Evening star., 1935-11-10

just come to light in Wash
~ ington.
This strange old book, "Scriptural
Animals" Is q family heirloom Of DR.
William r. Maxon of the Smithsonian
Institution and Is notable not only
for the ludicrous quaintness OF many
of its passages but for its descriptions
of some Of the first serious studies
of bird and insect behavior in Amer
lea.
Its author was the Rev. Jonathon
Fisher of Blue Hill, Me. He was one
of the most picturesque characters
of his day-a country minister who
rode q hundred miles on horseback
from his remote parish to lecture al
Harvard, drew his own pictures and
carved his own woOdcuts, composed
sermon on infant damnation while
he watched spiders spinning Their
webs in the sun and came eloquently
to the defense Of the louise and the
caterpillar.
His book was a natural history fol
children-believed to be the first In
America. 1t is like breath OF fresh
air into the death-room atmosphere
of the child literature Of the early
nineteenth century - nearly all Of
which described children who died
early and beautiful deaths. The min
lister wrote of the animals OF the
Bible, but he described them IN
terms of the animals of Maine, which
he saw and studied on his daily rides
But, above all, he turned his eyes
to the nature around him and wrote
of what he saw rather than OF what
he read. He may be considered one
of the earliest of American entomoio-
'gists.
No animal, Rev. Mr.. Fisher felt,
was without its place in nature-eVen
the louse. Lice we're no joking matter
in his day. with long Winters when
all the wells were frozen. Some OF
his most respectable parishioners COM
planned Of them.
He saw them as agents which God
used to execute His judgments upon
the proudest Of men. They are usually
the attendants of sloth, negligence
and filth. To those who will be in
dolent and filthy they are just and
daily punishment"
RUT how about some of the worth
~ lest of his deacons, and their
wives? Even here the louise had its
place, for when they occasionally
visit those who are disposed to be
cleanly they stimulate to those ex-
ertions to be freed from them which
at the same time increase their clean
illness, promote the neatness OF their
appearance and excite their industry.
Though the louise is troublesome to
those infested by it, there Is not the
least reason to doubt but that the
good which is caused Is more than a
balance for the suffering which it
occasions"
Again he grew lyrical for the bene-
fit of his readers of tender years:
Let thy raiment be washed and be
clean;
Let the comb be applied to thy
hair;
On all that Is on thee be seen
The marks of a provident care.
Tho in face and in features the
world call thee homely,
Thy dress and thy person at least
will be comely.
The vermin which others infest.
Nor cease the vile slattern to move,
Will never deprive thee Of rest
Nor on thy neat person be found.
Wise industry adds to the worth
and the number
OF sweets that the sluggary may
lose by his slumber.
The canker worms which devoured
the foliage of Maine apple orchards.
the pious naturalist held, we're sent
from Heaven for a benign purpose.
They reduced the crop, thereby re-
ducing the Winters supply Of hard
cider which was the chief intoxicating
drink of the time. He himself, old
neighbors related in their reminis-
censes of him, sometimes came home
quite tipsy after hard day Of. paro-
chial visiting.
He appears to have been one of the
first to have observed the strange
cycle in the abundance of animals
which puzzles biologists to this day
Writing of the field mouse:
Sometimes year occurs in which
they greatly abound, and then for a
few years after they will not be nu-
merous. In New England, in the
Summer of 1909, from the eastern part
Of Maine to the western part of Mas
sachusetts, they abounded exceedingly
greater numbers than they could de-
YOUR. A fox, in one instance, being
suddenly surprised. threw out of his
mouth Is Of them. The next year
only here and there could one of them
be found, and for some years after
they were not numerous"
This was a warning, he said, which
sinful man should note and heed. 1t
was an injunction ito fear God, who
for our sins may suddenly raise up
such an army of feeble creatures as
shall cut OF our hopes and greatly
distress US; also to look to Him for
relief. seeing He can so readily remove
the evils we suffer-
HE MADE close observations, how
ever, on the habits of the little
animals. He credited them with
working under the snow and making
numerous long paths between the
snow and the ground among the
stubble and roots Of grass, sometimes
gnawing from young apple trees the
whole Of their roots. as in some in
stances I have seen"
He made observations of another
kind Of mouse with protruding eyes
and long tails. Their dwelling place
'is burrow in the ground, large and
commodious compared with their size.
One room Of this burrow contains
their nest, which Is made very soft
and warm. The other contains their
provision, which consists of a variety
Of seeds. In one room in Autumn !
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