OCR Text |
Show tL Or Although lumberjacks and cowboys have been TWF GYASCUTUS - the Principal contributors to the origins of on--' r" In iS I WAr ,n natural history, too much credit cannot be given O NY O COLORADO to editors, and especially editors of country pa- - I h pers, for their part In preserving It for future j THgTQTE ROAD SHAgAMAVV.MfCr VappebyVrt generations of Americans who are unlikely to "learn It at school" It Is to a number of them that the author of this article Is Indebted for Information about two creatures, without a des-cription of which no unnatural history notebook would be complete. One Is the gllly-lo- o or phllly-lo-o bird and from descriptions furnished by R. F. Fuller of the Rhnme (N. D.) Review, Larry Flint of the Sharon (Pa.) Herald. "Uncle Jimmy" of the Harlowtown (Mont) Times, Ben E. Mannln? t the Riddle (Ore.) South Umpqua News, W. M Huff of the Claflln (Kan.) Clarjon and L. O. Johnson of Livingston, Mont., a fairly accurate Idea of the appearance and habits of the philly-lo- o can be written as follows: The phtlly-lo- o is a comic supplement of the ancient rarustarus. Is related to the wild coldshuts and fuzzy-bille- sidewinders and In some respects resembles the galliwampus. It has a beak like a stork, one arm to guide Itself, and a long lizard tail, which It usually carries In the shape of a Q and which leaves a track like a modern non-ski- d tire. It Is covered with horse feathers and from It Is obtained not only horse feathers but colt slaw. Its most distinguishing characteristic Is that It flies upside down and If It were not for this fact more would be known about It For when the hunter shoots the phllly-lo- o It falls up Instead of down snd therefore but few specimens have been collected. The reason' for Its flying npstde down Is that It can thus absorb more vio-let rays from the blue sky and stave off rheu-matism. 5 - .. The other Interesting animal Is the gyascutus. Edltba I. Watson of the Colorado Graphic, Den-ver, the daughter of an old-tim- e country news-paper man, has written the following description of this creature: fhera's.a lot of things you never learn at school. There'- - a lot of thlnga that' never taught by rule; there's an awful lot of knowledce That yon never set at college; There's a lot of thins ru never learn at echool. Old Bonn, Author Unknown. By ELMO SCOTT WAT80N Vi TIT N TIIE rade "cnooli children jrME ; are taking nature study. In ttyLJ jft'l ' ,llgh cn00' te' learn sootogy ancl 00tnny In college they Mfwliil hroadtm their knowledge of all MfMRTvllJ "vln" things by studying Km But there Is one branch of 3jjHjm' science which the textbook yitefft wr,ter n' n" teachers have J?$&fr'4C. neglected. It Is the somewhat-"sswaee4- ei science of unnat-ural history the best exemplifi-cation of the sentiment expressed In the old song quoted above. For nnnatural history Is one of the things "you never learn at school." To become acquainted with its fascinating facts yon must go not to books ' but to the source of all true knowledge, to peo-ple. And there Is one class of men who are better fitted than any other to give these facts. They are the simple men who lived close to the soli and whose brief snatches of leisure between long hours of hard work were usually given over to spinning yarns for the amusement of themselves and their fellows. In telling their tall tales they In- -' vented mythical characters of heroic proportions who performed prodigious feats and whose every activity was carried out on a vast scale. Such were the old-tim- lumberjack and the old-tim-e cowboy, who have given to us Paul Bunyan, the and Pecos Bill, the super-cowbo- y, whom the students of folklore charac-terize as the best and almost only examples of native American myth heroes. More than that, in telling of the deeds of these legendary heroes, these saga-singer- s peopled their world with strange creatures, bizarre in appearance and fan-tastic in bablts. Not only did they Invent their yarns for their own pleasure bnt they often repeated and em-broidered them for the express purpose of "stuff-ing the tenderfoot" or "hazing the pilgrim." So if yon would learn the most Interesting "facts" in unnatural history, go to a lumberjack or a cow-boy and by your unsophisticated manner and naive questions, give him a chance to tell you about some of the strange creatures which he has seen In the course of bis career. If