Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1901-08-25
YOUTHS NATURAL HISTORY.
10Y. -l4sal. lsoi. 10y 4. a.. Lewis.
Inc shark

III Ill the AnuApaAduIs Oh ms SNa
known To man the SHARK is the oniy
one who won't hold still Tor his bach
to be scratched with eorcoh. He
refuses 10 have anything to do witt
man except TO eat him. and therefore
no one ever hears Of shark going
around and telling how he has been
flmfamemed by sailors and sumflam-
med by fishermen. He is fish which
attends strictly to business. and that
business is getting enough to eat Ma
ture set out 70 give him the appitite OF
a formers hired man, but though
some mistake she overdid the business
and tefs him constantly hungry A
whale would be satisfied to wipe his
mouth and haul e1 for awhile after de-
vouring dog, sailor and half a bar
rel OF salt pork, but the shark is ready
for more as soon az the last gulp Is
down,
The porposse Re very particular about
his food being fresh and served mp on
a sandy bottom. and the dolphin wants
everything Just of the ice, but the
shark takes what Ia set before him and
makse no kick, n the ,cook 81 sail
ing ship throws him empty beer bot.
ties OF cobh,estones wrapped up In It's
sue paper. he takes them in with
thanks, and II a sailor falls overheard
he Is eaten without reference to his pc.
litics or religion Almost every bird
animal or fish has favorite dish, but
II the shark prefers one thing 10 an.
other no one has yet found II out. II,
may be little longer chewing up Q
keg of horseshoe nails than in gulpinl
| down first class passenger, but h,
counts II as all In the days work.
The Chinese once believed that every
body eaten by shark was sure to Il
to paradtae. and thousands OF wall eyed
heethens who bad got tired Of thll
world and wanted change used I,
Jump OF the docks and be taken In
After this had been going on for hal
a century the Chsnama0 began to hav,
his doubts. and the result was that tn
shark had to get UP taste for dogs
In the WATERS os india It IL still eonsld
cred tire proper thing for son 4
throw his father and mother to tn
sharks to insure thom happy home II
their old age, and among tho Spice IL
lands child who cries with the coli
Ia thrown Into the surf TO be gobblel
up and cured forever.
If the shark OF to-day attalns the slz
and length OF saw log. he goes alonl
tho coast and shows himself off t
summer visitors MS big thing, but b
would have been small potatoes durln
the prehistoric age. Al that time na
ture WAS turning out sharks by the car
load and the smallest of the lot aver
aged 40 feet long and could cot half
dozen sailors without loosng his bel
As for something extra in tho shar
line, Ash 70 and so feet long. with tw
or three barrelfuls Of teeth as an ou
1T were gamboling along the coast
In schools. Half dozen such fls
would have eaten up everything !
Noah's ark and then rubbed their hun
cry bellies against its keel. The shar
of to-day has got teet scarcely large
than a cats, and the leg bones OF al
old Jack Tar give him no end of both
or. and this seems to prove that Il
time he will degenerate into clam AM
be feared by none. Way back In tn
dim past, when shark was full o
business from sunrise to sunset. he ha'
teeth three tiuIes as large as any horse
and what he couldn't bite through ate
drawing long breath was put aside
| for the children to use when teeth1ng.
No one exactly knows what tho
whales mission Is, but there is NJ
, doubt that nature intended the sharH
to be the scavenger of the sea. II sne
| didn't he walked into the job just the
same and Is holding It down in good
shape. Now and then an empty beei
| bottle or an old rubber boot lodges the
shark and comes ashore at Coney ISL
and. but this is an accident. II Is his
| frm intention to devour everything
| finding It's way into the sea, whether II
be a man-of-war or a poodle-dog. and
he wastes no time In loafing about II
/ is asserted by some writer's on natural
history that the shark prefers oorned
beef to the juiciest OF sailors. This