THE FUN OF SEEING THINGS 



387 



Kill the Spring Fly. 



Everybody everywhere is going for 

 the spring fly or should be doing so. 

 The Public Health Association of 

 Greenwich issues a very interesting 

 placard in which they state as follows : 



"Flies carry disease. Save the ba- 

 bies. 



"During the cold weather many flies 

 find shelter in out-of-the-way nooks 

 and corners about the house, where 

 ■they pass the winter in a dormant con- 

 dition. You will find them in cellar 

 and attic, or lying on shelves and win- 

 dow sills of unused rooms, apparently 

 dead, but in reality only sleeping. They 

 are waiting for the return of warm 

 weather, when they will wake up and 

 start breeding new generations. They 

 breed so rapidly that ONE fly in April 

 may have a MILLION descendants in 

 August. 



"Kill the spring fly and get the whole 

 million.' 



The Merchants' Association of New 

 York City at 233 Broadway has issued 

 a circular in which there are sufficient 

 charges against the spring fly to cause 

 every health loving person to swat it. 

 A part of the appeal is as follows : 



"The health and welfare of your 

 readers must be of vital interest to you 

 and we believe that any suggestion for 

 the eradication of this dangerous and 

 annoying household pest will be ap- 

 preciated by every one fortunate 

 enough to see your paper. We would 

 also suggest that you call the attention 

 of the pastors of the churches in your 

 circulating territory to the desirability 

 of teaching their people the iniquities 

 of the hotise fly. Furthermore, school 

 trustees and teachers would find it in- 

 structive and interesting to emphasize 

 the importance of this matter in talks 

 to the pupils on this subject. There 

 are a number of authorities wdio believe 

 that the germ or virus of infantile par- 

 alysis is disseminated by the fly and all 

 efforts should be directed to prevent a 

 recurrence of last year's dread expe- 

 rience by this agency." 



Spanning Hell Gate. 



[new YORK SUN, APRIL I, IQI?-] 



This town is so accustomed to the 

 success of great engineering enterpris- 

 es that the completion of the New York 

 Connecting Railroad with its beautiful 

 steel span across the treacherous chan- 

 nel of Hell Gate attracted little at- 

 tention except among those who were 

 directly interested in its building and 

 those who have watched its progress. 



To-day it will be used to give a com- 

 plete all rail route from New England 

 to the South, cutting out the trip 

 around Manhattan and more intimately 

 uniting the New Haven and the Penn- 

 sylvania railroads. The first train will 

 run from Boston to Washington with- 

 out breaking its trip, pioneer of a com- 

 prehensive service soon to begin. 



Had laymen not ceased to wonder at 

 the achievements of engineers they 

 would marvel at this great work ; as it 

 is, men who know the details of its 

 constrtiction — they are not given to 

 marveling — will regard with high re- 

 spect the skill its construction demand- 

 ed. 



Daffodils. 



BY RICHARD WALTHAM HANES, STAMFORD, 

 CONNECTICUT. 



A sunbeam came and kissed the earth, 

 And gave the sleeping flowers birth. 



So in my garden, near the wall, 

 The daffodils all heard its call. 



Like little children glad for play 

 They hurried forth in bright array. 



As through the day the sun shone down. 

 And cast its radiant smile around, 



They danced about beneath the trees, 

 All ofaily nodding in the breeze. 



A golden host to welcome Spring, 

 And to my garden pleasure bring. 



E'en as the sun with his bright rays, 

 Brings forth these messengers of praise. 



So cheerfulness in many hearts. 



Oft from a smile, its journey starts. 



Making mankind with pleasure thrill. 

 As joyful as a daffodil. 



Nature abhors a vacuum, 



But ugliness even more. 

 So with magic mantle of loveliness 



She covers it swiftly o'er. 



— Emma Peirce. 



The garden has many lessons to 

 teach, bttt none does it more surely 

 teach than this : If the cultivation of a 

 garden does not promote the tender 

 graces and extend the sweet chanties 

 of life, it is proof sufficient that we 

 have not learned the secret of life, and 

 are still outside of that knowledge 

 which alone makes it truly one's own. 

 — Abram Linwood Urban in "My Gar- 

 den of Dreams." 



