The times., 1901-06-23
THE OLDEST GREENBACKER
a Constant and Athletic Dweller
of the Marshes.
Interesting Points Concerning the
FroG-His Habits of Living and His
Happy Disposition - What Gives
Him His BriIIianey of Color.

become acquainted at the earliest oppor-
tunity. The man who has not met Jim
Frog does not know what it is to enjoy
rest in the true sense of the word, and
what it is to get move on when motion
is necessary.
The motion of Jim Frog is the most in
teresting thing about him. You think ne
is too slow to wink, when suddenly you
see long green st'eak with starting
place where the frog was sitting, and
that streak is your horrible example"
of laziness with steam up. The frog Is
compound condensing engine; he uses his
steam over and over again, and that is
why he is seldom exhausted. The leaf
that was his parasol quivers in the breeze
stirred by his going, graceful emerald
curve is arched from the bank to the
bosom of the pond that is his home, and
a ripple of rings, each greater than the
other tells the tale of his sinking into
the wet. His pointed head tips close to
the bottom of the pond. He stirs the mud
of the pond bottom. He routs heap OF
little pebbles, crowding into them, and
out again and under a loop of drowned
sedgegrass. But he is out againl
A frog Goes not rely so much upon his
brain, as apon his legs, for his preserva-
ton He Is like some soldiers. His atti-
ed cheek Not that he wants slap, but
he waits not upon the order of his going,
when the enemy gives him the impression
that a look in the eye means combat to
the death.
Jim Frog has noble thighs. They are
wound about with fine white muscles, so
rapid. strong, agile, and dexterous that
they make the legs of a bicycle rider look
liks stumps in back field when brought
into comparison. So capable of action are
these muscles that they do not cease their
motion when death overtakes Jim Frog.
They are like some people, who live after
they are dead.
You can freshen the memory of de-
parted friend by shedding few salt tears
over his grave. You can freshen the mo-
ton of a dead Jim Frog by sprinking
little salt over his white muscles. II salt
be placed on the skinned legs OF frog af-
ter it has been Killed, in a short while the
muscles begin to twitch and contract and
expand. as If hidden by some witching
power Is this death. telling of itself? Is
this the soul, squirming in the neither OF
an inferior animal after-world2 Is this
mans own blind eyes, moved by the ichor
of spring? Or nervous with the conscience
OF the frogs murder?
Jim Frog is green. Like all things that
have freshness about them which makes
them seem like so many cabbage leaves to
the eye that has wandered far into the
mystery of the world, this verdure of the
frog is deceptive. 1t is upon his back, but
notin his brain or his heart. II green sig
mites spring, then the frog has it in his
legs. But his legs are his helpers and the
staff of his life so that spring in the frog
is lire to him. The frog is green not from
choice, but because nature knew his hab-
it's and has set MIN in his little world with
care for harmony, like furniture is
matched with wall paper in modern
home.
The frog was not given claws to rend
his foe, nor teeth to tear out his heart;
instead he was given the protection of the
flag by the river rim. on the little pebble
| fortress of the brook-jetty or in the sedge
of the shrinking pond. Jim Frog is hid
den unconsciously, and all the time.
The frog never lies on his back. He
never shows his belly. Therefore nature
did not paint his belly green. She did not
seem willing to put one more daub on
Jim Frog than was needed in his decora-
| ton for deceptive purposes alone. She
matched his back with the grass and i'm
planted in his heart the good sense to
| keep his waistband hidden away that the
delicate whiteness might not betray him.
Jim Frog is the early bird of the river
sedge and the pond. Two days of April
sunshine bring him from the mud Of his
Information. The April sunshine may
come in darch-its magic is as true TO
the frog.
with head half raised from the surface
of the pond he peers about, and ever and
anon bursts forth in cultural resonance,
nd mn n-in
Y-u-r-rl'' The last note always sounds
to me like a song started, then cut off by
some sad memory OF q mother-frog
caught in the mud OF a dry hole, or a
baby-frog unmatched from the CLASSY egg
state, or undeveloped beyond the tailless
and undignified nothingness Of tadpole.
| The wanderer who tramps ankle deep I'm
the marsh meadow these afternoons or
evenings, and who knows not the willy
ways of Jim Frog, viii think he sees only
| a few stones sticking up from the water,
or the stumps of water grasses. These
are. instead the high-bulging eyes of Jim
| Frog. So silently will they withdraw from
| from the surface on the approach of the
stranger that he will not notice the
change of scene before him, unless he is
| especially keen of sight. As long as he
remains within view of the frogs watch
| ing him from the potion OF the pOlu, no
more heads Will be raised, but let him
retire for a moment and the frog frolic
will begin anew, and then there viii be
recurrent croaking.
The pond win be cut with circles and
from beneath the bulging eyes there win
be a quick bloating, and the issue of that
.'Yump-in-Y-u-r-r!' The bigger the frog
the deeper his note. A Jim Frog that
weighs as much as a pound or more
which is big enough for the small boys to
christen him Bull Frog has a voice
that makes his sudden and sullen call
seem 10 come up from the depths of a
secret artesian well, drilled a mile below
the bottom of the pond.
When Jim Frog becomes very old and
very fat like man with wadding of
bank notes wrapped about his ribs. he is
not creature of much interest. from an
anatomical point Of view. He lacks sym
metry He lacks agility. He lacks grace
and beauty He still has his green-back,
| like the banker, but the white belly bulges
out in a betraying manner. 1t smacks of
too much Indulgence. frog with a dou-
BILE chin does not lose his power of voice
Neither does a man with a triple waist
band but the service at his command
changes from the service of a subject
that serves to please because of admira-
ton to the service of the subject that
strives to satisfy because of reward or
fear.
OF course, Jim Frog has wife. but
the nuDtial knot has never been very
| E.I fg Low v,r.I-fr