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Title
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Scottsbluff Narratives, 1937_017
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Alternative Title
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1937 Scottsbluff Narratives
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Date
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1937
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Creator
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Frank Shoemaker
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Description
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Frank Shoemaker - Sandhills Narratives
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Identifier
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321301
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Transcription
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Excerpts. In re my very first nature-study trip: Eva -by I know not what arguments or illegalities -had persuaded a group of boys to go along with me; I rather suspect either hypnotism, or hijackism; but whichever, it's her crime; so I should worry. -The kids were quite reserved -waiting to be shown. Within a hundred yards, I pointed out a common weed; told them that it was a native of India; explained how the exchange of commodities between nations (in simpler words, of course) led to the carriage of seeds all over the world; and how, if the climate suited, those seeds took root, and grew; and presently became as common in many other parts of the world, as in their native India. And next, a mustard in flower. -I told them quite a lot about the Cruciferae (tho not, to be sure, in any such dialect!) I took up a sprout and chewed it meditatively -inviting them to taste; and, after the lapse of a full minute without my demise, they did so. Next came the humble dandelion. -I plucked a leaf, showed them the acutely-pointed edges, and told them a story, about how an early French botanist had viewed these leaves, and having imagination, had thought them quite like lion's teeth; for which reason, he had called them "dent-de-lion" -"tooth-of-the-lion." I explained further, the eccentric French habit of not pronouncing final consonants; so that "dent-de-lion" was pronounced almost like "don-de-leoh." And how the neighboring English adopted the name; and in the course of time, changed it to "dandelion," the name now used the world over. I had no thought that this bit of information would have more than casual appeal. But they et it up! For the rest of the trip, there was an undercurrent, a background, of "don-de-leoh" more or less crude, but soulful! -So I told them how the French word "dent" -meaning "tooth" -came from the Latin; and how our own word "dentist" (meaning a man who scares you to death when your teeth ache!) comes from the same Latin root. All casual stuff -knowledge attainable from any dictionary except the worse-than-useless, abridged, distorted things found on every stenographer's desk! But that bedtime story did the business! After the first quarter-mile, I was no longer suspect; and, further, I had a mess of enthusiasts on my hands. We had a fine trip; I told 'em about scores of flowers, and weeds, and grasses; pointed out twenty kinds of birds; called their attention to the angularity of the stems of sedges -quite different from grasses; gave them the basics of ecology, by indicating certain areas where only one kind of plant grew; and other areas where two or more kinds grew together; and explaining why. -And many other things: the different kinds of clouds; how rust comes on iron; how the Cowbird got its name -and its nasty habit of laying eggs in other birds' nests. They liked it; they told me so.
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Rights
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To inquire about usage, please contact Archives & Special Collections, University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries. These images are for educational use only. Not all images are available for publication.
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Is Version Of
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frank_h_shoemaker_321301-03854.jpg
