Milford chronicle., 1906-08-24
some REMARKABLE
MOSQUITO STORIES.

IT was rainy evening at Rehoboth
and at one end of the porch OF the Hotel
HenIopen was a bunch Of travelling
men. who are always replete with re-
markable stories. The mosquito, the
ubiquitous, insistent, pungent me-
sonito became the topic Of talk and
each member OF the party seemingly
andeavored to outdo his confreres with
q mosouito story. OF course there are
roosonitoes all over North America and
thew are unpleasantly common too.
Then there is a mosquito that has no
song, "but gets there just the same :"
making up for his lack OF music oy the
energy with which he attends to ousi-
ness.
one man in the party solemnly aver
rod that ne had known mosquitoes to
perforate a tin roof, and another tolu
how poor fellow was once chased anu
driven 10 shelter by vast swarm OF
,,aosonitoes. He dived into small pond
which was not more than three feet
deem and lust held his head at the sur
sace so as TO breathe. Every minute or
two he would duck his head beneath
the surface and engulf the mosqult' es
that had settled upon his Uranium, ana
he kent this up for some time. In the
course of an hour or so he observed that
the water was growing shallow, ana
wondered what was the matter. Watch
inc his chances for making observa-
tions. he found that millions OF mo
souitoes had settled at the edge OF the
Dond and were drinking it dry. Ihe
mont rank rose and flew away as iast
as it was filled, and then the second
rank took its place. In this way water
was gradually taken aW ay, but happliy
for that intended victim, bis assailants
we're unable to finish the job before sun
set. They were all day mosquitoes that
ouit work at nightfsll; they knocked
Of Of sunset and went home to supper,
thus giving him a chance to escape.
Had they not done so we should never
have knewn his fate.
Some mummerings of disbelief fol-
lowed the above narration, but another
nember of the party essayed the fol-
lowing concerning a man who was
chased by mosquitoes and took shel'er
under large kettle which ne Iounu III
fbe abandoned camp of some sap boil
az With the overturned kettle above
him he thought he could bid defiance
to his pursuers, but he was not long III
discovering his mistake. Hardly hau
he settIed down beneath the kettle be-
fore he heard sounds like that made by
a rotary drill against iron, and he maue
the horrible discovery that the MOSQUE
tees were drilling through the Kettle 10
get at him.
nT,ufix EN-. though, " said he, "ifthey
ever get their bills through that IRON
Ull clinch EN- with this yeTe stone"
With that he picked up a stone the
aize of his fist, and as the bills OF the
insects protruded through the kettles
bottom he clinched them as the farrier
clinches a horse nail. Bill after Dill
came through and was duly elinched,
and finally there were so many fastened
to it that the mosquitoes, by concerted
action, lifted the kettle and flew away
leaving the man without shelter.
mWhat became Of him?" one OF the
listeners asked. o..
"T'm not sure, " replied the narrator, "
but I think the remaining mosquitoes
ate him up"
"Then how do you get at the facts Of
the stOry?"
"The poor fellow wrote them on the
inside OF the kettle with the blood that
eozed from a mosquito wound. l was
one Of a search party that found the
kettle after the mosquitoes fell to the
ground exhausted, and 1 read with my
own ewes what he there told"
This was little too steep for that one
Of the party who had not yet spun his
warn, so he proposed that the party
adjourn to his room where they could
branch upon cigars and such.