ROCKY MOUNTAIN GRASSHOPPERS 



lief of the discouraged farmers. Ella and her 

 parents stood at the door of their sod house 

 looking and talking of their almost completely 

 ruined fields. With sad hearts they thought of 

 all the comforts they had hoped and planned 

 for but twenty-four hours previously, and 

 how, without thought or warning, a destructive 

 enemy, as it were, had dropped before them 

 from a clear sky. The sad expression on their 

 faces changed as they noticed first but a few of 

 the grasshoppers rise into the air, circle around 

 several times, then slowly ascend facing the 

 wind. Then a larger number followed and still 

 larger numbers until the greater part of the de- 

 structive army was again on the wing ; they rose 

 so high that they appeared to the naked eye 

 like mere specks against the blue sky ; they still 

 continued to rise until lost to view. Thus they 

 moved on, carried by the wind, only to alight 

 in new fields and blast the hopes of other un- 

 fortunate farmers, perhaps many miles away. 

 These wandering armies have been known to 

 fly as far as two hundred miles before alighting 

 for rest and food. 



After the flying robbers had disappeared Ella 

 [5S] 



