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Title
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Lawrence Bruner to Marcia Bruner, 1897, Oct. 17
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Alternative Title
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Lawrence Bruner Letters, 1897
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Date
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1897, Oct. 17
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Creator
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Lawrence Bruner
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Description
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Handwritten 2 page letter from Lawrence Bruner to Marcia Bruner, "I have been staying at headquarters for the past week, so have nothing special to write about this time..."
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Identifier
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081210-1897-026a
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Transcription
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Oct. 17th 1897
Dear Marcia:–
I have been staying at headquarters for the past week, so have nothing special to write about this time. Still I expect to fill up the sheet of paper with something for it wouldn't pay to send a letter that was not "filled up" so far. Then too, a long letter always seems better than a very short one although it might be ever so sweet.
Even if I have been remaining at headquarters for a week there has been plenty to keep me busy. The grasshoppers are right here now and laying their eggs in many places. Then I am also studying their habits, their natural enemies, and their methods of egg — laying. Have also been preparing breeding cages in which to keep specimens while studying the effects of certain diseases on the winged insects which I have caught and hope to inoculate with the fungus which I have found here in Argentina; and later with that from North America and Africa. Am at the same time keeping watch on the appearance of the same diseases among the insects in the fidls round about here. Today, although it is Sunday, I have been going about over the country to see the insects as they are gathering at certain points to lay eggs. At one place, about 2 miles from here, they cover about one — quarter of a mile square, and at the time I was there they were still gathering from several directions. Should the night get a little colder these could mostly be destroyed in early morning were the people so inclined. But I am afraid they are not. They do not seem inclined to destroy a single locust without they are paid for doing it. Nearly every day one or more come to my place and want to hire out to me for killing locusts, or they bring some locusts or eggs which they want me to buy. They imagine, since I take interest in the destruction of the pest, that I will also pay them to assist me. They are very much like the old German at the fire in West Point, who, when I asked hime to assist in fighting the fire, said "Vat you pay me?" They have no idea about public wellfare. It is everyone for himself and against everybody else. Other people are of value to the world only so far as they can be made to serve the individual.
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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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081210-1897-026a.jpg
