The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-08-13
80 xxx %/H%%] |]VVV~vVV
The Red Bugs Bite
And the Man With
A Flask of Brandy

The CHlGGER truck anu
AND the tail of a Sunday
THE REDRIIG. excursion to Fuquay
Springs disappear
around a curve. s'They are innocent and
don't know any better. but they are TAX
ing risks that less ignorant people Wcaid
shrink FROM
ANY bears in the woods around fu-
quay?" asked the Observer of Men and
Affairs.
mo, if there were they'd not stay there
long, when by simply coming up here 70
Pullen Park they could get employment
at $50 a month, with board and Washlh
thrown in
"Rattlesnakes!" guessed their Youthful
Companion.
mo, a high-lan moccasin is the pest
that country affords; that is a-provldlh
a fellow sticks to spring water
"Oh it's mosquitoes!" declared the
Man Who Knows 1t ALL
"No; you can get them without goln
to Fuquay or anywhere else. It's red
bugs
"You mean chiggers," smiled the OBJ
server.
mo, mean nothing of the sort" And
the Old Cocger looked annoyed as he
the weed and struck a match. When he
had it we'll going, he paused for mo-
ment to remark that if some folk didn
try to be quite so elegant in language
he thought they might possibly be lit
tie more accurate.
The ed-bug and the chigger are quite
different animals" he then went on to
explain. THE bug lives in the South
ern States, and her favorite residence is
an old rotten log. The chieger is found
only in the West Indies or South America,
and she prefers to wallow in the sand
"Why do you say her and she?
queried the Observer of Men and Affairs.
Because they are mischevious, trou-
le-making things" snapped the Old Cod
ger "And besides the he's and him
among them attend to their business ana
let other folks alone; the she's and her S
don't.
Both of them are small red neas." he
went on, land their habits are similar.
1t is because of these points of resem-
blance that they have been confused in
,hc public mind. But in other respects
they are very different and though they
belong to the same order, Aphaniptera,
ard use the same signs and passwords,
their relation by blood is thought to be
quite distant.
"The chigger, as I say, rolls around in
the hot West Indian or South American
sand. And though she takes on airs and
calls herself Sarcopsylla peretrans, she
prefers niger meat, and once upon her
victim she makes a Decline for the toe
nail to bore beneath it. OF course If she
fails in that she will choose some other
spot and proceed at once to bury herself
in the flesh. There, if let alone, she will
raise family of not less than sixty
children, who will spread over the body,
each digging for itself i little home"
1.-The red bug has a less aristocratie
name Geptus irritans), and naturally is
less choice in her
A WARNING food. Rich man, poor
TO THOSE man, 5esSar man..
WHO COURT peddlar-they all look
alike to her. What
ever comes to her mill is grist, and be it
white meat, black meat, drum stick. or
breast, it's equally welcome. And that's
why you ought to sound a warning to
those excursionists.
This is the country where the red-bus
excuse me, the Leptus irritans-hour-
ishes to the best advantage. and this the
season when it grows largest and most
ferocious. At Fuquay. any sunny day, you
may see them sitting upon old logs whet-
ting their bills and otherwise preparing
for the reception Of excursionists.
Now the chigger, when she comes upon
the ground, walks about over the place,
and picks out choice lot upon which to
settle and raise her family. She insists
on a moral community, quiet and Sc
10 he ra1 htlu lncS by
elusive in breeding and more greedy in
appetite. goes for her victim by the most
direct route Wherever she touches your
clothes, right there she bores TO, and
might add through, your skin, and there
she feasts and fattens.
This" said the Old Codger impress
sively, lis why you ought to warn excur-
sionists against sitting around on old logs.
| know counting couples like to be alone,
.and the temptation to go off into a
shady nook and sit upon a mOss-covered
log is great-but it's likewise dangerous.
They are almost dead sure to seat them
selves upon a choice collection of red
bugs, and nothing short of steel armour
has ever been found in the way of apparel
that would turn back these little crimson
devils when once they discover a juicy
young counting couple perched above them
on log"
Here's Jimmie Murray said Solicitor
Armistead Jones to a crowd at the court
house S e + d y
FOUR YEAR placing his hand on
OLD the shoulder Of lit
BRANDY. tie nervous man with
sharp nose and red
ide-whiskers. "He possesses the distinct
ion of having carried half pint of apple
brandy all through the war, and brought
it back home after the surrender-and,'
he added significantly, "he is from Rham-
katie.
The crowd first looked surprised, and
then incredulous.
'You couldn't a-done it," retorted the
little man whirling quickly around and
facing Mr.. Jones. The crowd laughed as
Jones admitted that he didn't think he
could, and the Observer of Men and
Things asked with a tone of serious doubt
in his voice
Are you really from Rhamkatte?"
THAT | am, warp and filling. was born
and bred there and there l expect to die"
"Well l wouldn't have believed a Rham-
katter could have done what Mr.. Jones
said you did