The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1922-07-24
THALEs AND THORN

when he and others were at the ocean
beach they would find a turtle hur-
rying away from the eggs she had
and how "a half-dozen of
the men would jump on her back and
be carried into the wavesl" Merely
a haf-dozen, don't you know. Merely
one turtle scurrying over the sand
with nine hundred pounds on her
back That's all. Nine hundred pounds.
And still some folks say that the east
coast is so dry they have to sprinkle
the east coast canal to keep down the
dust! Poor old jhb. Amen.-Thorn in
Kissimmee Valley Gazette.
Thales was one of the wise men of
Greece. Thorn is one of the wise men
of Florida. Thales had less compe-
tition than has Thorn, for there were
only seven wise men in Greece, while
in Florida there are seventy and
seven.
Herodotus says that Thales went
out one night to look at the stars, and
kept his eyes on them so closely that
he didn't notice where his feet were
going, and tumbled into ditch,
where, being old and fat he would
have laid mayhap till morning, if an
old woman had not come along and
helped him out and advised him to
keep his head out of the stars so long
as he had his feet on the ground.
Thorn isn't fat and we are not an
old woman, but all the same we beg
leave to advise him that before he
sticks his head up among the Stars
statements. he had better first look
down close on the printed page. If
Thorn can find any place in which we
said we saw a turtle scurrying over
the sands with nine hundred pounds
on her back, we will buy for him, the
first time we meet, one full-sized
glass of coca-cola with ice in it. This
is what we sailor wrote:
"At night parties would go out to
hunt turtle eggs, and often a group
would catch a turtle leaving her nest
and half dozen or more would jump
on her broad back and make her carry
them into the surf, where they would
fall off, and laughing scramble ashore,
while the wondering turtle sought the
Deep"
Now, we shouldn't be much surpris-
ed if a full-grown turtle could carry
nine hundred pounds on her back. /, If
Thorn will consult the encyclopedias,
he will learn from it that turtles at
tain the size of six to seven feet long
and three or four feet across, and the
weight of six or seven hundred
pounds. They are immensely strong,
When one starts from her nest to the
sea, propelling herself with her pow
erful fiippers, she pulls like Ford
tractor.
We have never seen, nor said we
have seen, half a dozen full-growr
men on a turtles back. We have
seen that number of boys and girls
and children. We have often ridden
a turtle int the surf with one or two
or three other personsA Thirty-five
years ago we weighed $50 pounds
dressed and the others were about the
same weight or less. In this as in
other things we and our friends useC
discrimination. Desiring to ride or
a turtles back, we didn't crowd hel
passenger capacity like she was q
street car.
Judging by what we have heard
turtles along the East Coast are not
as large nor as numerous as the,
were thirty-fve years ago. At thai
time there were only a few people
along those beaches, and they seldom
killed a turtle. But now, that they
have been hunted for years, they
have been greatly reduced, and Of
course the older and bigger one.
have been killed. Turtles live long (i1
not killed) and grow slowly, but i.
they are persistently hunted and then
eggs dug up, as has been the case fol
years along the East Coast, they viii
be thinned out and finally become ex
tinct. Most of the turtles killed are fe
males. The males are lighter ant
more active, and seldom go fal
enough from the surf to be caught.
Thorn used to live by the sea. A
least, he lived at West Palm Beach
sometimes he would raise up his eye
to the stars that shone over Bimini
but we doubt that he ever got dow
on his marrowbones on the beach t,
hunt for turtle eggs.
/ That Thorn person is not as frater
nal as he should be. He thought h
had caught us in lie and tried t.
show us up. We have caught, o
thought we caught, him in grea
many lies, but have charitably re
Trained from exposing him.