The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1896-01-31

to the sport of kite-fghting In fact,
kites are town usually for fighting pur-
poses. The silk strings are prepared
through their entire length by dipping
them into a mixture of fish glue and
powdered glass. y string thus treated
Will readily cut another string that is
crossed by il. In the sport of kite-fight-
ing. any kite may be cut down BY an
other. The moment two strings are
crossed the players must let out their
lines. as. It one becomes taut, it is cut
Immediately. Sometimes four or five
strings are crossed, and the game lasts
all day. The moment u Kite is cut down
it is seized by small boys. who are on
the watch fer such catastrophcs.
In the making Of kites shape is no con-
sileration with the Chinese or Japanese
y square, a circle, a man, Il star, Il fish,
dragon. a horse or shield will fly
equally well, but ,ney must be- equally
proportioned In Japan one sees whole
menagcrie at once i'll the air-horses
COWS. monkeys, bats, crows. fishes and
snakes. as well as dragons. babies that
cry, boys with their arms and legs spread
out. hunters and soldiers.
''Fighting kites are seen cvcrywhere
in both CHINA and Japan. The armed
kite is usually made about 21A feet high
and covered with cambria or silk. 'TRe
tail may he made of strips of bright
colored cloth about one inch wide. Sc
curely tied in the middle to string of
Irvine. The destructive part of this kite
lies III the tail, to which are attached
knives. Fasten three of these knives
together with wax, so that each shall
point in different direction. bind on
three slips of thin wood lengthwisc to
hold the wax and glass firmly and cover
with cloth or kid.
\ much simpler weapon is made by
dipping the ten feet of string next to
the Kite in glue a1d then rolling it in
pounded glass until thickly coated with
a glistening arm0r of sharp points. The
object with both is. Of course. to cut
your opponents string. The skiIlful ma
nrnvering that this requires is very good
practice in training one to act quickly
1t is considered dishonora bic to cut an
unarlncd kite Washington Star.
The Pouch Gopher.
He is shy, quiet, thrifty chap, the
through the New Mexican plains i:1vari-
ably EeStOWS on him an admiring and
interested glance. The colors of his
coat arc warm. soft. but neutral. blend
ing with the grays and duns of the
able sands. In such a land brighter
coat would mean a short life. \ score
of enemies lie in wait for Brother
Gopher and only his dull garb renders
his foraging expeditions among the sage
brush and potato hillocks at all safe
The keen-eyed hawk floating high in til"
air above the gopher scans the brown
digger's back one tinge darker the bird
would be upon him before he could FIN
lsh gnaWine that toothsome root.
he has great Use FOX thos" queer
pouches of his. Ground nuts, roots, pu-
tatoes and seed pods furnish, "Geomys.
as the bookworms call the gopher, with
w E49d h.1s IN tie cpaciouT p4uchss
shoulder he, car: carry an Incredibly
large load. + lining fertile potato hill
Or clump of neavy-ladcn cookie burrs
ne proceeds 20 carry the food with all
possible sliced to numerous etorehouses
under ground. Not until ali the prov
MIR. Gopher ca. Il single norsel There
is thrift for you.
And h" does net carry sand or dirt in
those pretty pockets as most Of the
stories about him Incorrectly state. He
has no need to do So as all inspection
OF his hurro"ing operations will dis
close.
He humps his little back and resting
partly on his tail, partly on his hind
feet and with his front paws he fairly
makes the earth fly. Every few mo-
ments he will drop Oh his front feet
and with his hind ones will kick the
accumulated debris out behind him.
When a fair pile is collected he wheels
about. places his front paws under the
mound and showing with his sturdy
bind legs comes putting up out of his
burrow like Il tiny steam eXcavator. In
few hours he can dig long and very
winding burrow. and if he encounters
stones or roots he either undermines or
gnaws through the obstruction however
big. He never abandons his line of OK
cavation OH account of unforeseen diff
culties. # ri.
g. The pretty fellows make very charm
ing pets and very clearly ones, but fight
nearly all the time. Acquisitiyeicss
and a keen instinct of property rights
make frequent disputes. Unless the cage
be very large one TIE stronger ones
will soon kill the weaker by force or
starvr them to death. One will find the
others hidden store and appropriate it.
If taken in the theft a fight is ineyita-
bic and even If not badly injured the de-
featetl gopher seems to take no joy in
2lifc. when his property is thus lost.
Pockets in animals as in men seem to
Indicate Il realization of metls and tuus
iIselmrable from q train Of accompany
ing Woes. Envy. jealousy, worry, fraud,
fear, greed and suspicion almost I'M