Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1913-08-19
nally the very stalks themselves.

drove home pretty quick, but when
got there there wasn't a sign Of your
Uncle Tom or of the cattle. They'd
Just taken out for Nebraska, it looked
like. I got on a horse and rode along
their trail-it was broad enough so
green New Englander couldn't have
lost in, and in about three hours or so
I found 'em. The cattle had stamped
ed when the hoppers came--they set
tied on 'em thick, on their eyes, their
noses, all over 'em-and they put down
their heads and plunged off for the
north, sullen and stubborn-Tom said
for a good while he didn't know wheth-
er they meant to stop any short Of
Nebraska. But the little fellow kept
along after them and finally they were
plumb played out; he headed 'em
around and got them started back to-
ward home.
Iwonder If you can imagine what it
looks like to see trees stripped naked
in the middle of summer-just standing
there with the bare branches and no
hint of green. That was what happened
when the grasshoppers came, and the
fields, too, bare and brown, as If you'd
peeled the crops right off them.
They ate the very grass, and discard
ed wheat straw was boarded that year
we used 1t to feed the cattle during
the winter. AS the grasshoppers ate the
country bare and went on, or died, they
left their .ggs behind-anywhere you
could see the sod honeycombed with
holes that looked as II they might have
been punched with an umbrella. And
there was q lot Of argument about
whether or not those eggs would hatch
next spring. There was those that in
sisted and shouted 'emselves red in the
fsce over it that no grasshopper esgs
could live through Kansas winter.
"Youll never see the hoppers again" }"
these fellows said, "the winter'll kill
them sure"
But it didn't. Once in while, along
through the liner, some fellow'd go
out and grub up piece Of frozen sod
with spade and * and bring It In and
lay 1t by the fire, where 1t was stead
ily warm. And after q little while,
out the baby hoppers would come
a-squirming, and he'd sweep sod and
grubs and all into the fire and swear
cooking was to good for them.
We tried all sorts Of ways to get
rid of the hoppers. Mostly, people
burned them, dug trenches and
swept the young hoppers in and piled
| i'm brush and set the brush on fire.
There's a law that Is still on the stat
ute books of Kansas that I saw talk
of using the other day in Ford coun-
ty. It's called the Warning Out
Law" and 1t provides that township
trustees or mayors may call out ev-
cry man and boy between the ages OF
IL and 65 to fight back the grass
hoppers.
Well, they Matched out all right
enough in the spring Of rs. At first
they couldn't walk, and it was an un-
canny thing to see them all walking
over the ground, a vast moving car
pet of them, heads to the north.
"a line like an army" says Wild
er's Annals. "They leave no grass
behind them; a strange sight. They
do an immense work and are silent;
Carlyle's type Of hero. And they
eat up the towns as his heroes de-
| vastated empires" " EEa.
The chickens ate so many grass
hoppers that people would not eat
eggs at all; their yolks were very
dark and strong-they were "mea'
eggs"
A good many people packed up
their scanty belongings and went
back east and there were others who
stayed because they were too poor
to 20. The state appropriated $751;
600 to relieve the farmers, and coun-
ties voted bonds and gave the money
to relieve their own residents. Back
east people heard about the suffering
and sent out boxes Of clothing FOR
the "embattled farmers"
And so at last it passed. The hop
pers died or flew away; we would
find them piled up in heaps In the
fence corners, and they had to De
carted away and buried. Toward
the end Of June, in '75, we began re-
planting corn-it was too late to ex-
pect a crop of other sorts Of grain
that year, and I tell you it was good
in the early days Of July to see the
earth sprouting out green again. to
feel that though we'd been hit, and
Init hard, there wasn't any way OF
keeping us down. They raised a
wonderful lot Of corn in Kansas that
summer, enough to carry us through
the next winter and provide something
for men and beasts to eat.-Kansas
City Star.