Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1894-07-14
AoRAssHoPpER REMlnlscEnoE
Tho Man on tho Cracker Box Tells n
Timely Story.

"TallSin' Of grasshoppers," said the
man on the craclSer-box, reminds me
of the seoorge of 1872, when the country
out here was overrup with them pesley
critters. Nobody knew whar they came
from, and nobody knew whar they
went to, for they come without warnin'
an they left in the same fashun. /
/ he'd kept my weather eye peeled for a
week, but nary a hopper did see,
when heerd as how they was at Blair
an a-coming lickety split to Decatur"
"Them were lively times" said Long
Jim, the stage driver. "Lor! how scared
the wimmen were with the jumpin'
critters"
"It were afore married the widder,"
continued the man on the cracker-box,
when / were livin' with my sister
after she come out here, an l had a
right smart of cabbage in the field by
the house, an 1 warn't a-goin' to let
no pack of measly grasshoppers eat 'em
up, not if / knowed it. l heard after
sundown as they had struck Blair, an
/ jes set to work an covered every one
of them cabbages up with blankets and
comfortables."
"An' I'll bet you didn't save one,
not a one," suggested Long Jim.
Its right you are. didn't. When I
got up in the mornin' the field was as
bare as eff it had been struck by cy-
clone; not thing left of them cabbage
but the stalks in the ground. The hop
yers had jes eaten the coverin' an the
cabbage like so much provender an
off 70 ,rl,
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 mol times
than you could count on your fingers
I 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 were there, and see it
| myself. The conductor came into the car
"'Who pulled that bell rope? Every
body was scared, 'cept me, and spoke
up an says:
""The hoppers did it?'
"'Don't talk foolishness,' says the
conductor, 4 don't low no galoot to
tend to my duties. When this train is
stopped, do it myself. Don't none of
you ever fetch that bell rope agin'
''I'd like to see ennyone fetch it now,
says l, an I pinted it out to him
weighted down with hoppers as thick
as constructor snake after it has swal-
lowed calf, an the car bell a-ringing
like mad"
. "'Holy Noses says 1, an looked
skairt, but it were fact, just the
same. Them hoppers followed us into
the stage, and we sat there knee-deeI
in 'em. Scairt? No, not much to speak
of. You see, them wasn't the seven
teen year locusts with a big ''W" or
their backs. These here critters were
leetle slim things, kind of a brown
green. but Lord, how they did eat
things! We folks had skeeter nets il
our winders, and in two minutes afteI
them hoppers struck us it hung in strip
and threads, an they were swarmin
round the house like flies"
"If they come agin," said Long Jim
I'D jest fill up every growin' thing
with pizen, an then when the hopper
were all dead I'd burn 'em and use 'en
for fertilizers"
eyer mought," said the man on th
cracker-boX with a thoughtful look
''ifthey sent cards a-saving' they wa
comm. But when they steal on ye
like thief in the night, you can't mos
always calkerlate just what you woul,
do. I'm layin' for 'em this year, bu
they amt sent on no advance agen
with plan of campaign, as yet"
And he enveloped himself in a blu
haze of smoke that forbade further dis
cussion.-Detroit Free Press.