The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1885-06-04

rible as are those germs which float in
the air and bring woe illimitable to all
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 as
stolid as a triple wall of brass: suffo-
eating your feelings, your very thoughts
as though they were crimes which would
land you in the county Jail if repeated
aloud. This is your only chance-the
sole kind of fmosquito-net which will pro-
tect you. No appeal to reason will be
successful; still less win have a chance
of an appeal to feeling, humanity, graf
itude. OF gratitude, indeed, he has no
more knowledge than he has of the ori-
gin OF life or the cause of crystallization;
for ingratitude is his characteristic, as
with some kinds-insolence is the
method. Like the brute which turns
and rends the hand that has fed him,
this kind of creature, this human mos
quito, turns against you, when YOU
have done all for him that he de-
hope of your help. Then you learn the
true quality of his nature, and find out
for yourself of what base material it is
made. 1t is only after repeated trials,
however, that he is convinced of your
finality in the way of help; for he is of
the same gems as the daughter of the
horseleech, and cries ever "Giye! give!'
When you have once allowed man or
woman of this kind to prove that you
are puncturable, that you are SO much
nutriment for bold suckers, you are
done for; and nothing short of a lawyer
will free you from attacks which, made
at first insidiously-may be with
batteries, mute appeals, humble repre-
sentations, gentle prayers grow by
time and success into bold and burglar
ious assaults, accompanied with threats
and enforced by moral bludgeons. Then
you must address yourself to the law,
which is to the human mosquito of de-
termined attack what petroleum is said
to be to his winged prototype, the only
eftectual defense known. To do good
to man or woman of this kind is to
illustrate the truth of the hard old
Cornish saying: "Save man from the
sea, and he becomes your enemy"
To SOW golden grain on the barren
fields of such one is to reap sorrow
for yourself; and to give your coat is
but the preface to the demand for your
cloak. Your inch ever becomes his ell;
and when you do not concede all that is
demanded, then are you stung, as a
kind of waymark between what you
have done and what you have not.
AT home the human mosquito is rest
less and exacting. He interferes in
everything atloat, and always adds a
drop of bitterness to such honey as the
family may have garnered in its hive
Is there fete-day on hand? He takes
out the sweetness. rubs off the gloss, by
restrictions if he be in the place of COM
mand; by temper if he be a subordinate
who can only damage and not destroy
AS the former, he harnesses his wife by
finding fault with her arrangements,
substituting his own; he annoys the
servants by contradictory commands;
irritates the governess by doubling her
capacity for taking care of her charge:
and causes the children to weep or to
sulk, according to their natures, by
scolding them impartially all round,
with reason or without. Then, when
he has made every one thoroughly
miserable or uncomfortable, and more
inclined to perform penance than to
undertake pleasure, he puts on a
hilarious manner, and. when this is not
responded to, rates the wretched little
flock for their gloominess on a holiday,
and says, if this is to be the manner in
which they thank him for the treat he
has given them, he will take good care
how he allows them to have another.
AS subordinate, he is just as worry
ing if not SO domineering. AS the
servant whose functions are vital to the
thing on hand-say the cook on the
day of a dinner .party-the human
mosquito makes every one suffer. For
just as "England's extremity is Ire
lands opportunity" so is the day of
social consideration in the household
that wherein the cook, who is also q
mosquito, is most troublesome and
most annoying To believe her, there
will not be dish fit to eat, and there is
not enough of anything. Something
has gone wrong with the stock for soup;
the fishmonger has skimped the weight,
which was already too closely ca1cu-
lated and the butcher has not sent the
proper joint for the roast; the chickens
are skinny and the "birds' are
tough; the cream is deficient and
the milk is turned; and the veget-
ables are not fresh nor is the fruit ripe.
Perhaps she shams the sullenness of
despair, and will not give an answer, or
one only of pessimistic forebodings,
when her mistress tries to put the best
face on the matter; or she may assume
a falsely heartsome air, and, after she
has plunged her poor lady into the
depths of despair and nervous appre-
hension, says she viii do what she can
to remedy the long tale of disasters re-
counted, but the dinner will not be up
to the mark, let her do the best she can.
1t all depends on the proportion of her
cruelty to her love of annoying,
whether she sends up a dinner really
damaged. or one in her best style and
perfect throughout In either case she
has had her pleasure-in serious hurt
or in simple teasing. szgf ass
We need not 60 through the whole
list OF domestic mosquitoes. From the
lady's-maid who pulls her mistress
hair when BRUSHING II and late haYsE cro