THE LAMP AND THE MOTH.

Franklin Times, Volume 9, Issue 686, 22 November 1921, Page 5

THE LAMP AND THE MOTH.

The invention of the electric light was a great /thing for months, says the “New York Evening Sun.” "For thousands of yeags moths have been rushing into flames of lamps and candles, and dying there . They were propelled by a frenzy, an ectasy, the nature of which we can only conjec/ture. But the hunch must have been a joyful one. The moth saw the flame, and it looked' good to him.. “You be careful,” said the cricket, “or you’ll bum your wings!” “Wings!” said the moth. “Wings and everything else! I’m gonna shoot the roll! Watch me! Here I go! AH of me 1 ! And, blooey: There he went! One moment a fine young moth, the pride of his friends and family, with the dust of amethysts upon his wing 5........ and the next, a cindeft And his last words were, “It hurts ; but I like it.” The trouble with ithe moth was that he could not take it or leave it alone. A sip oir two of flame on Saturday nights—and then sleep it off over Sunday—meant-nothing at all to hig excitable temperament.; “If a little of it is good,’? he used to say, “a lot of it is better.. It; may kill me in the end, but I’ll die happy.” And in merry millions he and' his friends fluttered to ‘their deaths. And /then the electric light was invented, and dissipation made safe for 'the moth. : He fusses around the little bulbs, and tries and /tries, but cannot burn himself: to death. He gets all the thrill that he used to get, as far as the huriian observer can tell, but he escapes the lethal consequences. For him there isn’t a headache in a barrel if it ..,.1 for him the evenings arte one long, joyous philanderation 'With-' the Spirit of Flaem, and ha doesri’t have to marry her. He useiT to have a shorjt life arid a merry one; noW he has a long life and a ifleKry one. There is no serpent in his Eden, no poison in his cup ; science has come ‘to the assistance of his pleasure, and he escapes moral consequences, scandal, hardened arteries, neurasthenia, hell, and the psycopathic ward. What Edison has done fori, the moth, someone should do for the human race. We shall rather develop the theme, but leave you to quarrel over the idea among yourselves.