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Studying by the Light of the Glow- 

 worm. 



In propaganda for Chinese farmers 

 as teachers, Mr. Warner M. Van Nor- 

 den, 62 South Street, New York City, 

 as an argument in behalf of diligent 

 study by farmer boys at home, made 

 this astonishing statement : 



"The story of a young Chinese has 

 become almost classic. This young 

 man, working on his father's farm all 

 day and not wishing to put his father 

 to the expense of buying oil that he 

 might study in the evening, would 

 stop on his way home from the fields 

 each evening and collect a bag full of 

 glowworms by the light of which he 

 would study late into the night." 



We have heard of great men who 

 studied in their boyhood under dif- 

 ficulties, using the glowing pine knot 

 by the fireplace and other simple and 

 primitive methods, but this statement 

 of the Chinese young man studying 

 by such dull light relegates other cited 

 examples into the shade. The question 

 naturally arises, "Why put the glow- 

 worms in a bag? Would it not have 

 been better to put them in a bottle?" 

 The light might then have passed out 

 to illumine the studies of that econom- 

 ical and industrious young man that 

 at first seemed to me must be a Chinese 

 myth, because I have occasionally 

 tried to ascertain the truth or falsity 

 of similar stories about reading with 

 our American lightning bugs, as it is 

 really possible to do, if strained gazing 

 to see the print indistinctly or occas- 

 ionally to catch a plainer view may be 

 called reading. The light of lightning 

 bugs is stronger than that of the lar- 

 vae or glowworms. Several years ago 

 while editing a reply to a child in re- 

 gard to the light of the firefly, I 

 thought it would be interesting to say 

 that I had actually read the proof by 



the light of fireflies. So I collected a 

 number, put them in a bottle and held 

 them close to the paper. I did see the 

 proof when several of the flies to- 

 gether occasionally flashed their light 

 and, with a little touch of fancy added, 

 I could claim that I read the proof, be- 

 cause I could now and then catch a 

 glimpse of a word, but nothing more. 

 If it is impossible to read by the aid 

 of fireflies in a bottle, what could be 

 seen with glowworms in a bag ! 



Strange, however, as the Chinese 

 story is, it seems well vouched for by 

 those versed in Chinese lore and cus- 

 toms. After considerable and extend- 

 ed correspondence, we find that the 

 story of the industrious Chinese youth 

 who studied by the light of the glow^ 

 worms, though a very old one, has an 

 element of probability. It has been 

 handed down from father to son and is 

 still told when the family gathers 

 around the glowing brazier, as a sort 

 of equivalent to our stories of a youth 

 studying at the fireplace. It seems, 

 however, that the bag was made of 

 rice paper and was probably very thin. 

 Being pure white it would transmit a 

 fair light. It is not probable that the 

 Chinese had bottles in the days when 

 this energetic boy was living. 



The Bureau of Entomology at 

 Washington agrees with most of us in 

 thinking that this glowworm story is 

 improbable and yet should not be ridi- 

 culed. There are a few facts that take 

 the story out of the realm of fable or 

 myth and put it within the scope of 

 definite scientific knowledge. 



This brings up the question of the 

 brightness of other glowworms. Mr. 

 H. S. Barber of the Bureau at Wash- 

 ington says that one night, while in 

 Guatemala, he read nearly a column 

 of ordinary newspaper print, without 

 eyestrain, by the light of a single fire- 



