GRASSHOPPERS 85 



which Mrs. Stevens had thrown out, exactly the 

 same treatment, and within five minutes afterwards 

 I saw him punished for stealing and eating a loaf of 

 corn bread. I tell you that the terrier is not in the 

 same class as the grasshoppers. I watched them 

 when I should have been pulling weeds. I could not 

 help it, because I fell into watching them before I 

 knew it." 



" There is not a plant in our garden which they 

 failed to sample/' interrupted Willie. 



"If you call that sampling, Willie, then I should 

 like to see them eating in earnest. They are strip- 

 ping our sweet corn, and leaving nothing but ribs to 

 our cabbage. They are chewing everything to pieces, 

 and they do not seem to give the weeds any more 

 consideration than our garden plants. It seems 

 that they prefer the young tender buds, but when 

 they are eaten it does not seem to worry them 

 any, at least not judging from the way they look." 



"And did you notice how much they can spit?" 

 Willie interrupted. "It is as brown as tobacco juice, 

 and where it all comes from is a puzzle to me. 

 Look on my sleeve here and you can see the brown 

 spots ; I wonder if it will wash out. When you 

 catch one he sets his big mouth to work, and with all 

 the parts in action it reminds me of a mowing ma- 

 chine thrown into gear. His saliva runs over your 

 fingers and you need not figure that he will do this 



