Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1888-08-26

graph and half dozen Of the giant che
roots above mentioned, after which we
took our leave.
RIGHT WITH mesQUfToEs'
The Ffsrce Culex or the British North
wesf-lss Terrible Power.
tAn the Year Roundl
Never shall / forget my desperate bat
ties with IL But the first encounter is
the one most indelibly marked on my
memory and on my body, and even now,
after many years, is one OF the salient
points in by no means monotonous life:
Another youth and myself had camped
on little water prairie by the Shuswep
Lake. Before turning in for the night
we made up mosquito fire, p" and after
creeping within our respective nets we
lit our pipes, knowing what safety there
was in smoke.
Tho freshly heaped on logs blazed
brightly, fiery-red in the centre, with
brilliant tongues OF blue and purple
flame and thousands OF glowing sparks
shooting high into the still air. while
clouds OF smoke curled lazily upward in
tinted wresths of gray, till lost IN the
gathering darkness. But the lire sank
and we got drowsy, and as 1 knocked
out the ashes of my last pipe and coiled
costly TO sleep heard what sounded like
the drone of bagpipes approaching over
the distant horizon. It was the coming
culex, and flying scout Immediately
scrambled through my mosquito bar.
Softly il piped its wee war-song like q
Lilliputian lullaby, while taking an APP
petizing constitutional around its prey.
Not glimpse of it could catch,
although the exasperating sing-song
seemed sometimes close to my eyehalls.
1t came and went, rising and falling,
now at one ear, now at the other round
behind 10y head, and then down at my
feet. At last it suddenly ceased. Lightly
as shadow the "bag-piper" had set
tied on my ear, and as felt its bite L
cautiously prepared to "bag the
upper. :"
The moment for vengeance had mr.
rived Had it 1t was a stunning blow,
and fancy l have been-slightly deaf IN
that ear ever since, but the agile insect
skipped away unhurt and resumed Its
war-song triumphantly.
Then another of the advanced guard
arrived and then squadron or two, and
then the whole army charged pell-mell.
The net, es northwest mosquito
"bar," was failure, evidently made for
less gymnastic anI more amiable mos
auitoes. Gnats skinned in without
touching the meshes, and the leading
culex battalions just closed their wings
and folded up their legs and were hoistd
through by the hosts behind. In they
shot, with cheerful hum. by brigades,
while the symphony of the "bagpipes "
outside grew still more savage. Then a
skunk arrived on the scene of action.
Not that the little beast could be seen.
but the immediate atmospheric shock
was circumstantial evidence sufficiently
strong for anybody.
What words can describe the fortunes
I endured during that sultry summers
night? The tossing and the tumbling
and the rolling to and fro, the tearing
and scratching We made smoky fires
OF resinous spruce and were almost
stihed. We smoked 30 much tobacco
that we felt ill. We scrubbed ourselves
with brushes and tore ourselves wit4 our
nails, and only made matters worse.
Then we held a council of war and de-
cided to try and keep cool. But to treat
those myriads OF demons with calmness,
under the circumstances, would have
taxed the philosophy OF an archbishop.
Next morning when l looked in the
back of my watch-our only looking
glass II started back in amazement,
wondering what manner OF man l had
become. Even my Oldest creditor would
never have recognized those frightful
features and the wife Of my bosom
would have repudiated iue as frightful
impostor. My watch-case reflected a
countenance like flaming full moon
overrun with volcanoes. Was the Pytha-
gorean doctrine true And had my
soul escaped from q mosquito-killed
body into somebody else's2 Was |
now the man in the moon? Was / mad
or inebriated with nicotine, and did l
see double =? Double
Why, there were four cheeks on the
left side and three on the right, two and
o half upper lips, five eyelids and hardly
any eyes, q nose ana three quarters, and
ears all around the back Of my head At
all events that was how appeared in the
back of my watch--a most awful rehec-
ton Ny lips kept getting into my
mouth and my eyelids into the residue
of my eyes, while my dissipated nose
seemed to fall all over my face. My skin
felt red hot and as tight as roasting
apples when about TO burst, and there
was no doctor within a hundred miles
My elephantine ears put brushing
ont of the question, and my knobby head
was swollen many sizes too big for my
hat.
My companion was equally-or rather
unequally-altered one side OF his
usually good-looking face resembling
Joe Miller's, and the other that of con-
s0entious hearse-driyer. Having no ap-
petite for breakfast, we silently sat on
two opposite logs lugubriously cohtem-
plating one another. Then We laughed
till our enormous features expanded all
over our heads, and the tears bounded
down our numerous cheeks and when
we frowned fierce vengeance We looked,
if possible, still more ludicrously foolish.
Preventive Medicine.
To the Editor of the Dispatch:
The late DR.. Samuel d. Gross, one OF
the most eminent men in his profession
that this country has ever known, as
serted in an address before medical stu
dents that the great question of the day