People's voice. [volume] (Wellington, Sumner County, Kansas) 1890-1917, 1894-07-20
Interesting Frogs.

frOgs-boys and snakes and natural
lists.
Boys usually make their observa-
tons by means of a triple hook and a
piece of red flannel, but boy in Con-
necticut, known to the writer, took
twenty-eight one day with his bare
hands.
Connecticut is a fine state for frogs.
There at old Windham was fought
the famous Battle of the Frogs"
1t was during the French and In.
dian war in 1858. Windham was then
the most important frontier town O!
Eastern Connecticut Colonel Dyer,
a prominent citizen. was raising an
army to oppose the Indians at Crown
Point The town was alive with ex-
citement. One very dark night the
people were awakened by strange
sounds, and at once thought the In
dians were upon them. Selling guns,
swords and axes, the men rushed out
to meet the enemy. But no enemy
was to be seen. Still they felt a
force of French and Indians must be
at hand, for hoarse voices could be
heard calling for Windham's promin-
ent military leaders.
Colonel Dyer and ElderlSin, too"
Colonel Dyer and Elderkin too"
The town was up all night. When
day broke the mystery was accident
ally solved. A mile away from the
village lay big marshy pond inhab-
tied by myriads of frogs. A drought
had nearly dried up the water, reduc-
ing it to tiny streamlet, and for this
scanty supply the poor thirsty crea-
lures had fought each other, until
thousands lay dead on either side of
The rill.
This battle made Windham famous.
For years the inhabitants felt badly
teased and insulted by its mention.
Now, however, the story is no longer
a JOKE but priced tradition.
Snakes are as fond of frogs as the
traditional Frenchman who esteemed
them delicacy. A frog has often
been found swallowed whole and
alive in a slaughtered snake. One
snake known to friend of the chron-
icler Jared badly enough by his greed
for his favorite dainty. He had swal-
lowed one frog and then had started
to crawl through crevice in stone
wall. Before he had dragged through
his entire length he espied another
plump little fellow and took him in,
whereupon he found himself securely
fastened down under the stones, una
BILE tomoye either way, and was dis
patched by the spectator.
NaturalistS consider the frog a very
interesting fellow and other obServ-
ant people have learned curious facts
concerning these amphibious crea-
lures.
A gentleman living in the southern
part of France had a very large frog
pond on his grounds and was fond OF
studying the habits of its inhabitants.
One day he saw great change in the
appearance of certain frog of which
he had made pet. 1t looked as if il
had in some way acquired a pair OF
the pulled breaches which gentlemen
used to wear in the courts of James
the First Of England and Louis the
Thirteenth of France. This change
made him curious to know what il
meant and all the more so when he
found that almost every day more
and more of the frogs were wearing
the same queer looking things.
BY watching carefully the gentle
man soon found the cause of tb'
strange, new article of frog dress.
The mother frog, it seems, consider.
that her duty is discharged when sh,
has laid her eggs. These all adher,
together, forming a long chain o
many links. As soon as she has de
posted these on the bank of the pom
she hops away, seeming to forget al
about them, and they would neve
hatch out if the father frog did no
come to the rescue. With no littlC
difficulty he winds these chains o
neglected eggs around his own thigh
thus producing the appearance o
the pulled breecheS.
He then proceeds to hide himsel
amo0g the marshy grasses around tn
pond until the eggs are ready to hate
out. Then he goes into the water
In little while the shells burst, lei
ting out the young tadpoles, whic
Immediately swim away without S
much as thank you"
Another very motherly father O
the frog family is found in Sout
America, in Chilli He is provide
with large sac, or pouch, which e1
tends over the whole surface of hi
belly, from the mouth downward
There is no external opening into tn
sac, and when Mr.. Darwin first saw
male frog apparently swallowing I'll
eggs he thought he was the wor
kind of a fellow to be eating his nv
shiCSrenl
Bat this thought was a great i