VOLUJIE I.
OXFORD, N. C., AVEDNKSDAY, SEPTEMBPRl 8, 1875,
NUMBER 3G.
the IH.4IIE1I or THE ANTS.
“You talk of tlie inarcli of an
army, oh I Well, the marelifrom
Metz to Paris and the Khiva ox-
jiedition were great feats in their
way ; but I’ve seen a march in
my time that no army on earth
could equal, though it had ten
Napoleons at its head.”
“ You mean locusts ?, 'Well,
they keep their ranks well, as I’ve
had occasion to seo out in the
East”
“They do, indeed ; but I don’t
mean locusts.”
“Wild fowl, then I A flight of
them passed mo one night on the
Don, just after sunset, that took
ten minutes to pass, and not a
single flaw in the whole column.”
“Aye, I can quite believe that;
but I don’t mean them either.”
“What then 1”
“I ain going to tell you. Y”ou
know Praia Vermelha, four miles
from Rio de Janeiro ? Well, I
had a house there a good nianj’
years ago, whicli had belonged to
a Portuguese before-1 got it, and
it was naturallv as dirty as ant-
house could well be. Every cor
ner and cranny was thick with
dust, and tho whole place from
top to bottom, was a regular pub
lic asylum for cockroaches, fciran-
tulas, and other things that needn’t
bo mentioned. My first idea, of
course, was to give it a thorough
cleaning uj) as soo;. as possible,
but it was fated that tlic cleaning
Uj) should be done for me, in a
way that I little dreamed of. 1
was sauntering abotit my garden
one morning before going into the
city, waiting my horse to be
brought round (for in those days
tlie tramway from the town to
I’raia Vermelha, round Bota Fogo
Bay, wasn’t made or thought of)
wlien, all of a suddeti, two or tliree
of my niggers, who were at worli
ii little way off, came scampering
towards me, shouting, ‘As f'ormi-
gas I as formigas ! (the ants ! tho
ants!) I ran to the spot, and
there I did see a sight. The
whole bed on which they had
been at work was literally cree])-
ing with black ants, which were
pouring by thousands through a
crevice in the foot of the wall;
and when I looked over into the
lane, there was the long black
lino traced out against the white
dusty road as far as I could see.
Tho breadth of the column, as I
measured it later on, was good
ten indies; as for the length,
you’ll hear about that by-and-by.
“Well, what is to be done ?
The creatures were coming on as
fast as they could go, and evi
dently towards the house. Plain
ly there was no time to be lost;
so I got a broom and went to
■work with a will. Every stroke
swept them away by thousands,
but I might as well have tried to
stem Niagara with a mop. The
moment the column was broken,
the masses in the rear scattered
themselves like skirmishers, took
up the trail of the vanguard in a
moment, and restored me line so
quickly that it seemed as if I had
been scooping up a running brook.
Plainly there was nothing to be
done that way ; so I shouted to
Juanita, the mulatto cook, to
bring me a kettle of boiling water.
“And then began a massacre
if you like. Every splash, litter
ed the ground with their carcass
es for yards round, .and I began
to hojje that I had chocked them
at last. Not a bit of it. The
rear rank scrambled over tlie
corpses of their comrades, and
came on over the scalded ground,
through steam and heat and all,
like the forlorn hope at Badajoz.
I was just giving them the last
drop from my kettle and wonder
ing ryliat on earth to do next,
when a shout from behind made
mo look up, and there was old
Senor Bonito, my next-door
neighbor, leaning over the gate.
“What are yon doing, senor?”
cried he, opening the gate and
coming in , ‘you’re killing yonr
best friends. Tliis is what wo
call a bencao (blessing.)’
“ ‘A nice sort of blessing it is !’
retorted I, indignantly. ‘Do you
think that I shall bo particularlj-
blest if these creatures get iii and
eat all my furniture V
“ ‘But it’s hot tho furniture that
they want; they won’t hurt the
house a bit. What they’re after
is the beetles and tarantulas and
their eggs, which are tho favorite
food of tho black ant. Yon see
when a house gets dirt_y, and full
of verniin, the ants march in and
make a clean sweep of them, like
policemen hunting the vagabonds
out of town, .'.'ud that’s why we
call it a ‘blessing.’
“ ‘Oh ! .said I, besinning to un
derstand at last. ‘Tlien tliis in
vasion is a sort of amateur house-
cleaning, eh ?’ ,, .
“‘Just so; and a veiy tho
rough one it will bo. When you
come homo to-night you won’t
find a single beetle or tarantula
in the whole house.’
“ ‘And where on earth does all
this lot come from ?’
“ ‘There,’ said the Brazilian,
pointing to the summit of the
Corcovado (Hunchback), which
stood against the sky like a great
black steeple, far away at the end
of tho valley.’
