Life on a Wisconsin Farm 



they killed and devoured them, oftentimes 

 quarreling over the division of the spoil, though 

 it was not easily divided. 



We watched the habits of the swift-dart- 

 ing dragonflies, wild bees, butterflies, wasps, 

 beetles, etc., and soon learned to discriminate 

 between those that might be safely handled 

 and the pinching or stinging species. But of all 

 our wild neighbors the mosquitoes were the 

 first with which we became very intimately 

 acquainted. 



The beautiful meadow lying warm in the 

 spring sunshine, outspread between our lily- 

 rimmed lake and the hill-slope that our shanty 

 stood on, sent forth thirsty swarms of the lit- 

 tle gray, speckledy, singing, stinging pests; and 

 how tellingly they introduced themselves! Of 

 little avail were the smudges that we made on 

 muggy evenings to drive them away; and amid 

 the many lessons which they insisted upon 

 teaching us we wondered more and more at the 

 extent of their knowledge, especially that in 

 their tiny, flimsy bodies room could be found 

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