Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, November 25, 1900, Page 17

November 25, 1900. THE ILLUSTRATED BEE. Making a Bed to Sleep Through the Winter One of the prettiest, gentlest and most interesting of the little wild folks is the common flying squirrel. His round, black eyes are large and prominent and his tall is flat and featherlike. But the most re- markable fact about him is that he has two delicate fur-covered membranes which ex- tend one from each of the wrists of the fore- legs to the wrists of the corresponding hind legs. These membranes, when not in use, are folded close against the sides and do not interfere with the movements of the squirrel when he s climblng. He runs up a tree to the top or near it and jumps in the direction of another tree, per- FLYING SQUIRRELS MAKING THEIR NESTS READY FOR A LLONG WINTER'S NAP. haps fifty feet away. As he jumps he stetches out his legs sideways as far as he can, thus unfolding the membranes, on which he is then able to sail through the air as with a parachute. The movement from one tree to another is always downward, and the further away the trunk to which he is sailing, the nearer the ground he will be when he reaches it. Flying squirrels go to sleep all winter in nests in leaves or soft bark, which they make in the autumn., Sometimes the nest is built in the branches of a live tree, but more often in a hole in a decayed stum) or branch. The hole dug out by a downy woodpecker is frequently chosen by flying squirrels, and in such a place as this the young ones are born in the early spring. They are born blind and entirely naked. The first hair to appear is the whiskers, but the soft fur of the body soon follows. Although their eyes are not open for a month, they can cling to a branch when but a few days old. After they get their sight, they become playful and frisky, and they may scon be seen chasing one another about the tree near the nest. They stay with the mother for several months and in the autumn make nests for themselves and go to sleep for the winter. Something New in Cures He is a seasoned warhorse in politics and the hero of many a campaign, relates the Detroit Free Press. He tells what hap- pened to him last Monday night. “I had been to my man’s house and fized up a little deal that promised well. On my way home I was in a block of vacant lots when the cloud burst.” ‘“‘Cloud burst?" from a listener. “Yes, cloud burst! More water fell im five minutes than at any time since the deluge. I thought at first that a water main must have exploded. I had to throw my umbrella away to keep from drowning. 1 waded, floated, trod water and went with the tide, for temporary rheumatism in both legs kept me from runnimg. The first port I drifted into was a drug store and the storm quit as soon as I escaped. +*“I hustled home and my wife immediately ordered me to take a big dose ot quinine and whisky. Five minutes later I hurried upstairs and had a catch-as-catch-can with myself, for every stitch on me stuck like a porous plaster. I thought three or four times that I would lose the contest, but finally won out and soon had on a warm, dry suit. ‘“Now, you'd naturally think that after such an experience my rheumatism would be worse. Not a bit of it. I believe the confounded thing can be drowned, for I haven't felt a twinge since. But you can't tell. The fact that I tossed the quinine through the back window may have had something to do with t."” Short Stories Well Told This amusing story from the chronicles of an English rural town illustrates the danger in kindling ambition in the rural breast: An officer of a Yorkshire yeomanry regi- ment in ar address to his troop made a stirring allusion to the medals worn by some army veterans in the ranks. One of the volunteers afterward went home in a very thoughtful frame of .amind, and the next morning he came on parade with sev- eral medals on his breast. Sald the of- ficer: “I did’t know you had been In the regu- lars.” “No, I ain’t,” sald the man. “Well, how about the medals, my good fellow? They can’'t be yours.” “Can’t they?'' the man promptly replied. ‘““Aye, but they be. My old coo won ’'em all at Otley cattle show.” The general opimion of the late John Sherman was that he was an exceedingly cold and reserved man. This idea is mot borne out by the story of a western man who visited Washington with the object of soliciting ald and advice from the Ohio statesman in an affair of persenal im- portance. On arriving at the capital he was 80 discouraged by the reports of the great man’'s \cy personality that he de- ferred his visit from day to day and had almost decided to give up his mission, when, riding in a street car one day on his way to the capitol, he asked a question about the city of the tall and distinguished- looking wan who sat next him. The ques- tion was pleasantly answered, other points of interest were pointed out to the stranger by his obliging neighbor and a conversation ensued. Delighted with his mew friend, who was 80 generous with his information, whose comments were 8o clever, the visitor from the west thanked him cordially upon reaching the capitol, and, introducing him- self, asked his name. ‘‘John Sherman,” was the prompt reply. The next morning found the western man in Mr. S8herman's office and he then con- fessed the fears he had entertained as to what might be his reception from a wan 80 widely known as being unbending and frigid. Mr. Sherman laughed heartily over the story and it is doubtful if his guest ever spent a more agreeable half hour than that with the great Ohioan, whom he after- ward deecribed as the most tactful and agreeable man he ever met. —_—— A political gossipper tells the following in the Chicago Inter Ocean: ‘I was in the Michigan delegation and I remember the skock that came over me when Sheridan, in his lleutenant general’s uniform, crossed the stage in a shrinking, bashful way, as it unduly conscious of his short legs. He redeemed himself in my eyes, however, when he came forward to be introduced to the convention by Senator Hoar, “This was at the most interesting stage KITCHENGARTEN CLASS AT TENTH STREET AND CAPITOL AVENUE. Chinese Cheerfulness-~~ They Enjoy a Jest of the balloting, when the friends of all the candidates were extremely sensitive to anything that had the appearance of fa- voritism. On the thirtieth ballot one vote had been cast for Sheridan as a presiden- tial candidate. With no thought of this in his mind, Senator Hoar announced that the distinguished soldier and lieutenant general of the army was present and sug- gested his presentation to the conventlon. “The proposition was received with a whirl of enthusiastic cheers and Sheridan came forward modestly to acknowledge the extraordinary greeting. No one expected a speech, but, to the astonishment and confusion of Senator Hoar, Sheridan raised his hand to command quiet and said clearly: ‘I thank the delegate who has voted for me, but there is no way in which I could accept the nomination unless I should be permitted to turn it over to my best friend, my old commander.