Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-02-26
FLY in WINTER.

"a. foil of the milk of human
;ndncss. This may seem a strahse as
n': 'na hut i. is true, and its correcs-
el.'' oon be demonstrated with mathe-
'a,;c,l precision by asy n who
s r. undertake the job free of ex-
Sense. /, alas! am not that man.
am prepared to assert. noweva,
kh,t the laws OF Nature lkc nu'nah
Avs. have their excePt'ohs. beholu'
(h"n' the sad fate OF the ny IN winter.
a .u" off from all that made life one de-
t;s GI dream of JOY in the sweet sum-
rnarstimc long ago, he wanders a lorn
"nd blighted being on the face OF the
ca saa him on the dinner-table-one fly
~ " himself. He looks on every side
af ! him with his hundred eyes, and sees
o. nthcr of his species. He is alone
~! ~ his age. No sweet-faced Sunday
y, ILL.,, Az peeps at him from behind the
. y, o bowl. or bushes when she turns
.. s's corner of the butter-dish and acct
: l, ~, : meets him face to face, with a
Nv, Of jlow-came-you-there expression
; p soI hcr large, thoughtful eyes.
. '' M W sister greets him when he goes
9 NV at night, and asks him whether
~ :" has brought her any New Orleans
III n,laSses from down town. No brother
I ,"os him in the hallway and says:
."WelI, Charley, did you go long of
mince-pie to-day?'
4 M mother stands ready to comfort
= him and soothe his soul after his daily
a,r, c~]e for bread and butter and sugar
smdIr coffee and milk and things. No
s,tbrr comes forward to pat him on the
h,ck and say:
go on, my son, as you have begun,
and YOU will become an eminent men,
her Of fly society-perhaps greater than
a horse-fy:"
No creditors-but then l suppose
that> as file, are supported at the ex-
npnsc of TIE community, they have no
creditors.
This is a SAT State of existence-this
st,te of the fly in winter. But Nature
b is full of eompensations. Woman's
I work is never done; neither is a ffy's.
II He ects up just as early and goes to
he'd lust as late in the winter as he does
q in The summer. And he is infinitely
more Industrious. He has to fly
and scramble to keep warm.
o, the wild, unspeakable Joy of a fly
Il who finds a mans nose in tho tender
n dawn of a winter morning! The only
nose in the room and the only fly!
Does the fly rise to the occasion?
He does. Aud he risas to the nose,
too.
He sits upon At and walks around it,
and flies away and comes back to it..
and otherwise expresses his 10Y.
Mans soul may weary of the fly, but
the fly never tires. In the summer the
fly sometimes gets Disguised with the
man antics and goes away. Then the
man GETS a small rest until another tlv
comes along.
But in winter the man wakes up and
scesthe fly. He makes a dab at the in
sect, and It shoots madly away into
space for about six inches and then
careers back and clings once more to
the mans nose. The mar sees that
there is but II fly. He watches that
fly. His eyes become fascinated by its
) movements. When it wings its way of
j into space, the man strains his eyes
after it; and when it comes back and
sits on his nose, HI CLOCKS cross-eyed at it.
After a time he gets up and stealth
lily procures a towel with a wet end.
y Murlerous thoughts course through
his brain. He looks for the fly.
The fly is on the gas-globe.
The man lies down and pretends to
be asleep. Then the fly comes and sits
on his nose. The man hauls off and
smites. He knocks his false teeth down
his throat and splatters water into both
his eyes. When he dries them, he sees
the fly sitting on the bed-post smooth
ING his spit-curls with his spare legs.
h The man rises slowly. He strains
every muscle in his back trying to get
up so slowly as not to frighten the fly.
ne draws near to the m~otionless insect.
Once more he smites. But before the
towel touches the bed-post the fly has
"ilzzed off and pitched on the mans
n wife's nose.
O Then the man smiles a horrid smile
and rolls back into bed. And the next
n moment the man feels the fly trying to
crawl into his ear.
Desperation seizes him. He jumps
up and dresses himself. He goes out
N ana tries to buy some fiy-paper. 1t is
useless HWs. The storekeepers laugh at him
why, sir" they say: 1--WE have nc
mH"Po, 1'l'o tl1Ae VI year.,
linen he tries to buy a fy-trap; but
NJ .hey are all packed away until nsst
summer.
He goes home. Despair is rising in
ms soul, when suddenly q brilliant
laea strikes him. He goes out and
i 1p9frows a neighbours son, aged ten,
nc takes the boyt to his room and shows
nm the fly. He promises the boy half
a-uollar If he catches the insect.
me boy enters upon the task with
all the enthusiasm of youth. He climbs
d over the furniture recklessly, smashes
ar'ty-dollar mirror and a four-hundred
1aay clock, and finally kicks over the
lamp and sets the carpet on fire. After
.ne conlagration is over, the boy APP
pears with a smile on his face.
I've caught him." he y holding
o"t a llghtiy-slenched fist.
rGlve him to me-" says the man.
Inc boy opens his hand.
The man grabs.
Bnt the fly escapes, just the same.
The reader may now go back to the
pace where the man first saw the fly
"nu Just keep reading to the end and