The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1893-10-19
AN ANIMATED THORN.
The Little Harlequin on q Branch Of Bit.
tersWeet,

The Little Harlequin on . Branch Of Bit.
tersWeet.
In a recent half-hour's relaxation,
while comfortably stretched in my
hammock upon the porch of my coNn-
try studio. was surprised with a sim
gular entertainment. / soon found my
selfmost studiously engaged. Entwin-
ing the corner post of the piazza, and
extending for some distance along the
caves, a 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 a 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
Swallowed portion of rose branch
crossing the opening and mingling
with the bitter-sweet stems. In my
idle mood / had for some moments SO
accepted it without thought, and
would doubtless have left the spot
with this impression had not CHANGED
to notice that this stem, so beset with
conspicuous thorns, was not consistent
inlts foliage. My suspicious aroused. 1
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 had
long neglected.
Everyone knows the elm bing bitter
sweet, or ''waxwork" (Celastrus scan
dens), with its 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, orperhaps dozen in quaint
family circle around the stem, their
curved points all, no matter how far
separated, inclined in the same direc-
ton, 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 ppears.
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 moment more the whole
family have entirely disappeared, as if
by hocus-pocus, until we discover, by
change of our point of view, that
they have all congregated on the OPP
which woul d have done credit to the
proverbial gray squirrel.
This animated thorn is about a quar-
ter of an inch long. and dark brown in
color, with two yellowish spots on the
edge of its back.
Nor is this all the witchery of this
bltter-sweet thorn. It is well 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
linen, especially in the month of July,
he will certainly masquerade in an en-
tirely new guise. Look! quick. Turn
your magnifier hither on this green
shoot. No thorn this. Is it not rather
a 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 de they take the hint,
for are they not family of tiny
birds with long necks and swelling
breasts and dropping tails, verify like
an autumn brood of Bob Whites?"
But the little harlequin is as wary a
bird as he WAS horn! No sooner do
we touch his head with our finger than,
with an audible "click," he is off on a |
most agile jump, which he extends
with buzzing wings, and is even now.
perhaps, aping a thorn among a little |
group of his fellows somewhere among !
the larger bittersweet branches.-Wil-
liam Hamilton Gibson, in Harper's
Magazine.