Okolona messenger. (Okolona, Miss.) 1900-current, 1908-08-26

cF iE;rgRgSr PARTICULARLY TO
THE 6ALDh-.sDs.
its Intelligence Truly an Interesting
and Exasperatin5 5trdy-5eIlsyes
That Mankind Was Created
for Its Amusement.

THE common Gcmc site fly" said a
man who is 10. scholar but has man
aged to pick uR maay interesting facts,
! us altogether toe common ana too
! domestic. She is one of the most in
teresting animals"
You don't mean animals, listen
er broke in, "a fly is not an animal"
Then she must be vegetable or a
mineral said the first speaker. Call
her whichever you please, but she Is
one of the most interesting creatures
extant
IAN industrious female fly lays
about 100000 eggs. There are no
indolent fies AID few males. The fly
does not set after laying; II she did
she would, be retired from her wonted
activity during longer or shorter
periods Of incubation. Her eggs hatch
without mothorly attention, and 1t is
seldom that che fails to hatch.
THE intelligence of tles is an inter
esting and exasperating study. One Of
the ordinary ways Of trying to kill
flies is to fold newspaper in the
shape of heavy flat pad and whack
at them with it whom they are sitting
still.
Now, the fly is familiar with the
scientific fact thatif she sits perfectly
still the descending paper will make
an air cushion in front of it that SO
times out of 100 will prevent her from
being crushed. The conclusion mo-
mentarily stuns her and she falls to
the floor apparently dead, but ina
few minutes she has recovered and Is
again on the job.
That's why when you strike at a
fly hard enough to splatter the butter
all over the walls she is able to reap
pear so quickly ca the rim of the
sugar bowl
when out not for food but merely
for the fun of tantalizing you the fly
knows when she has had enough Then
she sits down on dark spot in the
carpet and watches you prance~Around
the room looking for her on the walls.
"A very good way to catch flies is to
distribute fly paper and platters of
, poison on the tables and window sllIs
No matter how thick the flies are
where this is done, their number will
be quickly reduced. You can easily
prove this by counting the flies you
have caught. 1t is a great comfort
when there a few million flies in the
air and more coming to count up your
catch and know that dozen or so will
never poster you any more
This method of getting rid of flies
is often employed in restaurants. 1t
was the method used in the railroad
restaurant where passenger hur-
ried In for refreshment, glanced along
the display of pies and said:
Give me piece of this huclle-
berry
THAT amt huckleberry,' said the
waiter girl, waving her hand over the
pie; it's custard.'
when we were children we were
taught to believe that fly's foot was
wonderful part of creation-that
when it was placed fiat upon the cell
ing the weight of the fly pulled 1t
away in the center and made tiny
vacuum and that the pressure of the
atmosphere around 1t, in accordance
with law of nature, held the fly from
falling Several human flies broke
their necks trying to do the same trick
with artificial flies feet before it was
discovered that II flies kept their feet
clean they couldn't walk on ceilings.
Flies believe that mankind was
created for their amusement, and it
mas always been question with me
which gave fly the more solid en-
| jOyment-to buzz around your nose
and make you get up few hourG
earlier in the morning than you want
to, or to poster you in the daytime
until you rage around the room with a
+ paper slapper in your hand while she
watches you from behind a door
hinge"
Music in the Air.
1