it's a lumberjack you're talking to, the chances are that one of the first animals he will tell you about Is the bodng. Although the bodag is now extinct, the one specimen having been cap-tured near Rhinelander, Wis., years ago, all lum-berjacks know about the bodag and how It cttme Into being. Once upon a time there was an ox which had led an unusually hard life at the hands of his various drivers up in the north woods of Wisconsin. Among lumberjacks It Is believed that the hide of an ox Is Invulnerable to everything but the profanity of Its drivers. When the ani-mal dies, Its . customary burial ceremony is cremation, and It requires seven years of con-tinuous fire to reduce to ashes all the profanity which has accumulated In Its body during Its life-time. So when this particular ox died, a brush fire was built around Its body and kept going for seven years to obliterate all the curses which had been heaped upon It lu English, French, Irish, Scandinavian and German while It bad toiled In the lumber camps. At the end of the seventh year the fire was allowed to die down but Instead of there being left no trace of the ox, out of the heap of ashes, there rose, phoenlx-llke- , a fearsome creature, such ss Is pictured above, which exhaled an obnoxious edor and the swish of whose tail made the earth tremble. For some time this monster preyed upon the lumber camps, Its favorite food being beef on the hoof. Then, according to "Lake Shore" Kearney of. Wausau, Wis., an old-tim- e lumberjack who . has written a book on the bodag, E. S. Shepard .i of Rhinelander, Wis., 'another r In the north woods, succeeded In cspturlng It by digging a hidden pit In a trail which the hodng was known to frequent and luring the hodng to It by having a young man of marathon fame and a noted ski Jumper lead an ox along this trail with the hodag In hot pursuit After its capture the hodag was put to death, skinned and mounted. For years It was exhibited In an old barn near Rhinelander and thousands of people Journeyed there to view it nntll the bam burned down and all traces of this creature vanished from the earth. But If yon go to Rhinelander today they will sell you pic-ture post cards of the hodag as proof of the fact that It did once exist But even though the hodag Is extinct there are other equally Interesting creatures still In the north woods, your lumberjack friend will tell you, some of whom make It exceedingly dan-gerous for a tenderfoot to stray far from the lum-- ' ber camp by himself. Of course, you may not see them, bnt that doesn't prove that they are not there. If you find In the woods a set of tracks that puzzle you, they were probobly left there by the tote road shngamaw. Its bind legs have the hoofs of a moose and 'Its forelegs the paws of a bear. When It la tired of traveling on one set of legs. It continues on Its wsy on the other, which sccounts for the peculiar trail which is so baffling to hunters. The tote road shsgamaw Is shy and harmless bnt look out for the agropelter snd the gumberoo ! The agropelter has a long body and arms like a spider monkey. It has a perpetual grudge against mankind and It bides In hollow trees, out of which It springs, tears off a huge branch of a tree and . cracks the skull of the luckless tenderfoot as he . passes by. The gumberoo lives In burned-ove- r ' forests and Is therefore easily avoided. It Is .' larger than a bear and has a round leathery body which nothing can pierce. If a hunter fires at It the bullet rebounds from its tough hide, strikes the marksman and usually kills him. The only thing that can kill It is fire and often during for-est fires the lumberjacks hear loud explosions .. which are gumheroos blowing up In the flames. All of the foregoing animals are known to lum-berjacks of the north woods from Maine to Min-nesota. When the lumber Industry expanded west, the lumbermen discovered many other Interesting creatures which are known both to them snd to the cowboys, the scene of whose activities bor-dered on theirs. For Instance there is the rope-rit- e which is ss large as a small pony and has a long rope-lik- e beak with a sllp-noos- e on the end. With this natural lariat the roperlte catches even the swiftest Jackrabblt and sometimes ropes a tenderfoot. Then there is the tripodero with two telescopic legs. Its beak Is like the muzzle of a gun with a sight on the end. Going through the brush