Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-08-11
AS YOU LIKE IT.
Some Stray Leaves From . Reporter'a
 Note Book.

The instincts of some insects, as well as of larger animals, are very similar to reasoning processes. There Is, for instance, species of agricul- tural ant, living on the semi-arid plains of Texas, that cultivates plots of grass about ten or fifteen feet in diameter; only one kind of grass Is allowed to grow, and some entomolo- gists maintain that the seeds of this grass are planted by the ants them- selves. Roads are laid out, radiating from the ant hill across the plain, and all shoots of undesirable plants are quickly nibbled off as fast as they appear among the crops. When har- vest time arrives and the seeds of their protected grass are ripe, the ants collect the seeds and carry them along the radiating highways to the storehouse in the hill. These insect farmers occasionally appear in col onies large enough to do considerable damage to the grain fields of the Texan agriculturists.
 sAs
 No case that has come into the local courts in years attracted wider attention with the laiety than the tilt between two residents of Brook lyn with reference to the right of a man to put cat out of business that he finds prowling around his chicken yard. The general opinion appears to be that after notifying the owner of the feline and finding that he shows no disposition to control. 1t, it serves the cat and its master right to give the intruder dose of shot. That may be all true, but the question Is can you do that and not run the risk of getting into lot of trouble that may cost you more than half the cats in show of defence if you kill pussy provided you catch her in the act of doing up your chickens, but under any other circumstances the proper course is to sue the owner of the prowler for damage. A great many have strange ideas about such things, but after they get into court they find that after all 1t isn't safe to kill anything belonging to your neigh bor, except you are acting in self defense.
 One might not think so, but just the same the disposal of bodies by cremation is becoming more and more popular and in time it is thought the undertaken will have to look some thing else up, because there will be nothing for him to TO at his old oc- cupation of selling caskets and bury ing bodies in the earth. Very few knew that the late John Blair had made provisions for the cremation of his body, even going so far as to have certain sum of money depos- ited in one of the banks to be used for that purposes, and 1t is said that many others in town feel as he did about this matter. A very prominent citizen told Democrat reporter to- day that objectionable as cremation may appear to the average Christian person of today, the next generation will look at it more favorably than we and that inside of the next hun dred years burials will be rarer than cremations are at the present time. If this be so 1t wouldn't pay to put much money into undertaking estab- lishments, but 1t would not be wise for those who are fin the business to sell out Ut a sacrifice. It is extreme ly doubtful if the great mass of peo- pie ever will come to regard crema- ton with much favor.
 Harold Brown of Yonkers, N. Y.. has recently been touring the White mountains, and at place called Crawford Notch he came upon a place where the bridge had been torn down and he had not been notified of the fact. To get around the spot meant going about thirty miles out of his way and this he decided not to do. He took hold with the road makers and got some ''stringers" across the stream. Stringers are rough hewn logs, which woodmen throw over a stream to permit of a temporary passage. Then Mir Brown took the chance of running his car across on these stringers. It was quite a tight rope performance and was very thrill- ing for the road makers to look on and see. It was cautious work run ming the automobile along the mar row strips of logs and 1t would have been a nice fall into the stream be- meath if the chauffeur had miscalcu- lated. However. the crossing was ef- fected safely. Aside from advenuture he had no thrilling experiences. The Pope-Toledo proved itself equal to the mountainous country and when MT Brown returned home and spoke of his trip he said. No king could have had a pleasanter time than have just had"
 Superintendent Beach of the police department sticks to his contention that the city is not doing its best to save the youth of the community from being a menace to the public peace. He reiterates the statement which he made some time ago that 1t would be we'll spent money if the city would rent few pieces of land fin the tenement districts of the town to be used as playgrounds for the children. "If boy goes into your lot" he says. you chase him out. and if he comes near me order him away. and so on until finally he gets the notion that the only place he has any rights is on the highways. This is a mistake The police can't allow b0yS fo cnnRregata on the streets a ud