The Potato-Bug’s Boom. 
The decline and fall of the Colorado pota¬ 
to-bug should be a warning to all other in¬ 
sects and might even ser^e as a hint to the 
English sparrow. Starting from his moun¬ 
tain home in the far West, where he had 
long been content to feed upon some modest 
weed, his awakened ambition carried him 
to every part of the United States and even 
tojbenighted Europe. Announcing himself 
as the terrible Doryphora Decem-lineata, 
and caring not a whicker for the liberties pf 
Ins country, he passed through all the mag¬ 
nificent scenery of the Western regions and 
descended upon the fertile potato patches of 
thirty-six—or perhaps thirty-seven—States, 
carrying desolation in his path and every¬ 
where proclaiming starvation to the human 
race. The wail of the impoverished farmer 
was music to his ear, and he would laugh 
.and make puns to the effect that he was the 
great devas-tator. He had stripes upon his 
back, in mockery of the flag, and his child¬ 
ren vfere of an Indian red, such as painters 
put on the window sash. Scoffing at Mal- 
tlms, he multiplied and multiplied but he 
did not replenish the earth. For years he 
ruled and terrorized. But there # came a 
turning-point. Other bugs began to be born 
or to appear, who, envying him his great¬ 
ness, formed combinations against him. It 
was agreed that the little lady-bug should 
feed on his eggs and that an ugly, dust-col- 
-ored bug, put up like a six-cornered kite on 
degs and calling itself the soldier-bug, should 
gab its lance into him on every occasion, 
while some kind of a fly volunteered to buzz 
.around and fill him with something that he 
would take into the ground with him, and 
•that would produce death. Still other in- 
sects swore they would do what they could 
;.and the farmers bought Paris Green, with 
\which the potato vines were sprinkled. The 
result was that the great unassisted emigrant 
from Colorado, the victor of seventeen hund¬ 
red thousand fields, began to so diminish 
in numbers that potatoes once more came 
to be known as an article of human diet, and 
in the year 1888 he had fallen off so vastly 
as to cease to be feared even by children. 
Poor, ambitious fool! He thought to make 
for himself an imperishable name, but he 
only succeeded in spreading the name of the 
insignificant State of Colorado, which terri- 
toro he had scorned and abandoned. Verily, 
pride goeth before a fail. 
THE BOTTLE. 
BY W. B. DERRICK. 
What goes in as “Bed Bum" turns out 
“Murder.” 
-RUMRMUB- 
-R E R- 
-E D E- 
-D R D- 
-REDR U RDER- 
-REDRU M URDER- 
-REDRUM R MURDER- 
-EDRUMR E RMURDE- 
-DRUMRE D ERMURD- 
-RUMRED R DERMUR- 
-UMREDR U RDERMU- 
-MREDRU M URDERM- 
-REDRUM R MURDER- 
-EDRUMR E RMURDE- 
-DRUMRE D ERMURD- 
-RUMRED R DERMUR- 
-UMREDR U RDERMU- 
-MREDRU M URDERM- 
-REDRUM - - MURDER- 
Explanation. —Begin at the top on either 
side and read toward the centre and down 
to the bottom of the bottle, Red Rum, Red 
Rum. Next commence at the bottom and 
and read either to the right or left and up 
to the mouth of the bottle the terrible warn¬ 
ing, Murder ! Murder !! Murder !!! 
-- 
A Spider Story. 
One chilly day I was left at home alone: 
and after I was tired reading “Robinson 
Crusoe” I caught a spider, and brought 
him into the house to play with. Funny 
playmate, wasn’t it ? Well, I took a wash 
basin, and fastened up a slick in it like a 
vessel’s mast, and then poured in water 
enough to turn the mast into an island for 
my spider, which I named Crusoe, and put 
him on the mast. As soon as he was fairly 
cast away, he anxiously commenced run¬ 
ning round to find the main land. He’d 
scamper down the mast to the water, stick 
out a foot, get it wet, shake it, run around 
the stick and try the other side, and then 
run back to the top again. Pretty soon it 
