Baxter Springs news. [volume] (Baxter Springs, Kan.) 1882-1919, 1908-07-02

sepulcher Of animal hopes and fears
which year by year has drawn thou
sands OF visitors to It's rocky sides.
As n in keeping with its treacherous
fame the guide who shows you the
place is a fullnedged brigand. who.
when work Is SLOW" ekes out a sub
sIstence by playing at guide. Ten to
one he has q little dog at his heels.
and thereby hangs q tale. While you
listen to the guide the puppy looks Mt
you with blinking eyes and q grin OF
confidence, the while his busy tall
seems to say. II know you'll never put
me In that poisonous hole. will you"
And you can't keep your eyes or his
silly little face, until you find yourself
wondering II he's like your little dog
ut home, your faraway Buster"
whose friendly face and welcome bark
You have missed more than you would
care to say. Certainly this idiotic little
pup bears no outward resemblance to
your far-away Buster: but inwardly-
how about that? There lies story.
Shall you tell II to the guide? No,
he's q brigand and might demand q
ransom for permitting you to live:
for no doubt he'd rather kill you out
right than have you live to tell IN.
other story. Hurrah! now you've got
it-happy thought! You'll try 1t on
tho dog. Fixing him with your eye
you begin:
Tho fleas bothered my dog so, ]
concluded Id teach 'em lesson j
learned long ago. but never put In prac-
tlce. sent and got q piece OF liver
and put It near the dog. The fleas all
hoped onto It and stuck. Just as ]
was getting ready to throw 1t In the
fire I turned my back a moment and
the dog ate the liver. fleas and all.
Now, he's feas lined"
But about the Dog Grotto. Well, It's
filed with carbonic acid gas, and Tor
generations guides have made money
out of tourists by showing some poor
little canine into the cave and keep
ing him there until his legs began to
totter and his head to whirl, when
they would haul him out and souse
him In the nearby lake until he re-
vived; and revive he must. for was
there not another tourists carriage
coming down the hill? But sometimes
doggie didn't revive. Well, he was
only a dog, and there had been In.
stances where men had persisted in the
foul.smelling cave. But that was ages
ago. There was a French king who
brought donkey to the grotto and
tried the effect of the gas on him. The
animal died. But why the king tried 1t
on a donkey don't know. unless that
a fellow.feeling makes us-but, mo-
won't. Then there was an early Span
ish viceroy who wanted to decide
whether the gas was in prime condi-
ton or not, so he put two Of his slaves
in the cave and they were brought out
dead. Spoke well for the gas, at any
rate.
Nowadays the question as to the
virtue OF the gas Is more humanely
settled. The guide takes a burning
torch and plunges 1t into the cave.
Instantly 1t goes out. But II the act Is
repeated several times the gas. I'M
pregnated with smoke, assumes the
appearance of q silver sea, flowing In
ripping waves against the black wall
OF the cavern" A good story Is told
of the guides Of that region. AS mat
ter of fact they are wholly unreliable,
with their high-sounding names OF
this broken wall or that defaced In
scription.
1t is said that they keep little dog
which they offer up as a sacrifice on
the altar of the tourists curiosity.
Shall I throw him in?" they will
ask the visitor; and II he be of a hui
name disposition he will quickly re-
ply, Certainly not! What d you thin;
ann"
And the guide will say-maklng
shrewd guess-'I teenk you are Ameri-
can. Englees he say. 'Yaas. bah
Jove, t'row leetle beggar een!"
But once there came along an
American, whom the guide took to Be
English, and when he asked, shall I
t'row leetle beggar een?" the Ameri-
can replied:
IF you do, III throw your id car
cass in after him!"
The thing to do while at Naples is
to 60 to the pink coral grotto, so to
the pink coral grotto we went. 1t lies
between the Bay Of Pozzuoli and that
special little bay where Pliny kept his
navy. We went out in a boat with
four rowers, the chief Of whom gave
us large punches of taffy about our
country-"beeyuteeful America" fine
New York." etc.-he had Travelled. oh,
yesi he had been to Jib-later (Gibral.