The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-07-10

q cup. The short man stroked his chin
moment and then, in tones staruingly
miid Tor man who had brayed so fierce
a cigar. said
rs it? How dong has it been going on?'
AlWays!' replied the man with the
green patch. why. It was going on when
All the men who think and delVe and run
for office to-day, all the FISH that swim
ana beasts that walk and birds that fly,
ana all the insects that fit in the sunbeam
ana Wiggle in .the mud puddles and gyrate
ana gymnasucate wherever they gOl hang
please were but protopiastic atoms in a
chaotic world cons and cons ago.
Go 'Way!' exclaimed the short man.
Il want TO know
Certainly" said the man with the green
patch. That dragon fly put me in mind
Of 1t. And every time 1 see a chicken l
am reminded of il. Sixty years ago, on
my grandfather's farm, at + O'Clock in the
afternoon of July 10, a strange dog ran IN
among a flock of chickens, causing them
to cackle and hutter and fly in all direc-
lions in state of the utmost alarm. II
was only trihing incident and was for
gotten almost as quickly as it had occur
red. AT exactly O'Clock on the afternoon
of July 10 the next year, however, the
chickens began to cackle and ftutter and
fly in all directions in the same high stale
Of alarm that had marked them when the
strange dog so suddenly agtated them
just one year before, exactly to the min
ute! This time there was no dog. The
singular part of The case is that every
year since then, promptly at 4 o clock p.
IN. of July 49, the chickens on my grand
fathers farm are thrown into the same
state of intense alarm that the dog threw
the chickens into sixty years before-a
most striking instance of hereditary trans
itiOn of both mental and physical ten
dency in the race of fowls"
HApd are thew the Same chickens that
the dog scared?" asked the short man,
who seemed profoundly interested.
The man with the green patch glared at
the short man with his uncovered eye, and,
gritting his teeth, exclaimed:
"Oh, certainly, and my grandfather, who
was only so years Old a. the time the dog
scared the chickens, SUI shells the corn
and feeds them, while the dog is to-day
cheerfully running a churning machine on
a neighboring farm"
My, N.Y. said the short man. And do
dragon flies do it. too?'
do what?" snapped the man with the
patch.
Get scared by dogs and fly up and
caclIle, and do it over again at p. m. on
the 18th day of every July"
The man with the green patch looked
out mournfuliy across the meadows,
where men and women and children were
wedding the onion fields in the sweltering
sun He hummed a plaintive air and then
spoke up YEARLY:
In my native town there Is a peculiar
race of dragon flies. Once, some years
ago a common, ordinary dragon fly flew
through window in my native town, into
a room where a foolish person struck at
it with a towel and knocked off a portion
of one of its wings. disabling it. friend
of mine, who was something of a genius,
was present. He took up the injured in
nd w Y,1,afvaH re CHI IN
with tissue paper and mucliage He toss
ed the fly cut of the window and it took
wing. II rose in the air, but flew round
and round in big circle. 1t couldn't go
straight ahead. My friend the genius had
made one wing heavier than the other in
mending it, and that, of course, made it
impossible for the poor insect to fly other
wise than in a circle, no matter if it should
fly continuously for a thousand years.
While my friend was preparing a long
handled scoop net to capture the insect
SO he might remedy the defect of the re-
paired wing, another big dragon fly came
flying drought the same window, and the
same foolish persons who had hit the first
one knocked the second one down The
injury done to this one was much more
serious, for the fys body had been sever
| ed close to the shoulders. The big head
and shoulders of the poor insect crawled
| about in a piteously helpless state My
| friend the genius turned his attention "a
| this second case and in a mechanical way
| stuck one end of a wooden toothpick in al
! the place where the body had been sep
arated That bit of toothpic6 happened
| to be just the proper weight and bal
| ance, and up the dragon fly rose and soar
| ed out of the window with the wooden
body as gracefully and easily as he had
ever SCARED before.
"Al this time the dragon fly with the
,4.1 tho \ u.
circle in the air. AS the insect with the
wooden appendage flew out of the window
1t discovered the other fly and flew alone
| with il in the circle, as if trying to make
out what the queer antics meant. 1t didn't
take him long TO cipher out The situation
for he flew directly in front of the insect
in its erratic flight, and as il came round
in one of its circles. placed the wooder
body in its way. The fly of uneavenly bal
| anced wing wasn't a chump. either and il
i grabbed the tip of the toothpck in its
mouth. Away went the insect with The
| wooden body, moving the other one with
it straight for home.
Naturally, that made a good deal OF
! talk in my native place but the incident
was soon forgotten. But next year, wher
dragon flies appeared, folks noticed tha
! there were two new kinds One of these
had one wing heavier than the other, anC
flew around an day in circles The other
| kind had long, slender, pointed body
People were surprised, but when along to-
ward evening they saw the dragon file.
with the long, slender bodies back up ir
front of the ones that flew all day in cir.
cles, and tow them away home. l an
| drawing it mild when l say that they were
! astOnished. Was there ever a clearer
more striking case of hereditary transmits
sion than that?"
My goodness me. nor exclaimed the
| = n txb h o;o
| butt that Saddened even The onion witt
which the man with the green patch haC
plucked and was chewing. Then, after
| pause, he said would you as lief tell me
where your native place ISL"
why, certainly!' said the man with the
patch.
Thanks" said the short man. "WherC
is it?'
"Out West" said the man with tht
patch, and the short man and his ciga1
butt went away toward the railroad, while
the man with the patch plucked another
|