“ ‘What!’ cried I, starting, ‘do
you mean to tell me that this
swarm comes from the top of that
mountain ?’
“ ‘Every inch of tlie way,’ an
swered my friend, decisively;
‘and not a single break in the
whole column. I’ll be bound.
You’ll see bigger swarms, than
that, though, if you remain here
a year or two.’
“I opened my eyes, as well I
might, for this was a new thing
altogether. From the spot where
we were standing to tjie top of
the Corcovado must have been
two good miles at least, and most
likely a great deal more; so, if
you calculate how many ants
there are in a breadth of ten
inches, and multiply that by a
length of two miles, or upwards,
you’ll have some idea what a
march it was.
“ ‘Come in and watch them at
work,’ said the Brazilian, taking
me by the arm. ‘It’s a sight well
worth seeing, I can tell you.’
“It was indeed. Juanita and
the two niggers, who were well
accustomed to these domiciliary
visits, had thrown open all the
doors, and the whole house was
creeping with ants from top to
bottom. If the famous picture of
the “Persecution of the Jews un
der Torquemada’ had been paint
ed in those dav-s, I should have
thong’nt of it at once, thongli I
do-aht whether the alguazils of
Toledo ever made half such quick
work of it as my new visitors.
Every moment some fresh bat
talion filed off from the great col
umn, plunged into an untouched
comer or crevice,, and ransacked
it thoroughly, coming back im
mediately, as if for fresli orders,
and all as regularly and orderly
as soldiers on jjarade. And then
to seo tlie scamper of tho beetles,
and cockroaches, and tarantulas,
and all tho rest; and every now
and then one of them would be
overtaken by the pursuing host,
and ovci’he would goon his back,
with hundreds of merciless jaws
at work upon him at once. Here'
and there in a corner j'ou could
see some old vetran, too stiff or
too hopeless for escape, suilenh'
awaiting his doom, like a Roman
senator. It was tlio march of At-
tila and his Huns over again.
“ ‘They -won’t leave a single
corner nnsearched,’ said Senor
Bonito, who seemed to look upon
their performance as complacent
ly a.s if they all belonged to him,
and !iad come there at his espec
ial invitation. ‘See tliere, that
gang have scented some game up
yonder-!’
As he spoke a long line of ants
darted up tlie mosquito-curtain of
a bed near which tvo -n oro stand
ing, and tho next moment floj)
do^'v'n came a hugli tarantula, big
enough to smash a hundred of
them witli his more weight. But
the giant haikno cltance. He had
iiardly touched the ground when
they were upon him from every
side like a pack of wolves, and in
less time than it takes to tell it,
he w-as torn limb from limb, and
hundreds of the little imps were
towing off' his dismembered claws
in every direction.
“ ‘You’ll just seo the same thing
at Paramaribo, in Surinam, if you
go there,’ said the Brazilian, nod
ding his head appro vinglj'. ‘There’s
a species tliere which the people
call ‘Ants of Visitation,’ because
they only come once in two or
three years ; but when they do
come, they make a clean sweep
of the whole settlement, just as
they’re doing here. Tho people
do not mind their coming, and
throw open the houses to them,
and take the greatest care not to
molest them—which, indeed, is
just as well, for if any one dis
turbs them, they fall upon him
without mercy, and their bite
will draw blood even through a
stocking.’
“ ‘They must be larger than
these, tlien, surely I’
“ ‘They are, rather ; though
even these will bite clean through
a canvas shoo. I’ve seen them
do it, myself. As for their nests.
I’ve seen ant-hills in Surinam
more than six feet high, and at
least a hundi'ed feet round.’
“Just at that moment (rather
to my chagrin, for I was begin
ning to get really interested in
watching the progress of tho de-
%-astation) one of iuy blacks came
to say that my horse was at the
gate, and away I went to the
city. When I came back, about
five in the evening, there was not
an ant to be seen; the invading
armies had vanished as suddenly
as they came. The only token
of their passage' was tlie shell of
a cackroach, or tho li’ard end Of a
tarantula’s claw,' lying hero and
tliere about the floor,”
“They tliut go down to the sea
in ships .... see His wonders
in the deep.” Much more forci
bly may this be said of those who
go down under the sea. A diver
here narrates a curious adventure
he had with a shark at the bottom
of the' ocean;
“I was down on a nasty rock
bottom. A man never ibels corn-
comfortable on them; lie can’t
tell what big creature may be
liiding under the huge quater-
deck ; e i leaves which grow there.
The first part of the time I was
visited by a porcupine fish, which
kept sticking its quills up and
bobbing in front of my helmet.
