Evening star., 1932-05-26
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACEWELL.

What a large mouth you have,
grandmother" said Templeton Jones
using the famous words Of Little Red
Riding Hood, as he looked down upon
one Of the three goldfish in his lily
pool.
Jones was learning a lot about fish
and one of the things he had discovered
was that a goldfish, as perhaps every
fish. has perfectly enormous mouth
There was a laugh in every bite, as
fish opened its family pink mouth to
imbibe choice morsel of prepared
food.
Here was a creature expressly made
for depression times, evidently, for all
it required was pinch every other day
This one pinch, indeed, held between
thumb and forefinger, would do for
three goldfish. so light was their appe-
tite. 1t seemed rather a shame, some
how to give them no more, since they
were very greedy.
It was the first day since their in
stallation that they had appeared at
all interested in the surface OF the
water.
Jones had attempted to beguile them
up upon several occasions, but each
time they insisted on remaining down
at the bottom, safely ensconced beneath
the roots of the water hyacinth.
Occasionally they would make one
of their darts across the water, and
Jones would hold himself in readiness
to see some real goldfish antics.
But always 1t turned out to be a
false alarm. The fish were merely
transferring their abiding place from
the roots to one OF the oxygenating
plants.
Maybe they needed oxygen.
Jones had read so many books and
catalogues about water gardens that
he had his data all mixed up. Some
said that the plants did not begin to
create oxygen in the water for several
days, and others declared they began
at once.
Some works stressed the fact that
as long as the goldfish stayed at the
bottom of the pool thev were all right,
while ether writings did not seem to
put much stress on this.
For three days the red trio remained
at the bottom, and Templeton Jones
did not know whether they were afraid
to come up, or we're getting used To
their new quarters, merely.
Several times he had tried sprinkline
a bit of food on the surface, each time
with exactly the same lack Of success
No fish was hungry.
Even the smallest one refused to eat
This Sunday morning, however, with
the sun shining brightly, Jones founc
the fish fri3king around at lively rate
making orthodox gold fish darts stick,
ing their heads up occasionally, but
evidently not in quest of air.
1t was grub they wanted, the i'm.
-iaI 4f Is,s,,- @l..
Whatever human being may think Of
centuries, it is obeyed explicitly by The
animals
Big things eat little things, and SC
on up and down the scale. Nor is man
with all his boasted mind and soul. any
exception. The other creatures he eat!
are legion and run into the millions
upon millions every year.
Mankind has delegated certain ele-
ments Of society to this work. Emile
Zola with his usual frankness. wrote oi
the market people in Paris as long as
70 years ago. The literal translation
of his title is The Belly Of Paris" but
to avoid offending squeamish Anglo
Saxon readers the name is usually
given as The Fat and the Lean" from
phrase in the story.
What right, Jones unused, had the
American people to expect better
things Of a certain great city, which
from its beginning almost had beer
dedicated to the mass killing of ami
mails?
The idea was too far from his small
pool, however: he gave it up and came
back to the goldfish, now dartins
around, evidently hungry at last. There
being no mosquito larvae to consume
the fish helplessly turned their rounc
eyes aloft
Man. the consumer, was going Il
help this time, not hurt: the huge
creature on the edge, which shadowec
the entire watery world below, wa.