Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1912-02-02
SIX MORE WEEKS
OFC0LD WEATHER
Grounding Had No Difficulty
Whatever in Seeing His
Shadow Early Today.
GAZETTEER IN EXPERIMENTS
Imports Animal Forecaster and
Trains 1t So That No Mistake
Can Possibly Be Made.

Hello, Central, give me 1928. Yes,
that's the number, Squelcho, the coal
man"
MIR. Squelcho? This is Mr.. V.
Populace. Last night l cancelled that
order for three tons of coal, thinking
that the luminous body, that grand
little light and heat provider would
remain in seclusion today. but now
that he is on the job and the ground
hog belonging to my esteemed friend,
Christian Franciscan Gazetteer. has OBJ
served his shadow you had better send
on that order and I'll push the ante
couple of times. Goodbye"
The foregoing conversation was re-
ported by the telephone operator this
morning, because the writer over
heard her telling it to her steady"
so take it from us, gentle spring, with
its babbling brooks and budding vege-
tation has postponed its proposed visit
to this vicinity. and has replaced its
flnly white dresses in the attic trunk
among the moth balls.
The reading public is all familiar
with the life and habits of the ground
hog, that furry little animal which
appears on the second day of Febru-
airy each year to look things over
above the catacombs, and which upon
observing its shadow, retires for an
additional six weeks period of hiber-
nation, thus giving spring a backward
shove. The constant reader is also
aware of the fact that the ground hog
is oft times unreliable as a forecaster,
owing to the fact that when Old Sol
appears on the second Of February
for but a fleeting moment or two, the
citizen is undecided whether or not
the hog has observed its shadow,
owing to the inability of that animal
to indulge in conservation.
CONDUCTS EXPERIMENT.
Approaching these difficulties,
Christian F. Gaetjer has for the past
few months been training an imported
ground hog to announce with unerring
precision whether or not stormy
hCdlLCl nObAu ouOSOduChI "
! Feb. 2. His cherished ambition was
started on its course two months ago.
| Chris began his experiments by plac.
/ ing the animal in a dark box, and
once every three days would summon
the hog to an adjoining box by ring.
ing an electric bell in the Sun
/ Hater's" bedroom. The contiguous
box is lighted by a powerful SO horse
Tungsten electric light, and Chris
! trained the hog so that when it OBJ
served the rays of the glowing fila
ment in the bulb it would make q
noise like a snowstorm and retire tc
it's darkened boudoir. When the ami
NAL did not see the light in the next
box it would sit up on its hing legs
order its straw hat cleaned, and cal
for a mint julep. In order to get the
thing down to a fine point, Chris has
day by day been decreasing the horse
power of the electric bulbs, and yes
terday, when the final test was made
4 Chris rang the electric bell, and helC
a lighted match behind a black cloth
and Mr.. Hog blew its nose and re
tired
RETIRES TO THE ebay"
Bright and early this morning Chri:
ran to the sleeping quarters of hi
| weather barometer and rang the bell
A few moments later Mr.. G. Hog ap
peared at the front door, and tool
tust one look outside. Then picking
4 4,I,
crawled into the hay leaving cal
with the clerk for March Is. So TAX
it from Chris, nothing doing on tn