Shiner gazette. [volume] (Shiner, Tex.) 1893-current, 1894-09-06
THOSE norHERlNo LooUsrs.



How They should 30 Mot, Dosod and
Persuaded to Die.
With the intention of observing
the home life of the cicada, re-
porter for the New York Sun went to
Staten Island one day and walked
along the terrace for mile to an ac-
compartment of crunching insects.
Staten island is one mass of the in.
sects. They are overhead andlunder
foot and the trees are obscured by
them. a mathematician in Blooming
dale has calculated that If mans
vocal abilities were as great in pro-
portion to his size as a cicada's he
could make himself heard three times
around the world and have enough
knot at the ends.
What is bothering the Staten
islanders now is to find some use Tor
their visitors This is particularly
interesting, us it may be that Sec
ond instalment will arrive later in
the year The reporter interviewed
a number of Staten Island men on
the vital question; What are you
going to do with thom?n and here
are some of the answers;
'Set the place on fire and burn
'em out"
Poison 'em with paris green and
use the bodies for Fertilizer"
Train 'em up to hunt mosquitoes,
1o.5 "a -, =, m out in gangs to Western
GU iiiipsoN eine, t,Syndicates to clear
"Emigrate to Europe ana let thew
colonize the island.
"Damfnon
Most of those interviewed CON
CURED in the opinion last given.
But the Oldest inhabitant--th have
a separate Oldest inhabitant for
every important occurrence in Staten
islanG-gives still more hopeless
reply
"'Tain't the question, said he,
''what we're goin' to do with them
vermin. The question is what's
them vermin goin' to do with us'?"
This particular Oldest inhabitant
is an ex-sailor, with little home
near the waterside. He says he
knows all about cicadas, as he's
seen swarms of them in all parts of
the world.
There's trouble comin',n said he;
''sure 'nough trouble. Somethin'
terrible always happins when them
animiles heaves in sight When /
was travelin' acrost the country
oncet out on the plains there came a
swarm so thick it stopped the train
and near threw it off the track. The
very next week lost a wallet with
81. SO in it.
Have you ever seen the insects
on Staten island before?n asked the
reporter
"Yes, ] seen EN- more'n fifteen
year ago, an that very year my
brother William fell down and bust
ed his leg plumb Off short | knowed
these were comm and | got all
ready for 'em an closed my house all
up My little sloop lies out there in
the bay, an l slowed away all her
sail under lock an KEY. What fer?
Why. young man, the las time we
had them animies here a swarm OF
'em few out to a schooner belongin'
W nv al NY blOtucA III dlC every
stitch of canvass off1n her. They
didn't even leave the ropes an stays,
amt runnin' any risks like that
ag'in.
They're cute devils. See that
ellum tree out in my yard' Well
that's a slippery ellum an on Sun
day mornln', when the animiles first
came up from the ground, they
spotted that tree They went to
work an eat all the bark off in limo
up, an down, an then they went slid
in down the slippery place jes like
a toboggan slide, an they was so
many OF EN- that it was Just one
long line, roun' an roun' until | got
so dizzy | had to get out my garden
hose an wash 'em Off That's the
reason you don't see many of en-,
for when they secs meant business
they left
''Speakin' of focuses, I'll tell you
how they saved my life once when
was climbing South American
mountain by gittln in between me
an avalanche an stoppin' the ava
lanche. Talk about big swarms
Why, that was the biggest Whatl
that Your train Welcome dowr
again any time you want to know
anything about them animiles."
81.