exactly to
the same spoil What man of us would
/ do as muehPl It,is true that the fly has
made itself familiar with such upheav-
ais OF an apparently solid surface, and
this argues no 'trillinG degree of nerve
and resource. If the thing were o
Sblockhead 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. -. So .--5ai'' sf=
70 The fly, in fact, is an expert in the
evasion of,sudden death. 1t is assailed
by theequiyalents 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 uses 1t would not care in the least
for all the Kings horses and all the
Kings men, But against indirect as
.saplt, what courage is of availp Beset
by the Establishments of a false friend
ship, what heroism can be proof So
the fly finds its end in poisoned treacle,
andyt insect that would have braved,
if necessary, the tlffhderssof Assaye,
falls a victim to the sticky insiduous-
ness of the ''Catch- en- alive-ohI'--
Loa9doa Telegraph.