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During the last few months a plague had come amongst us that we had heard much about, and now caused us much trouble a plague of lice. It is not an edifying subject, but anyone can understand how the itching caused many a sleepless night. We were not to blame.

I see the impudent intruder run nimbly under my elbow and penetrate forthwith into the tunnel abandoned by the death-watch. She is after game, this slender huntress, clad in black, busy collecting wood lice for her grubs. A whole nation is devouring you, you old table; I am writing on a swarm of insects! No support could be more appropriate to my entomological notes.

They were kept in a wretched, old, tumbledown house, without doors or windows, during the bitter cold of a Kansas winter, guarded by "Law and Order" militia, exposed to every insult, wallowing in filth, and eaten up with lice.

``Hullo, Sergeant Cane, said Smith. ``Hello, sir, said the sergeant. ``Do you remember that night at Reit River? ``Don't I, sir, said Cane. ``One blanket each and no ground sheet? ``I remember, sir, said Cane. ``Didn't it rain, said Smith. ``It rained that night, proper. ``Drowned a few of the lice, I suppose. ``Not many, said Cane.

The lice may be discovered by parting the hair along the back and rump. The biting louse of sheep causes the fleece to become matted and tufts of wool are pulled out. This is brought about by the sheep rubbing and nibbling the fleece, and the lice cutting through the wool. The loss due to the damage to the fleece is usually greater than that resulting from unthriftiness.

I am glad to say all the lice have disappeared; the final conquest was effected with a very simple remedy the infected ponies were washed with water in which tobacco had been steeped. Oates had seen this decoction used effectively with troop horses. The result is the greater relief, since we had run out of all the chemicals which had been used for the same purpose.

After the sea-lion had swum a short way, it put its paw up to its head, in order to see whether the lice had really all been taken off. Then it felt that its flesh and fat were all gone, and that only the bones remained. So it was very angry, and swam back quickly towards the shore, to catch Panaumbe and kill him. Panaumbe, when he saw the sea-lion pursuing him, ran inland towards the mountains.

He was looking at the beggar's long hair that hung to his neck. "It's moving," he whispered half aloud. He came closer and stood over the old man and gazed intently at the top of his head. The hair was swaying faintly, each separate fiber moving alone.... It shifted, rose imperceptibly and fell. It quivered and glided.... "Lice," murmured Moisse. He watched.

It is not very poetical, as many of the grim facts of every-day life are not, but, unlike a great deal of poetry, it is unfortunately too true that after a severe and dangerous illness, especially after a bad attack of fever, a child's head frequently becomes infested with vermin with lice.

The scriptures give us the most wonderful accounts of divine interference: Animals talk like men; springs gurgle from dry bones; the sun and moon stop in the heavens in order that General Joshua may have more time to murder; the shadow on a dial goes back ten degrees to convince a petty king of a barbarous people that he is not going to die of a boil; fire refused to burn; water positively declined to seek its level, but stands up like a wall; grains of sand become lice; common walking-sticks, to gratify a mere freak, twist themselves into serpents, and then swallow each other by way of exercise; murmuring streams, laughing at the attraction of gravitation, run up hill for years, following wandering tribes from a pure love of frolic; prophecy becomes altogether easier than history; the sons of God become enamored of the world's girls; women are changed into salt for the purpose of keeping a great event fresh in the minds of man; an excellent article of brimstone is imported from heaven free of duty; clothes refuse to wear out for forty years, birds keep restaurants and feed wandering prophets free of expense; bears tear children in pieces for laughing at old men without wigs; muscular development depends upon the length of one's hair; dead people come to life, simply to get a joke on their enemies and heirs; witches and wizards converse freely with the souls of the departed, and God himself becomes a stone-cutter and engraver, after having been a tailor and dressmaker.