The times., 1897-04-25
New York Street Waits at the
Coney Island Seaside Home.
CHILDISH FEARS AND NOTIONS
EVERYTHING Strange and Bewildering
to Them-Devil's Dn rning Needles.
Explanation of Thunder Storms.
Helping the Birds Cream Rega rd-
ed With Suspicion.

| great n 'Eube' as the country boy is in the
| citv. Everything being strange TO him,
ba regards the most harmless object with
| s,Ispicion and fear, and Information of the
commonplace kind suggests itself to him
as n urobable hoax. He who passes fear
! leSsyy through the perlis of the crowded city
! streets will shrink back in alarm from the
| touch OF a green leaf, or dodge with super
fbous agility a FURNISHED butterfly fit
! tinp mas, him Tell him that potatoes
| prnw underground, or that bees live IN
! hives or their own building and he VIII
! nrobably intimate, if he Doesn't state i'll
| uueouiy ocal language, his belief that you
sre living to him. On the other hand, he
| will evolve beliefs OF his own, his faith In
! which viii remain unshaken, despite
! convincing proof to the contrary
AT the Seaside Home, at the west end
nj Cnuey Island, where a number of chill
| aren are cared for during vacations of a
| fortnight OF sometimes month By the
| society for the Improvement of the Condi-
tiau of the Poor notes have been made by
| those who have the children in charge OF
| sntne of the queer comments ny the city
| hred Youngsters Neauy all the children
| are from the tenement districts, and
! have never seen anything more country
| fled than Central Park or Jones Wood,
| and the real country around the home is
fun Of wonders to them.
al never knew there was pla cas- bigas
this with nobody living in It, said one
little girl, indicating the stretch OF grass
land beyond the home Didn't nobody
never live here?''
ITO a lover OF nature it is a cOnstan
! source OF pain, says the head otthe Nat ural
History Department in her report, ito note
the fear aud aversion with which these
children OF the streets regard both plants
and insects / was fairly besicged with
Are these poson?' Will 1t kill me if
cat tbis?' If YOU touch that you'll die,
etc"
Eepeatcd excursions abroad soon cured
the Youngsters Of these fears, which in
most cases were the results Of the warnings
of ignorant parents to keep OFF the
,.rass,' in very exhaustive sense. as
| matter OF fact, the greatest harm likely To
bcfal an inexperienced wandeTer ~ this
| region would be nothing worse than tue
sting Of a wasp OF the bite or a spider
Familiarity with Isaturc in the tenement
| children did not breed contempt, but te-
light and interest. which cropped cut ifc-
| onently In amusing and sometimes C!eN'Hy
formed theories 4 report from an eleven
vear-old boy who had been studying the
habits Giants contained this judiciouS mix
ture of criticism ind approval OF eoiuny
which had built its mound close to one OF
the houses:
How foolish 10 make nest tight here!
It'H getstepped on anlsbroken. But guess
they know some things after all. Ihey
mt their nest where there's lots OF Stuff
to eat. Right here is where the picuics
throw their crumbs
A little girl who had come to grief with
a bee suggested an Improvement on nature
OF her own invention. This was that the
insect should sting from in front instead
of behind
Then 1t wouldn't have to turn around
when it wanted to sting you she said.
Even more feared than the bees were
the hig dragon flles, or devils darmng
, needles, which for all their savagcnesS
among other insects, for they aTethe hawks
or the world, are quite harmless to HUI
manitv, being able neither to bfte nor
5 sting, although they make threatening
motions when captured. 1t Is not c1hy
. among the ignorant children, by the WaF
, that the fear Of these SWIFT myers 90
tains. The prevailing impression was
that the devils darning needle was sc
called because it sewed up the ears o.
, bad little children. Time after time th'
classes Of explorers would scatter VIII
shrieks as a big dragon fly buzzed past
them A teacher. having liatterea heFsei
that she had eradicated the fear oi theSe
insects from the mind of one OF the larger
bows. was far from edited upon hearing
his correction OF n small girl, who hele
firm faith in the popular houon
You didn't never see nobody's ears
sewed up. did YOU" was his argument
.sNo. but I've seen them bugs twist theil
tails around all ready to do IL, she as
, | serted, stouuy.
"Ah-h-h. That wasn't to sew your ear
up"
what was 1t, them"
That's the way it stings you, and thel
you swell up and die
Comforting for the alarmed MAIDEN
, Mushrooms and toadStoos are also ohlecV
of fear The instructress OF natural ms
tory class picked small toadstool u
explain something about its structure I
!, the children and heard one OF them ex
claim under his breath:
, You wouldn't catch me tOuchin' ina
thing!''
!, why not, Conny?" asked the instruc
tress
. "'Taint lucky" was the reply. That
devils bread"
"And what is devils bread?"
"Them things are At night the ltttl
devils come out of the woods and set on EN-
If you pick them things the devils II com
f. after you"
Don't talk NONSENSE, Conny. Who toi
you such stuffas that?'
',Rlack Mary, that works over by tn
r ferry, told me, an she knows all about then
things Her mother useter know witc
6 | in Ireland"
This, then, was Second generation Iris
g superstition, remnant of bog-mystlcisr
passed down to those who had never seen
r countryside Others OF the superstition
are not so easy to trace Why does KILN
! an ant cause rain? why is the down ruhbe
from the wing OF butterfly a signth th
. handthat rubbed it WILSON be burned VIII
fire? Where does the good luck come i
u having butterfly aIight on you or Whe
if it lights at your feet? And how In III
p name OF the great god Pan does the dance
lion tuft come TO be called by the opprS
, bious epithet of money stealer by thes
childIcn of the slums? Every country DO
, knows, despite the sCornful laughter
A science, that if you handle toad you WI
+ get warts like those he carries on his bodl
The city youngster believes this not onl
q ! oftoads, but frogs as well, mistake "hlc
!. the youthful bufnpkin would not make, Il