It raises and lowers Itself to look for game and, upon seeing some, tilts Itself to the right angle, sights along Its beak and then lets fly with a pellet of clay, a quantity of these quids being always carried In the left cheek. The tripo-dero has never been known to miss a shot and as a result the mortality among tenderfeet In some parts of the West Is said to be appalling. The ayaacutua la about the alia of a white-ta- ll deer, haa ears like a rabbit, and teeth like a moun-tain lion. Iti coat ta brlndle, and Ha eyea are red. It haa a lona and prehenBlle tall, which It wravs around rocka when It turns around, for a little extra levernse. It haa teleacoplo legs, swhlch arrangement en-able! It to' graze around the (Idea of mountains, the two right or left lega, aa the cane may be, teleacoplng to about half the length of the othfT two. For thla reason It ran eat either to the right or the left, but haa some difficulty In turning around, aa It appears that the two hind lega or the two front ones will not telescope at the same time, only one side at a time having thla power. Hence the long tall, which It wraps around tbe rocks, often pulling them out of the ground with the labor of Its exertiona In turning around. The gyascutus ents the tan' and green lichens which adhere closely to rocks on hills, and In tbe process, wears little traila around the mountain-sides, which many people have noticed. When disturbed, this animal digs a hole In the ground very rapidly, disappearing almost Immedi-ately, so that sight of one is very rare. The holes are often mistaken for prospect holes, but the seeker for ore would be amaxed to find a gyascutus upon farther digging. The gyascutus is seen only after a snake-bit- e and the subsequent treatment by the observer. This causes one to wonder If this animal and the snake are not In sonie way affiliated. This is a subject which will bear Investigation. Gyascutt, while rare, are not extinct, but have been run Into the ground so often that they are almost unknown. , e. " .7 Editors not only have done a good work In the Interests of unnatural history by preserving the accumulated dnta on many of these Interesting animals, but they have also contributed to the science of their observations on some of the fauna which are found only around print, shops. Go to any print shop and, If you will ask, the editor will be glad to show you some type lice. Then there Is the type lout which Is an apprentice type louse, whose Job It Is around the print shop to eat all punctuation marks which are Incorrectly placed and to correct typographical errors. A lout being an awkward fellow, the type lout some-times makes mistakes himself and that Is why you sometimes find your name misspelled In the newspaper. Another Interesting anlmnl Is the studio-inkeru- It was Just by chance that one of these appeared while Artist Walters was mak Ing the sketches for this article and he was able to draw the picture of this Interesting little fe-llowthe first time In history that Its portrait has ever been made. Tbe studlo-ltikeru- s Is the reason why the Ink bottles and Ink wells on the desks of cartoonists and editors are always dry The studio-inkeru- s eats nothing and drinks only ink. ' ASour Stomach In the same time It takes a dose of soda to bring a little temporary relief of gas and sour stomach, PhllUpi 1111k of Magnesia baa acidity complete- - ly checked, and the digestive organs all tranquilizer. Once yon hare tried this fortn of relief yon will cease to worry about yonr diet and experience new freedom In eating. This pleasant preparation Is Just as good for children, too. Use It when-ever coated tongue or fetid breath signals need of a sweetener. Physi-cians will tell yon that every spoon-ful of Phillips Milk of Magnesia neu-tralizes many times Its volume In add. Get the genuine, the name Phillips is important. Imitations do not act the samel PHILLIPS Milk of Magnesia The Holer Barber College, Inc. BARBERS IK DBMAND Stat Llrteed College Kara While Toa Lee.rn. Prepares yon for but State Examination 1 18 BaCUEMT ST..8A.LT LA.KK I) I TIT, UTAH HANFORD'S Balsam of Myrrh A Healing Antiseptic Ueeeeas arc esaartiea rebel rear mam, tm Set tret eeafaS ear ereee. FIND "FRIEND IN NEED" Mother and Daughter Praise Vegetable Compound Johnson City, N. T. "My daughter was only 20 years old, but for two -- ...i-'- .. years she worked In misery. She was " fTs a11 run-dow- nerv-- veg ous, had aches and " I t&M P&ln and no app-eal tmyv1 tite. I was taking "TL 4 Lydia E. Pinkham's ' i L Vegetable Com-- v pound with good jf k rV, results so she de-af .V' cld1 10 try B i '- ' v- - 'ore she had taken lr q , w two botUes her ap-- I petite was better, she was more cheerful and was able to work. I cannot praise your medicine too highly. It Is wonderful for mothers and for daughters. It's surely 'a friend In need'." Mas. L. E. Haix, 223 Floral Avenue, Johnson City, N. Y, lUpiMPLESfl --etf m roar complexion and mint red roMf y'-- M la Ivor pale, tallow cheek. Tmlj m wonderful reeeita follow thorough 3r m colon eleanaine. Tlkilm- - Sea. S g samara Bcuior-torrnj- i.t, fwa J andatrengtheBreorelfmineUraer alaS J M Wateh the trenalomatloe, SfciSSr V Try NR luteal of mere laiatrraa. ? fcle. tti, aerair wreUela al ar an ah, eab Sc 1 FEEL LIKE A MILLION, TAKS over 25.000.000 Sold Allwearerscaiitbewronjej LEVI STRAUSS ' Overalls the Leading Brand forover 56years Every pair sold with This guarantee ANEW CD EC IFTHEY pair, rrxCC rip late- - Askfor Levi's Re!iabkMerefiandisesincel8tt ' ' Health Giving TSi AH Ylnto" long I MamlaH Cllmete Good Hotels Tonrfe, Ceespe Hpleaadla Roawre Gorgeous Mount,: I Vlee. The eaoruW" 'deeer rtworlo Ike S eat f Ore A erfy g I FeVrfte prins.!)yjf s News Notes It'$ a Privilege to Live In I UTAH PROVO Utah's apple crop for 1928 was 880,000 bushels, valued at 1704,000, HEBER CITY Total production of alfalfa seed In Utah during 1921 was 124,000 bushels, valued at fV 114,000. The yield per acre aver-aged 1.70 bushels and 73,000 acres were planted. DRAPER About 1200 cases of eggs are being shipped out of here weekly and when the peak produc-tion la expected to reach 1800, ac-cording to officials of the local poultry association. All Indica-tions point to a record poultry year. SALT LAKE Reporting favor-able conditions, of stock and ranges in the Orandaddy lake region, E. C Shepard, forest supervisor, returned recently from an Inspection of the district and meetings with stock men at Hauna and Tablona In Du-chesne county. LOGAN Snow was still falling . here this morning after an storm that laid a six-Inc- h white blanket over Cache valley. Twenty-l-ive per cent of the sugar beet crops Is still In the fields and many potatoes have not yet been har-vested. The storm temporarily halted harvesting. LOGAN Ranger H. I. Rice has made, the discovery that the bark beetle, dread to pine forests, which Invaded the United States about Jive years ago from Canada, has finally reached Utah and Is now Infesting a section near the Tony Grove ranger station in the Cache national forest. OGDEN The Utah Canners' as--. sociation at a meeting here re-cently decided to take up with boards of education a proposal that schools In Utah be started two weeks later in the tall so that a labor supply will be available for the peak of operations In canneries, fields and orchards, VERNAL The state fish and game department announces a slight amendment to limitations of the oncoming quail and pheasant season. .Through an oversight, the department omitted to mention In its proclamation that Ashley valley in Uintah county would be open from November 3 to November 15. PROVO Three routes for carry-ing mall to Vernal are listed on the official government advertise-ment, inviting proposals for the U. S. mails, received at the local post-offl-recently according to Post-master John P. McGuire. The three routes' listed are from Provo to Vernal; from Price to Vernal; and from Salt Lake to Versal. . . BRIGHTON Nine Inches of snow fell at Brighton during the blizzard which began Sunday night and last-ed through Monday, according to a report to the city waterworks de-partment from the watershed sta-tion at the mountain town Tuesday. It is one of the heaviest falls re-- pnrded at that nnlnt this earlv in the year. . MORONI At a special city coun-cil meeting recently the mayor of Moroni was authorized to place an order for more than one mile of four-inc- h cast iron pipe which will be used to replace wood pipe in 'the city water system. This will be a cash purchase, the money repre-senting savings in various depart" merits for the operation of city government during the past two years. OGDEN After discovering that its funds were insufficient to meet the entire expense of purchasing and Installing lights at the Ogden airport, the city