The Bossier banner. [volume] (Bellevue, Bossier Parish, La.) 1859-1952, 1896-10-01
BILL ARP'S LETTER.
FINDS PLEASURE IN THE INVES-
LEGATION OF DAME NATURE.
He Disssrtates Upon Beetles, Rabbits
and Literature.

have great admiration for Linneus and
Audubon and Humboldt aud Agassiz.
1t seems to be by design that such
men were born to explore the myster-
les Of nature and solve them, and then
teach them to us. They are all dead,
but they finished their life work and
nobody has improved upon it. | never
go into drug store and read the Lat
in names upon the jars but what |
think Of Linneus. What work for
one man to do-to walk thousands OF
miles over mountains and valleys, in
heat and cold, and to study and to
classify 5000 different Towering plants
and innumerable others that did not
flower. Poor as charity during his
earl y manhood for weeks and months
actually suffering for food; and even
when his earnest work began to attract
attention Of the learned and great he
! was not allowed to marry the girl he
loved until, like Jacob, he had been
put on five years. probation. How he
was enriched, honored and ennobled
IN his latter life is matter Of history
and is pleasant reading.
| was Eliminating about these things
because friend from Milledgeyille
wrote me about the urge yellow but
TEXTILES that were now migrating south
ward and asked if | had observed them
He says that next spring they may be
seen migrating northward, and this
, annual change of place is as certain as
| the flight of the swallows. For Il few
! days past | had noticed the number of
these beautiful butterflies that were
| passing over our flowers in the front
! yard and stopping II buried moment
! to sip honey from their chalices and
then moving on with steady and grace
full flight, but it had not occurred to
me that they were all going one way
But they are; and still they come and
still they go; not by hundreds nor
/ tens, but hardly minute passes but
what L can see two or three or g half
dozen flying leisurely along. They are
a peculiar species, are all OF a size and
with solid chrome yellow wings that
seem less frail than those Of other
varieties. What does their flight
signify? Do they know that win
ter is coming, AMI when? Where
is their journeys end? Where
will they stop to lay their eggs and
die, and what will be the transforma.
ton that brings new butterflies to life
for return i'll the early spring? Such
things are to be observed and studied,
but who does it? Some years ago when
| was farming observed that hundreds
of small branches of the persimmon
and the apple and other trees were
lying upon the ground with withered
leaves, and upon examination they
seemed to have been cut off as Ivy a
tiny turning lathe; the iucision half
inch wide at the bark and narrowing
down to the center just as turning
chisel would do it. None Of the uabors
could explain it to me, but found out
on closer investigation that it was done
by q black beetle that first mad m
inclslon Oh the tender bark and IA 4
her eggs like locust and then PRO
ceeded to cut off the limb so that il.
might fall to the ground where
the larva could hatch and then
burrow in the soil and go through
natures transformations. But how
did the beetle cut the limb so ar
tistically? Why it fastened its hard,
sharp, horny mandibles to the bark
and then buzzed round and round by
the power of its wings until the work
was done. What wonderful me-
chanic is this beetlel What wonder
full study in nature! There is more
unsolved science IL the lightning bugs,
that like little meteors brighten the
twilight on our lawns, than in the
electric flashes that illuminate the
clouds. What are all these things for?
Humboldt says there are 400 different
-recles Of hummiug birds. What for
Why should not one kind or ten kinds
have answered the Creators purpose?
Why are millions of flowers born to
blush unseen on mountain sides and
cliffs and in the desert? Humboit saws
there are 100000 beautiful scales on a
large butterhy's wing, and they can be
seen and couuted with q microscope.
Why should there be 80 many? Who
ever sees them but God, and per hap,
the angels?
But there is no limit to these mvs-
teries, and no answer to these cues,
tons. And so | will forbear. There
seems to be bigger things before the
people now. The paramount question
Is gold or silver and even the preach.
ers have engaged i'll the discussion
DR.. Parkhurst and Tom Dixon and
some o! the southern ministers have en-.
tered the arena and are trying to con
vert sinners, not to repentance, but tc
gold or silver, according to THEN
views. They have searched the scrit
lures to find something about COLO
and silver that they can torture an6
twist to their side. But there is onl,
one text that has any bearing upon il
and that is oue of SoIonon's proverbs
which says, "Words htly spoken are
like apples Of gold in pictures OF sill
don't watch the university viii! upset
all the chronology of The Billie ant
Il, ko h., I