SUSPICIOUS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume II, Issue 281, 17 September 1889, Page 2

SUSPICIOUS.

The other morning whilst crossing^ , the I aok yard of some business pre-< mises. on our way to Messrs Bacon and Spiers, our attention Vas attracted to the, to say the-fea^t of it,,,' very singular attitude assumed by, ! the tenants of the front buildings. ■ At the back door--, one, the younger,* was on his hands and knees, facing the east, and made a just representation of a Moslem in the ao>, of prayer, as his head laid almost level to the earth. Standing near -him, was h s elderly neighbour, whose rivetted attention .to the actions of the devotee, «nd whose sparkling eye, and frequent questions, denoted he had as much : to do with th 6 action assumed by ike prostrate one, j as any other cause had, troubled us to account for the positions. We first believed that he result was due to force of arms, as we witnessed the purchase by one of these neighbours, of a new and powerful musical box, which we had predictel would load to trouble. A furJ-tei' study of the countenance of theefect one assured us that the pleasure which mantled his honest brow, was never derived from the downfall (if a foe, but that it more denoted the triumph of science with the exhibition of nature's secrets, as discovered by him. The interest shown by tne ' longi udinal searcher after knowlodge prevented his giving forth any sound beyond exclamations of inter- ' est, so we thus discovered that his eye was firmly fixed upon a very powerful tri| od magnifying > glass. • We rashly came to the conclusion ' that as the case was a mere exhibition of the enlarged size of some ordinary insect, that the insect was" ; bound to b 8 the one which is generallysupplied with specimens sold with. . microscopes, and. which generally causes, the female investigator to .; exclaim " how horrid," "what a monster," and so on. We were.further led astray by the marked satisfaction which beamed over the exhibitors face, as the good fortune to i find siich an insect in Foxton, and ' the credible activity that would have had to have been displayed by himM' to have caught it, would have fully justified him in showing it, and to avo laid the body out iadry,, fariurth r scientific purposes, and to ha^e ' invited his neighbour to a view.' ' However, it was not a fle. Seeing ' that the road was clear, for making enquiries, we were courteously invited to tike a look, but as it was de mcd impracticable to lift 1 the ground in the proper position for o.ir eye, we were as' assured^ . was almost as impossible to' place ourselves in the position requisite, : so reluctantly declined.' We were' tlien tqen told that nn ant*s nsstiajd . just been opened out, and with tl»e*< aid of a glass, the whole operations^of these busy little workers in burrowing and carrying the waste earth away, could be. distinctly w.^tohed. In talking with our friend we were much interested, and we can assure our young friends that a call upon him would open their eyes to a great deal of that which is is interesting in

Na'ure's gre-it work, and, to those who are anxious to know more we sii all, in strict condence, revea! whom the discoverer was, as we we certain' from these few remarks, we have successfully veiled the identity of him of whom, we write.