The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1898-09-18

more closely. he saw that it had dis
colored at one end and apparently had
become moist; how this end, giving
way under some pressure from within,
bUiged outward; how the outer threads
/ were gently pushed to one side and
how some tiny white feet made their
| appearance, soon followed by a little
white head. A small trembling, white
animal crept forth, its wings
| grew and strengthened noticeably af-
ter being opened and shut a few times
until it suddenly flew away. The en-
! peror, the empress and the little prin-
| cess were very much surprised. They
! all had often seen the little white
j butterfly in swarms about the old null
! berry trees in the garden, particularly
! in the twilight of 81 warm summer
! evening. 1t was not long before the
/ little princess had a lot of these but
! terfiieS in. her room, much to the dis
comfiture of her maids, who did not
take kindly TO this new whim Of her
mistress.
But Louit-Seu was a child and
princess at that. So she insisted upon
/ being allowed to feed her new pets,
just as she had formerly fed the much
less jolly caterpillars; but at first she
was very unhappy that her butterflies
! would not eat of the fresh mulberry
leaves she had brought in for them
NNOAS hely sim llCy WOQiQ always
keep near the boughs placed in the
room Shortly after the clever child
made another discovery: She found
upon the boughs tiny globuleS and re-
membered having seen similar ones
upon the branch that had been brought
first from the garden. She appraised
her parents OF the news and between
them they soon found the truth. They
had discovered the transitory forms of
the development of the silk-worm.
Since that time Emperor Hoang-Ti
was often seen in deep thought When
ever he found the empress at her loom
he would remain, at her side for hours
watching her quick hands guiding the
shuttle through the warp. 1t went so
far that while looking at the empress
work he would sometimes neglect even
urgent state affairs.
Just think of it," said the master of
the household to the minister of war
one day, his majesty has not listened
to me or heard one word of my verbal
report about what measures l propose
to employ to stop the damage done by
the caterpillaTs in the imperial gar
dens. We would have ample work for at
least $50 people, if the emperor had |
sanctioned my plan and approved of !
the creation Of the new charge of i'm |
perial caterpillar destroyer I even had |
imagined most handsome uniforms for |
these very useful officials.
ooh, yes, you are quite right, my dear |
friend retorted the minister Of war |
His majesty certainly lacks the mental |
vigor of former days. While L read |
my reports on the state of our northern
Notifications yesterday the emperor
played the while time with one of the
little, egg-shaped balls made by the
worms of the little princess and when
| had finished he had it pulled to pieces
and into numberless fine threads"
The two old courtiers shook their
gray heads in dismay and went on
their respective errands. Their aston
ishment about the whinlS OF their i'm
perial master rose higher still when,
in the following spring, Emperor Ho-
ang-Tf gave orders to collect all the
worms that could be found on the null
berry trees and had them fed and
cared for in the largest state halls Of
his sumptuouS palace. The empress
and the princess supervised this work
in person, and never a day passed
without the emperor himself inspecting
the progress of his hobby. When the
worms ceased feeding on leaves and
began spinning their cocoons the en-
peror came forward with a little ma
chine, which made it possible to I'M
wind the fine threads from the cocoons
and to turn them into yarn of a fine
ness previously unknown. When a
sufficient quantity of the yarn had been
obtained the princess again turned to
Ter loom, and what she wove then was I
lot wool, but the new fiber procured I
~ the machine of the emperor from |
he .cocoons. The monarch had thus