Evening star., 1934-10-01

pect Of comicality to the subject in
some minds.
A great Russian composer even
went to the extent Of writing a song
for basso, in which the antics Of a
flea at court are detailed.
This song is supposed to be highly
amusing, but, boiled down, the fun
comes mostly from the endeavor OF
the average basso profundo to become
funny. II there Is any man in the
world without a vestige of humor In
his makeup it is the average bass
singer. He is better singing such
things as When the Bell in the Light
House Rings. Ding-Dong." A tenor
one may think, especially a radio
tenor, could handle the musical flea
better.
No, let the victims Of the fleas in
siSt, there distinctly Is nothing hu-
morous about the subject. Fleas are
known to be the carriers of many
horrible diseases, and can at the best
be regarded as nothing but unmiti-
gated nuiSances.
Many a person susceptible to at
tackS has gone into q friends home
where a pet dog Is kept, and come
away riddled with bites, while all the
time the host and hostess were utterly
unaware that fleas were at large.
They thought. poor innoCents, that
fleas never left Fido. He had so many
on him!
The fact that the flea has been
practically absent from the scene this
year has been a great blessing. not
only to dogs and cats, but also to their
friend. man.
If Fido can be called "man's best
friend" man, in his turn. surely can
be called Fidos. 1t is impossible to
speculate what might have become OF
the dog without mans interest and
help. Many varieties, as we know
them today, simply would not have
come into existence. These specially
dogs, as they are called, were created
by mans demand for certain traits
The dogs, eager to accommodate,
simply developed themselves to do
certain things, to have certain traits.
The infinite variety Of dogdom Is one
of its most amazing features. 1t
must never be forgotten that without
mankind this variety would not have
come about.
Cats have benefited, too. by asso-
ciation with humanity. Despite the
attacks upon them, which have been
aided to some extent by modern pub
licity methods, such as recent state
ments of figures of astronomical pro-
portions regarding the number OF
birds caught annually by cats, and
the numbers Of wild specimens, figures
utterly not to be verified, the domes-
tic cat is valued by countless persons
throughout the world. Authorities
even 60 so far as to state that agri-
culture would be impossible without
the cat.
One Of the real helps which man
can give the dog and cat is to keep
them free from f1eas. Those who must
suffer along with their friends, in
the usual year. know that eternal
vigilance from about August Is on
ward to frost is the price of freedom
from these pests, both for their pets
and themselves.
This year of 1884 something seems
to have happened TO the fleas. which
is just as well. Yes, just as well, and
really much better. as matter Of
fact. The interesting feature is not
so much why they have not made
their usual appearance as the plain
fact that they have not appeared
Whether there is still time for the
annual visitation no one knows. But
If you were to ask Fido or Tom about
1t, you would hear them say, If they
could talk, and many people think
they can: I'VE hope not"