Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-06-23
A CHRISTOPHER "REMINISCENCES.
The Man on the Cracker Box Tells q
Timely Story.

Timely story.
From the Detroit Frae Press
'Talkin' Of grasshoppers," said the man
on the cracker box, reminds me Of the
scoorge of 1872 when the country out here
was overrun with them pesky critters. No
body knew whar they came from. and no.
body knew whar they went to. for they
come without warrin an they left in the
same fashun. / he'd kept my weather eye
peeled for week, hut nary hopper did
see, when 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 crit
ters"
1T were afore I married the wilder"
continued the man on the cracker box.
when | were Twin with my sister after
she come out here, an had a right smart
of cabbage in the field by the house, an
l warnt a-goin' to let no pack of measly
grasshoppers eat 'em up. not II l knowed
IL. l heard after SHUTDOWN as they had
struck Blair, an jes set to work an COW
cred every one OF them cabbages UP with
blankets and comfortables."
An I'll bet you didn't save one, not q
one" suggested Long Jim.
It's right you are, ] didn't. When I
got up in the mornin' the field was as bare
eff 1t had been struck by a cyclone; not
thing left of them cabbages but the
stalks in the ground. The hoppers had jes'
eaten the GOVERN an the cabbages like so
much provender an gone off to another
country. ! nearly cried over them cab
bages."
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 1t. but It's
fruit h how al ha hall opA tho
Engineer stopped the car stock-still II
were this away, for 1 were there, and see
II myself. The conductor came into the
car when it stopped. an he says says he:
"'Who pulled that bell-ropeT Every
body was scared. 'cept me. an l spoke up
an says:
The hoppers did IT.
Don't talk foolishness.' says the con-
ductor, I don't low no galoot to tend to
my duties. When this train Is stopped, /
do 1t myself Don't none Of you ever fetch
that bell-rope agin.
I'd like to see emmy one fetch II now,
says l, an 1 pinted II out to him weighted
down with hoppers as thick as a constric-
tor snake after it has swallowed a calf. an
the car bell a-ringing like mad
Holy Moses he says. an looked skairt
but 1t were a fact just the same. Them
hoppers followed US into the stage. and we
sat there knee-deep in 'em. Scairt? No.
not much to speak Of. You see. them
wasn't the seventeen-year locusts with a
big wv on their backs. These here crit
tiers were leetle slim things, kind Of a
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 US it hung in strips and
threads, an they were swarmin' round the
house like flies
III 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 '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 thief in
the night, you carn't most always calker-
late just what you would do. I'm layin'
for EN- 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 discussion.