commission refer-red the matter to Commissioner Fred E. Williams, with power to act Under Instruction from the commission, Mr. Williams, confer-red with Eugene R. Alton, presi-dent of the chamber, and It was announced later that terms had been agreed upon by which the lights will be Installed. GUNNISON Record beet crops have beed produced this year in Sanpete and Sevier counties, ac-cording to R. T. Harris, treasurer of the Gunnison Sugar company. Farmers pf the two counties will be paid $400,000 for October sugar beet deliveries on November 6, ten days in advance of the regular beet payday. Total payments of the , firm will be $500,000 with $100,000 to be paid out November 15 tor November sugar beet deliveries, Payments this year double those of last year. All beets will have been delivered by the end of No-vember. BRIGHAM CITY Packing of to-matoes at the Brigham City can-ning factory came to a close re-cently with a pack that will exceed 40,000 cases. This yield came from 160 acres, and is considered the best in a number of years. The average yield per acre this year was a Utile less than twenty bush-- . els, an exceptionally high average. Tomatoes in this section this year were of an excellent quality and the prolonged warm weather en-abled practically all of the farmers to make a good profit f WHY WE BEHAVE LIKE HUMAN BEINGS Br GEORGE DORSCV, Pa. D, U. D. B.e ..t Can We Control Our Own Evolution? CAN we control our own evolution? we want to? To what endT In which direction? Presumably we could; and this Js as far as eugenics has any standlng'ln a court of science. All the rest of eugenics Is politics-ba- sed on assumptions open to op-posite views or on race prejudice pure and simple. Man could probably breed a race of human beings with the following traits": buld. fat, long chest, short and crooked legs, sis fin-gered . and all fingers thumbs and webbed, near-sighte- deaf and dumb, feeble-minde- curly haired, cataract, alhlno, long-live- and prolific with a tendency to twins; it any rate, the are a few of the many Men-delal- n traits capable of transmission. There are sold to be at least thirty-fou- r different hereditary eye defects alone, eight of which can produce blindness. With nothing more to work with than normal variation In wild rock pigeons, man has bred over twenty races of pigeons. What could be not do with the human race If . . . The "If" Introduces politics. And to "breed" a race of humans Involves a decision as to what Is desirable; a thousand-yeai-lon- g dynasty of cast-iro- n despots with such power over sub-jects as Herod, never hoped for or breeder of slaves dared exercise. What are we to breed at : What Is the new race to go In for? Stature, tow hair, blue eyes, eight fingers, toothless, one .oe, fecundity, mental precocity? The list of heritable traits Is Indefinite. "Marry dlsslmllars" Is probably good eugenic advice If we are not bent on handing down our own personel traits hut most people are satisfied with their traits. At any rate, the sex Impulse Itself generally chooses Its mate, and that Impulse is not primarily concerned In offspring. Take stature. If height Is the crite-rion for desirable citizens, early-and-ofte- n marriage should be encouraged In Iowa, Kentucky and Missouri ; made late and rare In New York, Pennsyl-vania, and Massachusetts; and pro-hibited In Rhode Island. Meanwhile, close Ellis Island to all but native Patagonlans. What shall we do with the Attic Greeks? Raise their "quota." or ex-clude them because they do not look like the Harvard graduate who fathers an average of only three-fourth- s of a son and the Vussur graduate who mothers one-hal- f of a daughter? If there Is anything In the "con-tinuity of the germ plasm" theory, there should be some good germs left In a country which In MO years pro-duced such statesmen as MUtlndes. Thomlstoeles, Arlstldcs, and Pericles; such poets as Aeschylus, Euripides and .Sophocles; such scientists as So-crates, Plato, and Aristotle; such artists as Phidias and Praxiteles; such historians as Thucydldes and Xenophnn; suet orators as Aeschlnes, Demosthenes, and Lyslns. The whole earth, in no centuries before or since, declared Gnlton, produced such a galaxy of illustrious men. Some of that germ-plas- may be blacking boots today on a Stolen Island ferry or running a short-orde- r rest a ii ran. In El Keno. Who knows? One thing Ir certain: if It is. It