* “The Grant men cheered to the echo, while the Blaine men looked as if they had been taken advantage of. As Sheridan backed, by regulation step, to the rear toward his seat, the presiding officer has- tened to say that it was only the distin- guished services of the lieutenant general that gave him the privilege of speaking to the convention and that the privilege could be extended to no other person whatever.' Why He Wanted Him Chicago Post: ‘‘How many do you ex- pect here for Thanksgiving dinner?”’ he asked. ““There’'ll be eight or ten of us alto- gether,” she replied. ‘‘Have you invited Dobbs?" “Certainly not, Why, he's not even a close friend.” ‘“But I want him,"” he persisted. “I don't see why,” she argued. “Well, if you must know,” he replied, “in his younger days Dobbs once served an apprenticeship to a butcher and I want someone whom I can consistently ask to carve the turkey.” (By lIsaac Taylor Headland.) An eminent scholar in reviewing the writer's book of ‘‘Chinese Mother Goose Rhymes" speaks of some of the illustrations which “present the Chinese children play- ing their sober little games.” Why he should call such a game as “blind man's buff,” ‘“‘eni-meni-mini-mo,"” *“‘this little pig went to market” or ‘“pat-a-cake’” ‘‘sober little games,’’ unless it is because of pre- concelved notions of the Chinese people, it is difficult to say. There I8 a general opin- fon that the Chinese are a sober people, and therefore whatever they do must be done in a sober way. When they have a dinner party it must be a sober party, when they play games they must be sober games. When they sing nursery songs to their chil- dren they must be sober songs, when they write poetry it must be sober poetry, and, I suppose, when they make war, it must be a sober war. The Chinese say that ‘‘where there is much smoke there must be some fire,”” and 80 this general opinion must have some foundation. The cause of this widespread ldea of Chinese gravity is, as we belleve, the disposition of the people to be dignified. It is impressed upon the boys that: Whenever grown “cople are present a child 1~!huu|:ll ay;'lxak with a volce that is gentle and mild, And at the same time the girls are told that they should: Never turn your head in walking nor dis- play your teeth in mirth. Never move your knees when sitting, Nor when standing shake your dress. Laugh not loud when pleased, when angry never talk with overstress. Let the sexes ne'er commingle, they be rich or poor, Never go beyond the gateway, nor stand gazing from the door. Such are some of the instructions to children In their books of etiquette. It is, however, when people are off their guard that we get glimpses of their real whether CHILDREN IN THE KITCHENGARTEN AT THIRTEENTH AND WILLIAM STREETS, character. Go into the nursery and listen 1o mothers and nurses sing songs like the following to their smiling offspring and you forget that they are not to *“display their teeth in mirth.” There's a ¢« on the mountain, the old saying goes; On her legs four feet, on her feet are elght toes, Her tail is behind, on the end of her back, And her head is in front, on the end of her neck. The following is a drive at their unfortu- nate method of conjugal selections. As is well known, neither the bride or groom sces the other until the bride is brought to her husband's home. The following rhyme represents the happy couple sitting on their brick bed in a dark room, when He pulled up tne wick, With the candlestick knife, And found he had married A bald-headed wife. Her eyes were askew, And her mouth was awry, And the silly old fellow, ‘Was 80 mad he could cry. No cartoonist could present a more vivid or amusing picture of their absurd method of selecting a wife than is presented in this nursery song. Almost all phases of life are caricatured in the same way. The nervous man is de- scribed as having in his agitation jumped out of bed in the morning, snatched up his wife's green trousers, which he put on by mistake, and started to market, riding a donkey, ‘“his face turned toward its tail” At another time he Is made to say every- thing ‘“wrong side to,” as, for instance, when he hears a disturbance outside his door, he discovers it to have been caused by a man biting a dog. He In his haste “‘took up the door and opened his hand." Running outside he says: 1 nnu‘cl&ed up the dog I should say double- Am‘!lutl‘:réw him with all of my force at a brick. Then, after having been bitten by the brick, he was so disconcerted as to have ridden astride a sedan chair and to have been carried on a horse, after which he “blew on a drum and beat on a horn."” Children’s Songs. In still another of these children’s songs a cake seller informs the public In stentorian tones that his cakes will restore sight to the blind, Cure the deaf and heal the lame, And preserve the teeth of the aged dame, and that they will further cause hair to grow on a bald head and give courage to a henpecked husband. A girl who has been whipped by her mother mutters to herself how she would love and serve a husband it only she had one, even golng to the extent of calling her mother-in-law mother, and when overheard by her firate parent and asked what she was saying she answers: 1 was saying the beans are bolling nice, And it's just about time to add the rice, all of which will serve to show that the life of the Chinese child is full of sunshine. Chinese children are fond of cracking Jokes on bald heads. In one of their songs we are told that a certain halrless gentle- man on & notable occasion went to burn incense, not as people usually burn in- cense ‘“‘to get him an heir,” but rather “to get him some hair.” whh:dn rl::u;?.u.g:! in three days all his hair He the god gave a coat and -4 he burnq‘,‘ more incense When he found In three d H 1 g B in | ee days a!l his hair Ha.gop::t e god and he kicked him Then thsl g0d became angry and took up a BWOr And made into dippers ti - T 0 dippera that bald-headed