The weekly Thibodaux sentinel and journal of the 8th Senatorial District. [volume] (Thibodaux, Lna. [i.e. La.]) 1875-1898, 1893-10-21
AN THORN.
The Little Harlequin on a Branch OF Bit.
z. tersweet.

In Il recent half-hour's relaxation.
while comfortably stretched in my
hammock upon the porch of my corn-
try studio, | waS surprised with u sin
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 u 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 a
Swallowed portion of a rose branch
crossing the opening and mingling
with the bitter-sweet stems. In my
idle mood had for some moments Sc
accepted it without a 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
in It's foliage. My suspicious aroused, l
suddenly realized hat my thorny
stem was in truth merely Il bitter
sweet branch in masquerade. and that
l had been fooled by a sly midget
who had been an old-time acquaint-
ance of my boyhood, but whom l had
long neglected.
Everyone knows the climbin g-bitter
sweet, or ''waxwork' {Celastrus scan
dens), with its bright berries hanging
in clusters in the autumn . each
yellow berry having now burst open in
thin sections and exposed the scarlet
coated seeds. Almost n 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 orthree
together, or perhaps a dozen in a quaint
tiiil WHY tx tlC oltIls tIlClI
curved points all, no matter how far
separated. inclined in the same diree-
ton, as thorns properly should be.
Let us gently invade the little colony
with our finger-tip. Touch one neve1
SO gently and it instantly disa opears
Was yer thorn so deciduouso And
now observe it's 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 il
by hocus-pocus, until we discover, by
a change of our point OF view, thai
they have all congregated on the op
posite side of the stem, with an agility
which would have lone credit to the
%proverbial gray squirrel.
This animated thorn is about a quar-
ter of an inch long. and dark brown il
color. with two yellowish spots on the
edge of its back.
Nor is this all the witchery of thi
bitter-sweet thorn. 1t is well wortl
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. Tur,
your magnitier hither on this greer
shoot. No thorn this. Is it not rathe.
a whole covey of quail. mother an,
young creeping <long the vince Wh'
would ever have thought of d thorn
Turning now to our original group
how perfectly do they take the hint
for are they not a family of tin,
birds with long necks and swellin.
breasts agd dropping tails. verify Xix,
an autumn brood of bob Whites?."
But the little harlequin is as wary
bird as he was a horn. No sooner d,
we touch his head with our finger than
with an audible click" he is off on
most agile jump. which he extend
with buzzing wings, and is even now
perhaps. aping a thorn among a littl
group of his fellows somewhere anon!
the larger bittersweet branches Wi
liam Hamilton Gibson, in Harper
Magazine.
American Rails and Rolling Stock.