The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1894-07-19
AGRASSHoPPER "REMINISCENCES
The Man on the Cracker Box Tells Q
Timely Story.

Timely Story.
Ialkin' of grasshoppers." said the
man on the cracker box, reminds me
OF the sesoorge of 1872, when the country
out here was overruD with them pesky
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. l
ned kept my weather eye peeled for a
week, but nary a hopper did l 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 wlmmen were with the jumpin'
critters"
1t were afore 1 married the widder,"
continued the man on the cracker-box,
when l were Twin with my sister
after she come out here, an had
right smart of cabbage in the field by
the house, an l warn't a-goin' to let
no pack of measly grasshoppers eat 'em
up, not if l 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 a one,
not one, suggested Long jim.
Its right you are. didn't. When 1
~ up in the mornin' the field was as
bare as eff it had been struck by cy-
clone; not a 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
gone off to another country. 1 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 mole 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 l were there, and see it
myself. The conductor came into the car
when it stopped, and he says, says he:
" Who pulled that bell rope? Every
body was scared, 'cept me, and l spoke
up an says:
The hoppers did it?'
Don't talk foolishness,' says the
conductor, L don't low no gaIoot 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 1 pinted it out to him
weighted down with hoppers as thick
as a constructor snake after it has swal-
lowed calf, an the car bell a-ringing
like mad"
Holy Noses says l, an looked
skairt, but it We're fact, just the
same. Them hoppers followed us into
the stage, and we sat there knee-deep
in EN-. Scairt? No, not much to speak
of. You see, them wasn't the seven
teen year locusts with big Wv" on
their backs. These here critters were
leetle slim things, kind of brown
green. but Lord, how they did eat
things We folks had skeeter nets in
our winders, and in two minutes after
them hoppers struck usit hung in strips
and threads, an they were swarmin'
round the house like flies"
eff they come agin," said Long jim,
I'D jest fill up every CROWN thing
with pizen, an then when the hoppers
were all dead I'd burn EN- and use 'em
for fertilizers.
Eyer mought," said the man on tho
cracker-box with thoughtful look,
''ifthey sent cards a-saying' they was
comm. But when they steal on yer
like a thief in the night you can't most
always calkerlate 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 blue
haze of smoke that forbade further dis.
cussion.-Detroit Free Press