The Forrest City times., 1893-10-27
AN ANIMATED THORN.
The Little Harlequin on Branch of Bit-
 tersweet.

The Little Harlequin Branch of Bit-
 tersweet.
 In a recent half-hour's relaxation, while comfortably stretched in my hammock upon the porch of my coun- try studio, l was surprised with sim gular entertainment. l soon found my selfmost studiously engaged. Entwin- ing the corner post of the piazza, and extending for some distance along the caves, luxuriant vine of bittersweet had made itself at home, The currant- like clusters of green fruits, hanging in pendent clusters here and there. were now nearly mature, and were taking on their golden hue, and the long free shoots of tender growth were reaching out for conquest on right and left in all manner of grace full curves and spirals. Through an opening in this shadowy foliage came glimpse of the hillside slope across the valley upon whose verge my studio is perched, and as my eye penetrated this pretty vista it was in tercepted by what appeared to be a shadowed portion of a rose branch crossing the opening and mingling with the bitter-sweet stems. In my idle mood had for some moments so accepted it without a thought, and would doubtless have left the spot with this impression had I not chanced to notice that this stem, so beset with conspicuous thorns, was not consistent inlts foliage My suspicious aroused, I suddenly realized that my thorny stem was in truth merely a bitter sweet branch in masquerade, and that had been fooled" by sly midget who had been an old-time acquaint- ance of my boyhood, but whom l had long neglected.
 Everyone knows the climbing bitter sweet, or ''waxwork" (Celastrus scan dens), with it's bright berries hanging in clusters in the autumn copes, each yellow berry having now burst open in thin sections and exposed the scarlet coated seeds Almost any good-sized vine, if examined early in the months of July and August, will show us the thorns, and more sparingly until Octo- Der, and queer thorns they are, indeed. Here an isolated one, there two or three together, or perhaps dozen in quaint
 
 curved points all. no matter how far separated, inclined in the same direc- tion, as thorns properly should be. Let us gently invade the little colony with our finger-tip. Touch one never so gently and it instantly disa 2pears. Was ever thorn so deciduous? And now observe its fellows. Here one slowly glides up the stem: another in the opposite direction; another side ways. In a moment more the whole family have entirely disappeared, as if by hocus-pocus. until we discover, by a change of our point of view, that they have all congregated on the op- posite side of the stem, with an agility which would have done credit to the proverbial gray squirrel.
 This animated thorn is about quar- ter of an inch long, and dark brown in color. with two yellowish spots on the edge of it's back.
 Nor is this all the witchery of this bitter-sweet thorn. It is we'll worth our further careful study. Seen col lectively, the thorny rose branch is in stantly suggested, but occasionally. when we observe a single isolated spec. imen. especially in the month of July, he will certainly masquerade in an en- tirely new guise. Look! quick. Turn your magnifier Kither on this green shoot. No thorn this. Is it not rather whole covey of quail, mother and young creeping along the vine? Who would ever have thought of thorn Turning now to our original group how perfectly do they take the hint, for are they not a family of tiny birds with long necks and swelling breasts and dropping tails, verily like an autumn brood of Bob Whites?"
 But the little harlequin is as wary bird as he was horn! No sooner dc we touch his head with our finger than. with an audible ''click," he is off o- most agile jump, which he extends with buzzing wings, and is even now. perhaps, aping thorn amons little group of his fellows somewhere a.long the larger bittersweet branches. liam Hamilton Gibson, in Harper's Magazine.