Is more Interested In a short shine or a long older than It Is In eugenics. Could anyone, even Frnnclb Calton himself, from 'he hill oelilml Athens In the year 600 B. IV have predicted thnt within n hundred years the Utile d , state of Attica would begin to hud genius so fast and so big thnt the world tins not stopped wondering about it yetT Could Gnlton have predicted Lin-coln? Could Rills Island? Vnn Kills Island spot the Jukes from the or have the faintest Idea when It holds up a Stelnmet or an Ed ward Bok? ;" Whnt carries ejgentcs Into politics Is thnt the Jukes are neither fi;;8 nor thistles, snd we do not yet know Just how feeble a mind tins to he before It has to be locked up to protect those who have minds and refuse to use them. Many Jukes have too much brain to be segregated, not enough to carry a rifle to the front Selection. Thnt kind of selection Is a modern specialty. The sound-minde- able-bodie- get shjt, the priests and schnlors will not mnrry, and the ambitious women and the selfish men transmit their names but not their germs. Is clvlll7e"lon now breeding a "pure" dumb-bel- l type no teeth, no lower Jaw? Cigarettes may save the lower lip, and cliewVig gum may save enough of the lower Juw to support a chew-ing gum. But a full and sound set of teeth these days Is alMiut as primitive as Is a perforated olecranon fossa of the humerus. ' Evolution produced a human brain, our only remnrkuble Inheritance. Nothing else counts. Body Is simply bruin's servant Treat the body right of course; no brain r.n function well without good service. But why worry more about the looks, color, and clothes of the servant than the service it performs?' ((9 be Georjte A. Doraey.) The way to get the best of an ar-gument Is not to take part In It J. P. (Welling). Evened Up "Muriel says she believes only half she hears." "Yes, but she hears twice as much as anybody elseP On Way Out Teacher Would you soy I feel bad or I feel badly? Pupil (after deep thought) Oil, I feel terrible. Father Is "Goat" in Rabbit Deal ' they then?" he demander. "I see but one rabbit" ; "Why. dad," sxplalned one of hi' youngsters, "it Is the same rabbit; we bought It from each other." Ex change. . Some Saturdays ago a small boy, asked his father for a quarter to buy a rabbit. On being satisfied that a hut wns being fixed up In which r keep the rabbit, and being also a be llever In tbe civilising Influence on boys of keeping pets, dad gave him quarter. The following Saturday a seconl youngster came on the same errand and obtained a quarter. It happened , to be a large family, and not wish Ing to display any favoritism, dmi eventually gave a quarter to eactij'ol ble children for the purchase of a rabbit j- - . . One day be went out to see all thes rabbits snd wss surprised to find on! one! He Inquired of his children wh they had all done with their quarters En;t declared that he or she ro.i bou;!.t a rabbit "Weil, where are V wine, tbe guest partaking of eucb a sippet with the draught of wine ss soon as the felicitation had passed the lips Caetom f "Toasting" The custom of drinking to health and success to undertakings at ban quets dates back to the time of the Romans. The word "toast" appear to have originated from the prac-tice of putting bits of toss In the Not Sens of loferiority Diffidence Is not due to an Inferior complex any oftener than It Is due to an objection to the Invasion of per-- " sonal reticence. Some people who fear others who try to become Intl-- . nmte with them are diffident. , i Average Woman Richard Steele, In the Spectator relates thnt In his time a '"silkworm' was a woman who rumbled "twice or thrice a week from shop to shop to turn over nil the goods In town with-out buying anything. "Mentor Maga sine. Radius Famine Radium releases stxiul ten million rimes as much energy per gram In ' as curium does In burning nut there Isn't enough of It nor r an ndln-iii-tlv- snOstBOC to do more than keep s few comer Hiiru men fontln uously going. Woman's Home' Coin panloo Most Costly Bible With it cover encrusted with dia-monds and emeralds, a Bible recently offered for sale In I Hindoo Is stated to be the most costly In the world. It came from the Kusslun Imperial palace at Tsarskoye Kelo. So Marry Yoeng A man might as well marry young ; If be doesu'i. an old widow will get him later, and he harrier on him than i young bride would have been. 've's Monthly a |