Marble Hill press. (Marbel [sic] Hill, Mo.) 1881-1923, 1900-11-08
Soldering with the 9Th.

Soldering with the 9th.
l had to remain in Jacksonville
three days waiting for my baggage
to be forwarded from Mama, so l
had 10 amuse myself looking at the
attractions. One day l stepped
into cafe to get my dinner; 1T be-
ing little early, no other customer
was in. The front room was for
whites, the next room for blacks
and back of that the kitchen. While
waiting for my DINNER to be served
a major belonging to a New Jersey
regiment came In, walked back into
the second room and sat down.
The waiter. negro boy about
twelve years of age, said, "You
guine to eat heah?" "Yes, bring
on the dinner.' In about five min
utes big ulgger came in, took a
seat at the same table with the
major and ordered his dinner. The
major saw his mistake, but finished
his dinner.
Tho Florida ostrich farm is one
of the chief attractions to tourists.
The one l refer TO is in the suburbs
Jacksonville, about Is minutes ride
on the electric railway from Union
Depot. The entrance to the farm
is through the store room where
all kinds of ostrich feathers are
kept. The admission fee was 25c,
and polite attendant showed us
around and gave us a history of the
industry and the characteristics of
the birds.
The farm was located at Jackson
vile Noy., 1898. In 1885 Mr..
Edwn Caustln, Of California, char
tered sailing ship and embarked
with 81 birds from South Africa.
Ten of them died in transit and the
remaining AZ never seemed to fully
recover from their long voyage, so
that but few of the original AZ are
living. Bendigo and Little Egypt
30 years old, are residents of the
Florida Ostrich Farm and when the
writer visited them they had nest
of 20 eggs. This the attendant
said was the largest number known
to have been lald by one bird in
one laying season. The breeding
birds.all have names and are placed
in eorrals 50 by $50 feet. Some of
the names are President Mckinley
and Queen Victoria, Grover Cleve-
land and Frances, Admiral Dewey
and Miss Manila, etc. Ifa male and
female are penned together and the
female is not his choice he will kill
her. When two birds naturally
mate and are put into their corral
the male beats his wife awhile to
show her that be is lord and master,
but after she is conquered he be-
comes kindness ITSELF When q
nest is needed, the male bird digs
a hole in the sand about afoot deep
and 4 feet in diameter. If the fe-
male is not pleased with this he
goes and digs another, and SO on
patiently until sometimes four or
FIVE have been dug before her fas-
tidious tastes are satisfied. When
at last the work is completed she
begins to Law an egg every other
day until IL or 15 are deposited.
Now comes the most interesting
and peculiar part of the programme.
The male bird sits on the eggs from
4 O'Clock in the afternoon till
8 o'clock the next moroing. The
| female sits until noon when she is
relieved by her husband for one
hour so she can, get her dinner.
At l p. m. she sits again until four.
This they keep up with remarkable
regularity for 40 days when the
young ostrich breaks the shell and
makes his advent into the world.
A baby ostrich is considered worth
$50 and pair of adults are worth
$500. When they are nine months
old they are picked for the first
time and every nine months after
wards. The feathers from each
bird are worth from 80 to so dollars
per annum and they live in Africa
about 70 years.
A full grown female weighs
about 250 pounds and a male about
400 pounds. Ifa person finds him.
self near d savage mals bird ho will
be tolerabIy safe by lying aat down
as tho bird can only kick dangerous.
~ ~ o height Of about . n. This
ls probably the reason they will
charge . man on horseback, butrun
from tho smallest dog.
(Coniinued next week