The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1891-09-11
APPALLING ToA STRANGER.
Peculiar Horrors of Tbe-bug-that-gets-on.
the Back-of-yOur-Neck.

Peculiar HORRORS OF Tbe-bug-that- gets-on.
he-Back-of-yOur-Neck
The tarantula the centipede, and the
scorpion have too long divided bonors
as being the representative Texas in
sectss 1t is high time that the claim of
that truly interesting creature, the bug
that-gets-onthe-b ack-of-your-neclz, was
acknowledged. A man might come to
Texas and live for years without see
ing tarantulas, centipedes or scorpions,
but he couldn't possibly remain in Dali
las four and twenty hours without be-
coming intimately acquainted with the
ug-that-gets-on-the back of your-neck.
Entomologists have sighted this insect,
and so his scientific name is matter Of
conjecture, but his popular title, as
given above, fits him to 7, and is far
more satisfactory to the layman than
any Latin appelation could possibly be.
Like the mosquito, the sandbagger,
and the highwayman, the bug-that-
gets-on-the back-of-your neck uses the
inky pail of night to cover his wicked
ness. In the daytime he secretes him
self in dark cracks and corners, from
which he can, unobserved, leer out at
his passing human victims and take
mental notes of their neclis and collars.
The low turn-down collar, which is
almost universally worn in this hot
country, is a great favorite with the
bug that-gets-on-the back-of-your neck,
although experience has shown that the
most altitudinoAs products of the haber-
dasher's skill in neck cuffs have no ter
rors for this aggressive Texan when he
means business and is feeling real good
and devilish. And he usually feels just
that way.
If there is one thing more than an
other that fills the spirit of the-bug-
that-gets-on-the-b back of-your-nec with
unholy joy it is to suddenly swoop down
upon nervous stranger and drive him
to the verge of idocy. He picks out
some mild-looling man who has come
to Texas with his mind full of eyagger-
ated stories of tarantulas and cent?
pedes lie waits until the victim has
finished his supper and has settled him
self in an armchair in front of his hotel
to enjoy his evening cigar. And then,
when the strangers thoughts are far
away in his peaceful home and his eyes
are blind to all about him, the bug-that-
gets-onthe- back-of-your-neck gathers
all his energies together and hustles
through the night air like bolt from
catapult. Straight to the mark he
whiZZes and hits the inoffensive dream
er with horrible thud right on the up
per extremity of his cervical vertebra.
The mans thoughts jump back to the
present with a suddenness which Jars
his whole system and upsets his chair,
and, with yell like the shrek of lost
soul, he begins dance, which for wild
abandon and reckless contortion has no
parallel on earth. A similar perform
ance would have caused panic even at
the Carmencita ball With ever increas-
ing activity and desperation he claws
madly at the back of his neck, but his
assailant is prepared for this-he has
had experimental he has slipped
down inside the collar ont of reach.
Just as the man is about to collapse
through terror and sink to the sidewalk
a limp and hopeless idiot, a big Texan
calmly takes hold of him, deftly turns
him upside down, shakes the bug-that-
got-on-the- back-of- his-neck out, and
having restored the unnerved victim to
the perpendicular, remarks:
Il reckon you air a stranger to these
parts, cunnel. Them bugs never bot her
me-"
Gradually it begins to dawn upon the
man from the north that he has been
making circus of himself, and he
stammers some incoherent explanations
and retires to his room to sleep the
sleep of utter exhaustion, or perhaps to
be visited by a nightmare in which the
back of his neck plays the star role.
There is a new species of the bug
that-gets-on-theba ck-of-your neck for
every month in the year. Sometimes
he will appear as a small green insect
with hooks where he ought to have
feet; again he takes the form of big
black beetle-like June bug-and with
a most sonorous BOOM" and still again
he is like unto a humble bee with leath-
ern wings, a horny head, and the speed
of a MIME bullet. But he is at his best
when he carries his blistering apparatus
with him. 1t is the most perfect thing
of its kind in existence. Its owner can
unlimber it and raise blister the in
slant that he alights, and by the time
his victim has got his hand to the place
the bug is attending a lodge Meeting
around the corner. The blisters are
painful and last two or three days, and
a man is out of the swim who is not
nursing one or two when they are in
season.
Take him for all in all, the bug-that-
gets-on-the -back-of-your-neck is a Won
derful fellow, and he should have a
place on the Texas coat of arms He
can give the tarantula, centipede and
scorpion heavy odds and beat them
several laps every time.-N. A. Jen-
nings, in n. y. Sun.