The Nome daily nugget., 1936-01-17

deep become idiots about diet as soon as they are taken elsewhere.
 For ten minutes l poked around in the sand at the bottom of the bowl and at last brought snail to light But he was sad dispirited snail, and so low in his mind apparently that he did not care for uneaten food. took him out, and hurrying to the garden found a heartier looking snail which l con- veyed to the bowl. But he must have been the wrong kind of snail, for after a few gasps he sank to the bottom, turned up his heels and 'the subse- quent proceedings interested him DO more."
 looked at my watch 1 was already over due at the office. So telephoned that l was i'll, and confined to the house, but l would probably be down early In the afternoon. Then I re- turned to my studies.
 Going deeper into the volume before me found that no guppy Is really healthy and happy In his "home from home" unless he can enjoy the umbrage of waving ferns and mosses. The ferns and mosses that the remaining guppies were playing about were a little de- jected. Instead of waving about. as they were supposed to do, they dragged suplne on the bottom of the aquarium. from which l deduced that there was probably something the matter with them There seemed to be no time to lose.
 Once more l rushed into the garden, and finding no spade handy dug with my fingers into the soil which surround ed three tall sword ferns. These I swiftly excavated. On the tiny water garden nearby was a carpet of moss, a part of which I removed, and then, there being no time to be lost, hur. ried with my salving herbs back to the house.
 For time It was impossible to see how their supposedly tonic properties were reacting. Then the murk in the water gradually subslded, and to my horror discovered that four more gup. pies had quietly breathed their last. The others were panting acutely. but when all the silt was settled they seemed to feel more lively. and began their slow circle of their prison house.
 Then l went to the office. On my return, to my intense relief and delight, all the fish I had enumerated before my departure were present, and they seemed to be having fairly good time.
 This mood did not remain with me long. As I came down the stairs black figure darted past me, and when 1 entered the dining room l heard a tiny sound of gasping At my feet lay most of the remaining guppies. It took no esoteric power of deduction to understand that the cat, from the min. ute the cook had let her into the house had been busy flipping those guppies out of the aquarium. The remains of several of them told me what had been her purpose l needed no microscope or dark lantern to find that out.
 Humbled and ashamed, promptly went to work really to learn something about guppies. l consulted young lady in guppy store. talked with the curator of the aquarium. read all the literature that had ever been written about them since first the gup py mania began to worry the makers of jig-saw puzzles. Then 1 went back to the guppy store and bought five more than the exact number of guppies which had been placed in my care, al lowing for few casualties. with stroke of foresight.
 All the plants that were required were put into the bowl. the tempera ture of the water was exactly right and the gnppies were obviously hay. ing the, time of their lives when my wife arrived.
 She gasped little as she looked al them.
 "I didn't suppose you could ever do it." she cried. "I thought they would be all dead. poor things: How in the world ..
 "Oh, l have way with fish and things like that" l said.
 c. Bell syndicate-wNU Service.