The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1900-08-10
ARP'S EXAMINATIONS.
Friend Sends Bean Like That lack
the Giant-Killer Planted.
Sets Him TO MnrveIin- at the Mys-
teries. of Naturc-ArrivaI of Pre-
serving Seasonal ''Tri-
fling" Husband.

| the IutHlICdl Deans lIldU Illlle JdCh
planted and that grew up to the sky.
1t came in a letter coiied up like lit
tie green snake and / thought at first
it was snake. 1t is about the size of
an average wax bean and, is 2Slb inches
long. l measured it on my square and
am satisfied it was at least 30 inches
when it was taken from the vine, for it
has shrunk some in the mail He
writes that he is lineal descendant of
Jack and the bean stalk and this va
riety has been handed down through
II generations, more or less, and these
beans won't grow for anybody except
| Irish patriots or confederate veterans,
The writer belonged to Capt. Dawson's
company in the Eighth Georgia regi-
ment and was with us that memora bic
night when we crossed the Shenand oah
river by torchlight and the short boys
| had to be eased over the deep places
by putting taller soldiers behind them,
and even then the water ran into
their mouths occasionally. My friend
was one of the shorts and says he got
strangled several times on tiptoe.
These bean vines and other vines
have often excited my wonder and con-
temptation. Solomon says: There
is a purpose for everything under
heaven" and Addison says: I'm rea-
sons voice all rejoice" And so would
like to know why all the bean vines,
morning glories, madeira and CHINA
mon vines grow and wind toward the
sum-, starting on the south side of the
pole and going east, while the hop vine
and some others reverse their course.
Everything has its law and you cant
make anything change its nature. a
vine will die if you force it the wrong
way. And yet Raphael Semmes says
in his great book that south of the
equator everything is reversed and the
bean vines that climb against the sun
up here climb with it down there. OF
course the motion of the earth on its
axis has something to do with it, but
why is it so? We don't know much
after all. Mrs. Hemans says: And
flowers shall wither at the north
winds breath" but if She had lived
in South America she would have said
Sat the south winds breath" for that
is the cold wind below the equator.
We are all inclined to view things
from our own standpoint. Of course
it is very natural for US to do so for
we live in the same zone and latitude
that Adam and Eve lived in. WEST
ward the course of empire takes its
way" That's all. No change in the
course of the sun or moon or stars
or climate or temperature. Paradise
was on a line with Gainesville, and |
it is yet, and the Euphrates river is
the Etowah now and the gold of that |
land was good and SO is the gold of |
this.
But I was Illuminating about these
mys .eries of nature that surround US
and are so common that we do not no.
tice them. Last night our grove was
by a thousand firefies-
more numerous and more brilliant than
ever before. 1t was regular pyrotech-
mics for an hour. They tighten as they
rise from the grass and emit spark
of gold and green luster that is lovely.
Some naturalists say it is phosphorus
that they can illuminate az will by
breathing hydrogen or oxygen into it
and that it has no heat. Ever since
Linneus lived this little innocent bug
has been under the fires of dissection
and discussion. and no solution of itS-
wonderful faculty has yet been agreed
upon. l had to catch a bottle full for
the little girls. They played with them
until bedtime, and then l turned them {
put, and one of them was dead, with
the light still shining in its tail. 1t
had illuminated its own death and kept
is lantern burning without breath
If hydrogen or oxygen. Away down in ,
he tropics these tirefiies are an inch |
ong, and a score or two of them will I
a room and dozen in bot I
lie give light to read by. Travellers tie $
dozen to a stick and travel at night by
heir light. would like to import some
# that variety into my grove. In fact.
think we could utilize them in our C
street lamps and get more light than a
We do now. L
The other morning about sunrise l Fl
vas surprised at the number of little g
ew-covered cobwebs that adorned the a
-rass and weeds around the house | @
hey were almost touching each other D
nd glistened in the morning sun like I
frost was upon them. Most of them a
we're about the size of a saucer and b
ad their tiny cords and stays fastened il
and in everyone was a cum a
ing little aperture where the weaver il