AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST 
[June, 
324= 
[■COPYRIGHT SECURED.] 
WHY A SLIP BETWEEN THE CUP AND THE LIP.— Drawn BY HERRICK .—Engraved far the American Agriculturist. 
He was so sure of a pigeon supper at midnight that lie 
can hardly believe his own eyes as the bird ilies away 
and a few tail feathers drop out of his mouth ! It is the 
Virginia Opossum who has planned this dark deed, as 
his cruel habit is. Quite an innocent looking little fel¬ 
low, you see; but he is a great thief and burglar, never¬ 
theless ! He is about the size of a cat, twenty inches 
long, with the snout of a pig. He has a remarkable tail 
of fifteen inches, by which he suspends himself from the 
branch of a tree. He plunders poultry-yards, steals corn, 
loves nuts and berries, and often hunts birds’ nests by 
night in order to catch the sitting mother, as well as to 
eat her eggs. Hunting the opossum is a favorite amuse¬ 
ment at the South, especially among the young negroes, 
who are very fond of its flesh in the autumn, when it is 
tender, fat, and flavored like that of a sucking pig. 
We trust none of our young readers will “ play’possum”; 
for this animal is a lazy fellow. lie loves to lie during 
the day upon his back in the sun. When a boy is lazy, 
he is said to be “playing ’possum.” AVe certainly hope 
they will not imitate his midnight adventure. Don't 
disturb the birds or their nests ! It would have served 
this intruder right, if a sharp colored boy had been rep¬ 
resented, hid away in the branches, seizing the opossum 
just as his victim flies from his open jaws. 
Don’t Lose the It's.—In many parts of the country 
the letter r is in great danger of being lost from the 
language. It is very amusing to hear some persons pro¬ 
nounce words in which there is the letter r. We know 
young people who never say bird, but it is always boied, 
as near as it can be written. These same people never 
go to church, but they attend the choicJi , and hear the 
minister preach upon etoinity , as they miscall eternity. 
The Cedar Rapids Times says that a younggirl, “ sweet 
sixteen,” of Linn County, Iowa, for six weeks last win¬ 
ter, during the sickness of her father and mother, attend¬ 
ed 4S head of sheep, 8 head of horses, 12 head of cattle, 
and 2 calves, besides milking three cows, driving the 
cattle one quarter of a mile every day to water, cleaning 
the horses’ stable, doing the housework, and taking care 
of her sick parents. Such a girl is a real heroine. 
The late lamented Mr. Brady, at a complimentary sup¬ 
per which he attended a few weeks before he died, made 
an amusing allusion to the plague of mosquitos which 
sometimes falls upon New Yorkers. Two Irishmen, he 
said, had just come over and lauded at the city. They 
had heard of the terrible bite of these little sarpents , and 
were in no little dread of them. They had a little expe¬ 
rience of their lances in their bedroom while they were 
undressing. They hurried to get beneath the bed-clothes, 
which they at once drew over their faces for a defence. 
Mike, after a little, drew down the slicet. and looked out 
to survey the scene; but he soon drew his head under 
the covering again, and cried out to his companion, 
“They are in airnest, Pat, by me sowl, for they’ve brought 
their lantherns wid them 1” Mike had seen, as he looked 
out into his room, a lightning-bug—an insect 'with which 
he was not familiar. 
A few Sundays since a Lewiston clergyman in his pul¬ 
pit had occasion to use his handkerchief, and to his 
astonishment scattered in all directions some fifty speci¬ 
mens of paper dolls, which his little girl had lodged in 
the parental-pocket for safe keeping. The effect upon 
the audience was as marked as that created by the Japan- 
esc paper butterfly player. 
The sou of a well-known publisher perpetrated an odd 
conundrum the other day upon a friend of ours who has 
a shining bald head, entirely innocent of hair, much to 
his amusement. “Why,” said little pertness, “is your 
head like heaven?” “Igive up,” said the Col. “Be¬ 
cause there is no parting there, and it will never die (dye).” 
