12 



Indiana University Studies 



The Grasshoppers 



(for fourth, fifth, and sixth grades) 



The grasshoppers were among the worst enemies of the early set- 

 tlers of Nebraska. Their homes were on the high plains and among the 

 hills at the foot of the great mountains in the West. Here they lived and 

 raised their families. 



In dry seasons there were more children and less food at home. 

 Then they assembled and flew away in great swarms to the east and 

 to the south. They traveled hundreds of miles. Sometimes on clear, 

 warm, moonlight nights they traveled all night. More often they set- 

 tled down late in the afternoon and fed, and then continued their way 

 the next day. 



The great grasshopper raid took place in September, 1874. Sud- 

 denly along the frontier states the air to the w^est was filled with grass- 

 hoppers. There were billions of them in the great clouds which dark- 

 ened the sun. The noise of their wings filled the air with a roaring 

 sound like a rushing storm, followed by a deep hush as they dropped 

 to the earth and began to devour the crop. 



All the corn was eaten in a single day. Where cornfields stood at 

 sunrise nothing remained at night but stumps of stalks swarming with 

 hungry hoppers struggling for the last bite. They stripped the garden 

 patches bare. They gnawed great holes in the rugs and carpets put 

 out to save favorite plants. The buds and fruit of trees were con- 

 sumed. They followed the potatoes and onions into the ground. 



When 



they finished the garden and green crops, they attacked the wheat and 

 oats in the shock and the wild grass in the unplowed fields. Only two 

 green crops escaped them, broom corn and sorghum cane. They did 

 not seem to have a sweet tooth. 



Ancient Ships 



(for seventh and eighth grades) 



There is no more interesting study to marine architects than that 

 of the growth of modern ships from their earliest form. Ancient ships 

 of war and of commerce equally interest them; but as they study the 

 sculptures and writings of the ancients, they find records of warships 

 far outnumbering ships of commerce. 



Among ancient nations the Greeks and Romans w^ere the best ship- 

 builders. Judging from the description of their works their crafts 

 must have been elegant, swift, and seaworthy. This is more than can 

 be said of many of the more showy productions of the shipyards of 

 Britain, France, and Spain even so late as the Middle Ages. 



There is no question now that the ships of the ancients made ex- 

 tended voyages urged by oars alone. A thousand oarsmen were some- 



