Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1894-08-09
A CHRISTOPHER REMINISCENCF
The Man on the Cracker Box Tells a
Timely Story.

''Talkin' of grasshOppers, said the
man on the cracker box, reminds me
Of the scoorge in 1872 when the coun-
try out here was overrun with them
pesky critters. Nobody knew where
they came from, and nobody knew
where they went to, for they come
without warmth an they left in the
same fashun. l had kept my weather
eye peeled for a week, but nary
hopper did l see. when I heerd as how
they was at Blair an a comm lickety
split to Decatur"
Them were lively times" said Long
jim, the stage driver. 'Lor, how
scared the wimmen were with the
jumpin' critters"
1T were afOre | married the wild
DER continued the man Oh the cracker
box, when 1 were livin' with my sis
ter after she come out here. an | had
a right smart of cabbage in the field
by the house, an | warn't a-goin' to
let no pack of meaSly grasshoppers eat
'em up, not if / knowed it. l heard
after shutdown as they had struck
Blair, an / jeS' set to work an Gov
cred every one of them cabbages up
with blankets and comfortables.'
AN I'll bet you didn't save a one,
not one" suggested Long Jim.
It's right you are, I didn't When
[ got up in the mornin' the field was
as bare as eff it had been struck by a
cyclone; not a thing left Of them cab
Il hut toll ~, 4Io
The hoppers had jes' eaten the coverin'
an the cabbages like so much proven
der an gone off to another country.
[ nearly cried over them cabbages"
Tell us about them in the cars"
said Long jim. "This gentleman from
the east amt never seen the like"
They stopped the cars more times
than you could count on your fingers
by Citing on the tracks, and maxim
them slippery, actin like so much
grease. And onct-gentlemen, you
may not believe it, but it's gospel
truth-they pulled the bell and the
engineer stopped the car stock-still
1t were this away, for I was there,
and see it myself The conductor
came into the car when it stopped,
an he says, says he:
"'Who pulled that beII-rope?'
Everybody was scared, 'cept me, an
I spoke up an says:
The hoppers did it,
Don't talk foolishness,' says the
conductor, I don't low no galoot to
tend to my duties. When this train
is stopped. I do it myself Don't none
Of YOU ever fetch that bell-rope again.
I'd like to see emmy one fetch it
now. says L, an 1 pinted it out to
him weighted down with hoppcrs as
thick as a constructor snake after it
has swallowed a calf. an the car bell
a-ringing like mad.
Holy Noses he says, an hooked
Skairt, but it were a fact Just the
same. Them hoppers followed us into
the stage, and we sat there knee-deep
in 'em. Skairt? No, not much to speak
Of. You see, them wasn't the seven
teen-year lOcusts with a big w. on
their backs. These here critters were
leetle slim things, kind of a brown
green, UuI. LOIu! low Cuey ulu eat
thingsI We folks had skeeter nets in
our winders, and in two minutes after
them hoppers struck us they hung in
strips and threads, an they were
swarmin' round the house like flies.
IF they come agin," said Long Jim,
I'D jest fill up every CROWN thing
with pizen, an thenwhen the hoppers
were all dead I'd burn 'em and use
'em for fertilizers
Yer mought," said the man on the
cracker box, with a thoughtful look,
''if they sent cards a-sayin' they was
comm. But when they steal on yer
like a thief in the night, you carn't
most always ca1kerlate just what you
would do. I'm layin' for 'em this year,
but they amt sent on no advance
agent with plan of campaign, as yet"
And he enveloped himself in a blue
haze Of smoke that forbade further
iscussiAn.-Detroit Free Press.