St. Johns review. (Saint Johns, Or.) 1904-current, 1914-08-21
The Army Worm Peril

grass, finding their way blindly
amid the stubble of grain and
hay fields; drawing their sim
uous trails in dust OF the beaten
roads, dragging themselves
through the oil that covers the
highway, and eating their way
through every bit of green veg
citation that confronts them, the
army worm goes marching on.
Worse than a fire demon in its
destruction of the fields and gar
dens and orchards; worse than
the plaques Of Egypt in their
fetid, purifying state where
they have at last succumbed to
their fate; worse than a pest
Hence while they remain in
sight either alive or dead they
leave a horrid nightmare of
memory when they are gone.
This ear they have come only
in spots; that is, they are to be
found only in a few places so
far, but they may yet become
a dreaded pest in many more.
The locality spoken of last week,
down on the Sandy road a few
miles west Of Fairview, is the
worst afflicted and the people
there are at their wits end to
rid themselves of the curse. A
large area has been devastated byt
the creepy, crawling things,
leaving nothing green in their
ruthless journey.
So numerous are they that
they invade the dwellings, and
no place is too private or sacred
for them to enter. Into the par.
lor, pantry or bedroom they
crawl making themselves the
disgusting companions Of the
people and all but driving them
from their homes. A continual
warfare is being waged and
millions of them are offered up
as wriggling, seething masses
of living bodies in the destroy
ing flames that have sent forth
their fierce, red, forked tongues
TO receive them. Other millions
have found a martyrom in shall |
low bitches, smothered with
earth or eaten alive by strong
concoctions that would eat the
very soul of an immortal. They |
have died by millions but there
are countless millions survi-
wing. who will leave their shin
ing black lengths strewn along
the surface of the earth when
they have donned the bright |
plumage of the butterfly and
scared away into the empyrean
blue; beautiful winged creatures
of the air. to deposit more mil
lions of fertile eggs, from which
will again come the larvae of the
plague when the cycle of time
has marked their appearance
once more among the living
things of earth.
Numerous stories are told of
the infliction as il is seen and
felt by the human victims of the
army worm down on the Sandy |
road. One, which is horrible |
and could only be surpassed by
a tale Of having eaten some of
them, is the story Of the invas-
ion of a bed room.
In the worst infected district
a woman was awakened from a
feverish sleep by n singing SEN
sation on her arm. She knew il
to be the bite of an army worm
and brushed il of. Then she liz
the lamp and made search of
the bed for her tormentor.
She found eight of them which
were sacrificed in the kitchen
stove.
Think of itl Living, eating
md sleeping with pestilentian
'urse-tramping them under foot
1t every step guarding every
'revice against them and pray
ng for their disappearance.
Science cannot guard against
hem nor eXterminate them.
They come at great intervals,
he most horrible. nauseating
nd fearsome pest that fertile
rain can imagine. - Gresham :
outlook.