The leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1895-1905, 1895-09-17
ARP STUDIES BATS.
Not the Baseball Kind, However,
But Those With Wings.
lie Wishes He Were n Naturalist Prom
Bats and Bees His Thoughts krn to the
Wonen-tien. r. NJ. Is. Young
and His Crazy Quit.

reading my wife looked up ana reinarkeu'
There is bat in the room" A long
time ago she used to jump up with alac-
rity and go into another room and wait
till I got the little yarmint out, but ammo
domini takes the scare out of woman as
well as a man, and so now she keeps her
seat. The girls said: Take the lamp in
the hall and it will go out" but it would
ent My wife said: You had better get
the broom and knock 1t down, but don't
you knock it this way" noticed that
she put the Sunny Soush on her head sad
die fashion and the girls had covered up
all but their eyes. Carefully j mounted
chair and began to sweep for the little
creature as it SKINNED around, but 1t
takes a long time and / lost ;uy perpen-
dicular several times. "The nat is the
missing link" said l as j gave another
stroke. Seems to be-" said my wife.
You miss it every time" 1T is not an
amphibious ANIMAL said l. But very
ambiguous" said she. 1T is chiropterous
and yespertillo," said as ] made another
iunge and the chair careened and let me
down easy. Paus.ng while to get
breath, remarked that those big words
of Linneus meant having hands and
fingers and coming out at twilight.
"Well, do please get the thing out of here
and you can tell u about it aftcrward,
said my WIFE The next effort was an ac-
eidental success. The bat was knocked
down and swept out. Then ] got the cy-
clopedia and discovered from it how the
bat was a bird that laid no eggs, but gave
birth to its young and sucked them-how
it had hands and feet and fingers and
toes and even finger nails and toe nails;
how it had teeth, CANNES and molars:
how it was not blind, but had little tiny
eyes hid in the hair, eyes that cannot
bear the light and are entirely closed
when flyin. around lighted room. Cu-
vier experimental with them and put their
eyes out and they could still fly around
and never touch wall or the ceiling
He said it was owing to their exquisite
sense of touch and of smell and hear
ing The ancients said the bat had
sixth sense by which they could avoid
collision with walls and so forth, but
Cuyier did not think SO. They are very
ancient little animal and | reckon had
place somewhere in Noah's ark, but we
don't know whether he put them with the
birds or the bugs. Moses declared them
unclean and elassed them with owls and
vultures. 1t seems to us that it is poor,
miserable life they live, but l reckon
they enjoy it, especially when they come
i'm the house and alarm the women and
children They have a unique and lonely
place in creation, there being but two or
three kinds, and they never cross or mix
and have no society. They have the min
iature hands and feet of human beings.
the teeth of dog and wings to fly like
bird. Even Darwin could not tell wheth-
er they evoluted backward or forward.
/ wish that was u naturalist. 1t is an
everything mystery to study these little
creatures all around US. How fly can
30 swiftly glide upon the window pane,
what language the ants use as they pass
and repass one another as they go and
come from their hidden nests. l watch
them on the poles in the trellis and they
never fail to pause for an instant and
say something and quickly pass on.
Maybe it is "Howdy," or Are all well?"
or II am glad to see you-give my love
to the children" That they say some
thing there is no doubt. Then there are
the lightning bugs that would be a great
wonder if they were not SO common. Did
you ever observe that they never tighten
except to rise higher i'm the air? They
make no descending light, and so it is evil
dent that the light they make is not to
see by, but to propel them upwards. 1t is
an electric power-a force without heat
and our scientists might study it and an
alyze the wonderful little chemical ma
chine that lies hidden in it's tail. 1t is a
power as well as light. My friend Bus
sey, the bee man of Marietta, says he
tried diligently to cross lightning bugs
with his bees so that the cross could see
how to work in the dark, but he failed.
have great respect for Linneus and Gu
vier and Audobon and Agassiz, who have
left us such treasury of knowledge
that they gathered from nature. IT does
seem that providence raises up such men
with kind purpose and gives them key
to unlock His storehouse. Every once in
a great while great man comes up to
minister to cur pleasure, our learning or
our comfort, Thus knowledge becomes
diffused and the world becomes wiser
and better If man is the best finder
woman is the best diffuser of knowledge.
I contemplated them yesterday as they
worked on crazy quilt al my house. A
good lady, who is always at work for the
clturrh or the moor or the hpatbeu