Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1886-07-09
o OF A BEETLE.

Mrs Clara Doty Bates, in Our Little Ones.
STORY OF A BEETLE.
How 1t Secured Freedom and Life to an
Eminent French Scientist.
One day, nearly a hundred years ago,
In the old French seaport town of Bor-
deaux, there was a little stir in = GER
tain dark corner, and a beetle walked
out to take its first look at the world.
1t was not a specially handsome or re-
markable beetle in appearance, and
yet it had quite a work to do. Not the
ordinary work of such insects, howev-
er; though that is an important one,
the beetles of this family being scav-
engers, but the principal life-work of
this beetle was to a v a man from
death. Perhaps when King David in
his Psalm called upon all "creeping
things'' ''to praise the Lord from the
EARTH" he may not have thought espe-
cially of beetles, yet this little insect
was to be the III of much thanksgiy-
The house under which this beetle
had its home was a prison, known as
the Grande Seminaire, and in one of
the cells Of the prison was the man that
was to be rescued by the beetle. His
name was Pierre Latreille. Little
had he dreamed, as the cart that
bore him and his companions to
prison creaked along the road to Bor-
deaux, that he should ever live to be
free again in his native land. For
those were evil days in France. Even
the good-natured, honest King himself,
poor Louis XVI, was powerless to
shield his wife and children from the
fury of the French people. The royal
family were already in danger, and the
iniquities of the two previous Louis
We're being visited on their compare
lively innocent descendants. All of
the nobility and clergy who refused to
take their oath on the new constitution
were thrown into prison, and it was
for this reason that Pierre Latreille and
his companions had been imprisoned
at Bordeaux.
1t is small wonder that Pierre was
sad as he sat in his prison cell with nc
one to keep him company but an old
sick Bishop. No doubt Latreille often
thought, during the dreary prison days,
Of his past life, his young boyhood il
his native town of Brive, in the ricf
plain by the river Correze. His family
had been poors though distinguished,
and Pierre himself owed his education
to the kindness Of friends. One Of
these, a merchant, lent him some
books on natural history, and it was
from reading these that Pierre first
came to love the study of insects.
When he was sixteen he was sent to
Paris, and there studied theology. but
upon his return to his native town he
began the study of insects again with
great zeal. He had even published
some of his discoveries about insects,
and now, to all appearance, this study
must come to an end.
Out in the barber Of Bordeaux ships
were making ready to take the prison.
ers away from France. They were
condemned to exile in South America.
Still the prisons were emptied slowly,
and although it was June when La.
treble was first taken to Bordeaux, YET
the days and months crept by and still.
he lived within the Grande Seminaire.
The little beetle lived there, too, al
though the prisoners did not know it.
One day a surgeon came to see ths
old Bishop in Latreille's cell. The
prison authorities had allowed the sur
geon to come daily and dress the
wounds Of this aged man. This par
ticular day, while the surgeon was il
the cell, the little beetle came out. of {
crack in the boards and crawlcd into
the room. Latreille, looking around
spied the beetle, caught it and begar
to examine it. He seemed so happy
over his discovery that the surgeon
looked up and said: sis it a rare in
sect?"
Eyes" said Latreille, who knew
from his previous studies, that it mus
be SO.
"In that case. you should give it K
me-" said the surgeon; and he went Oh
to explain to Latreille that he had .
friend who had a fine collection of in.
sects, and who would probably be muct
pleased to receive a rare one.
So Latreille gave up his beetle to thu
surgeon, and told him to carry it to hi
friend, and to be sure and ask him til.
name Of it.
But when, the next day, the surgeon
made his visit to the cell, he brough
the news that his friend had looked a
the beetle, and had given it as hi:
opinion that this was a new kind of in
sect that had never been described
Latreille rejoiced at this answer, nots Sc
much because of the discovery Of a new
beetle. as because the word brough'
back showed that the surgeons friend
was indeed a learned man.
''ln that CASE" thought Latreil1e tc
himself, che has probably read my
book, and will be friendly toward me-