Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1907-04-25

greatest leaders, he died before middle
life had been reached You cannot
Judge mans usefulness by the nu-
mercal list of his earthly days Some
Of the worlds greatest benefactors
have been men who died before the
silver hair was fringlng their fore
heads or before their youth had waned.
Brevity OF Life.
But the insigniflcsnce of the locust's
intellect is even more startling than
the brevity Of its physical life. These
locusts seem to be like the camels
among the beasts and like the turkeys
among the birds. They seem to be the
stupidest Of all insects. They seem to
have no law Of organization. They
seem to have no skill in hive building,
like the ant They do not have the
genius Of the bee or the ingenuity Of
the beaver building his dam or the fox
or the spider or the swallow. DR. Hen
ry McCook, the great authority on the
ant and the spider. tells us that for
hours he has lain down by an ant hive
to study the wonderful intelligence Of
these insects. But the locust does not
have the intelligence Of an ant. Like
the tortoise, which has been known 10
live and to walk for six months after
its brain has been extracted, the locust
seems TO have but little intelligence.
but this live intelligence used in GER
tain way has made its apptoach the
terror of the beasts Of the fields. the
II Al. L.. E..
tilted castle.
Now, after we have studied the insig-
| nifcance Of the locust as an individual
let us try to ascertain wherein lies the
| strength Of his power In the first
place. the greatest strength Of the To-
Gust lies not IN her individual self but
In her fertility or the numbers Of her
descendants. It has been mathematic-
| ally calculated that II the unrestricted
increase of common pair OF gypsy
moths were allowed by nature to grow
| in eight years there would be alive
enough of their catcrpillnrs to destroy
! the entire vegetation OF the United
| States. But even these caterpllars OF
| the gypsy moth are not so numerous
|
Earth Alive With Them.
In 1S4J q considerable number Of
these insects visited the Lebanon re-
gion in Syria and remained there only
few days, just long enough to de-
post their eggs and then disappear.
In about six months those eggs wore
Matched. A short time afterward those
small locusts started up the mountain
sides. The whole earth seemed to be
alive with them. From one Matching
there seemed to be millions and bill
lions of them. They rolled on like the
movements of an augmented river
Then when the reader realizes that
this multitude Of locusts was but the
result Of one Matching and that the
same swarms of locusts not only de
posted their eggs once, but many
times during year. he can to some
extent realize the prolific and forri
dable power Of these dreaded pests
Each female locust IS supposed to lay
about eighty eggs at time. Nearly
all their eggs are fertile. Thus 1t Il
possible for female locust to have
thousands and tens of thousands OF
descendants in single year. Thi:
amazing power OF multiplication stag
gers the ina gination. but it Is only the
rapidity of it that makes it so wonder
full
The increase from year to year in tn,
worlds human population is rs won
derful Man is here eXerting his in
ftuence on his generation. What vii
hc his influence in the next generation
through his children? We do not re
alize the past SO clearly looking for
ward as we do looking backward. 70,
had two parents. You had four grand
parents and eight grandparents
You had sixteen great-great- grandpar
ents and thirty-two Great-great-Great
grandparents. And If you trace you
ancestors back 10 the time of William
the Conqueror. or about 900 years, yoI
had 100000 different ancestors. An,
of all your ancestors there Ia not on,
whose influence is not being felt e
greater or less extent IN your life to
day. Let me illustrate this fact il
another way even more startling. vii
> liam Bradford Of Plymouth colon.
died in 1901 or about go years ago
William Bradford had only three chill
dren, who lived to grow up and b.
married and have children Of thei
, own. Their names were William
: Mary and Joseph. And yet there ar
living today in America over 5000 di
! rect descendants of William Bradford
, Oh do not tell me that my creates
) gospel work is now in my children
. lives. l tell thee if l can win then
for God, and they, In turn, will wi
their children for God, within fey
, generations ! will influence for Co
( directly or indirectly more people tina
, are today living in the state Of Cal
2 fornia. There never was truer state
/ mept made than The hand that rock
, the cradle is the hand that rules tn
t world"
Not Hermits.
r But there is another fact to which
= want to call your attention besides tn
= fecundity of the locusts. 1t is to the
t gregarious habits. These seemingly II
l significant insects are not hermit
1 They do not live alone or travel aion
). They bury their eggs side by side. I'll
4 young are Matched out together. The
0 live together. They feed togethe