Soon after I saw a big shadow
fall across me, and looking up
tliere was an infernal sliark Jihiy-
ing about my tubing. It makes
you feel chilly in the back when
they’re about. lie came down to
me slick as I looked up. I made
at Iiim and ho sheared off. For
an hour ho worked at it, till I
could stand it no longer.
If you can keep your head lev
el it’s all right, and you’re pretty-
safe if they^’ro not on you sharp.
This ugly brute was twenty feet
long, 1 should think, for when I
lay down all my lengtli on the
bottom be stretched a considera
ble way ahead of mo, and I conlJ
see him beyond my feet. Tlien
I waited. They^ must turn over
to bite, and iny laying down
bothered liin'i.
Ho sivam over me tlirce or four
times, and then skulked oft’ to a
big thicket of sea-woed to consid
er. 1 knew he’d come back when
he’d settled his mind. It seemed
a long time waiting for bin.
At last he came viciously over
me, but, like the time before, too
far from my- arms. The next
time I had my chance and ripped
liim with my knife as neatly as I
could.
A shark always remembers he’s
got business somewhere else when
he’s cut, so off this fellow goes.
It is a curious thing, too, tliat all
the sharks about will follow in
tho trail lie leaves. I got on my-
hands and knees and as he swam
off I noticed four shadows slip
after liim, I saw no more that
time. They did not like my
company.
Mesmebizino a Rcostek.—An
experiment which it may amuse
the boys to repeat has been d-3s-
cribod by sevtral correspondents
t-o a popular science journal.
Place a cock upon a table or
board, and, holding his wings
close down his sides, let a second
person bend down his head until
his beak touches the board on
which he lies, and draw a line of
wliite chalk straight out from the
point of liis beak. This done the
bird may be released from all
restraint, and he will not stir so
much as a feather. “Nay, fur
ther,” writes one “you may clap
y'our hands or shout close to him,
without arousing him from his
lethargy', from which, however,
ho will uldm.ately recover.” An
other oxpei-imonter writes; “I
have seen a row of fowls render
ed quite senseless by drav/ing a
chaDc-lino (beginning- at the top
of the beak) slowly across a ta
ble, and I have, myself, vi -
fully''perform ej
“So you have flidslied your
studies at the Befiiiimry ? 1 was
much jjleased with tlie closii g
exorci.-e-i. Tho niitlior of that
poem —Miss AVhite, I think you
called her-"bids fair to become
known as a poet,”
“We think tlie authoress will,
become celebrated as a poetess,”
remarked the j'Otmg lady, pertly,
with n marked emphasis on two
words of the sentence.
‘•Oil I—ah !” replied tho rid
gentleman, looking tlioughtfiilly
over his spectacles at tlie young
lady'. “i Iiear her sister was
quite an actress, and under Miss
Hosmer’s instructions will un
doubtedly become quite a sciilp-
toress.”
TIic V'oung lady appeared irri
fated.
“The seminary,” continued the
old gentleman, wit’i imperturai le
gravity, “is foi-tunato in liavng
an efficient board of manageress
es. From the jrresidentress down
to the humblest teacheress un. -
sual talent is shown. There ii
Miss Harper, wlio .as a cliemistres*
is unequaled, and Mrs. Kuowhs
has ; l. cady a reput-.tiou as an
astronoineress. And in the de
partment of music few can equal
Miss Kellogg as a siiigerc.ss.”
The young lady did not appear
to like tho chair she was sitting
on. She took tlie sofa at tho other
end f tl e room.
“Yes,” continued tho old gen
tleman, as if talking to himself,
“those White sisters are very
talented. Mary', I understanJ,
has turned her attention to paint
ing and the drama, and will sure
ly become famous as a painter ess,
and oven as lecturess.”
A loud slamming of the door
caused the old gentleman to look
up, and the criticess and gram-
marianess was gone.—Selected.
A Wise Child.—While we are
in the dining-room we must not
forget a little miss of five or six
summers, who unconsciously per
petrated one of the best jokes of
the season. Wine was being
passed around, and she invited to
take some but declined.
“Why do you not take wine
with your dinner, Minnie 1” asked
a gentleman who sat near her.
“Tauae I doesn’t like it.”
“But take a little then, my
child, for your stomach’s sake,”
he urged.
“I ain’t dot no tommik's ache !”
indignantly responded the little
miss in the most emphatic man
ner. As both question and an
swer were distinctly hegrd by
those around, everyone burst in
to laughter, which so frightened
the little maid that she cried.
Wliicli Fit'll}
‘Tf you do not eloso that win
dow, waiter, I shall die of the
draught I” exclaimed a lady' in tho
dining room of a hotel,
“If you do close that window',
waiter, I shall die of tho hear!”
said another stouter lady at tlio
same table.
The waiter v,'a.» at h-'
to ■