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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 13, 1957)
Is That So? Mention fox and what do you think of? Thanks to fable, leg end and myth unless you've had personal experiences of your own immediately, there comes to mind a handsome sly cunning creature. Thanks to our literature, Reynard has been outwitting his dull enemies for centuries by invariably coming up with superior resourceful ness. This master strategist sup posedly had no end of tricks up his sleeve. He can double back on his tracks, run upstream in a brook, dash over the backs of flabbergasted cattle or sheep with glorious abandon to elude his grounded pursuers. Odds thf t might well dismay the most re sourceful human are as nothing for him to solve. Actually, this animal . is not nearly as smart as tradition and folklore would have us believe. In fact, let's take some of the commonly-believed tricks apart. Ernest Seton Thompson in Wild Animals I Have Known, states that a fox will run along the rails just before a train is due, knowing that his scent always poor on iron will be destroyed by the train and knowing also that there is al ways 'a good chance of the hounds being killed by the en gine. Now It was never made clear to those who carefully and ob jectively analyzed this fox story just where the fox procured a copy of the railroad timetable or how he so conveniently man aged to get his enemies started In pursuit of him precisely at train time. The same author states that Reynard took poisoned bait in tended for his personal consump tion and slyly dropped it into the burrows of certain animals that had offended him. Cottontail Makes Headway This is not to say that during hunts, the fox has not demon strated unusual wiles to throw off his pursuers backtrack ing and then leaping to one side and making off in a new direc tion, or running through a shal low brook but look, doesn't a no-count dumb jackrabbit do just about as well? And have you ever heard of a jack being eulogized? No, indeed the jack is not a matter of tradi tion. But then there is the little cottontail, thanks to a series of stories, who is making good headway in building up a lor of uncommonly good sense. Quite recently an expert wrote an account in one of the leading weekly magazines telling of an artful fox in southern Illinois who got rid of his fleas by clev erly backing slowly Into a pond while holdirf a tuft of wool in his mouth (in other versions it is a piece of wood), slowly sub merging tail first. The fleas (also clever beasties) to save them selves came forward onto the piece of wool (or wood), which was then set adrift by the fox. Story Goes Way Back This story, with embellish ments, appears also in the schol arly book, Living Mammals of the World. But it fails to make all the acknowledgements. These go back to 1643 when John Swan mentions the story in his Speculum Mundi; and before that, when an earlier writer Olaus Magnus (1490-1558), a Swedish ecclesiastic and histor ian, wrote about it. But now, anyone who has been around a dog with fleas knows that regardless of how Guides to all states and many of the larger cities in the U. S. are available at Medford Public Library. There are also guides to many foreign countries. WANT SOME. THING IN YOUR POCKET THAT IS BESIDES HOLES? v Borrow The American Way LOANS $25 to $1,500 Auto Salary Furniture American Finance Corp. Phone SPring 2-8886 123 W. Main Medford By EUGENE BURNS Ranger-Naturalist often Fido chases off into the water after a stick he will still come back with his fleas. Fleas remain close to the skin where there would be enough air im prisoned by the fur to prevent wetting for some time. And it takes time, even for a fox, to wet clear to the skin. Furthermore, most aquatic mammals with fur have fleas such as beaver, muskrat and ot ter and they spend a good share of their life submerged. (Copyrighted 1957, by Eugene Burns) (Released by McClure Newspaper Syndicate) Free: 'By special arrangement with the editors of the Encyclo pedia Americana, my panel of judges will award each week to the reader who sends me the best true-life nature adventure, or the best nature observation, or the best question on nature and wildlife, a complete 30-vol-ume set of this world-famous reference work in a handsome Sealcraft binding. Each week new . submissions will be con sidered. Sorry, I simply can't answer your many friendly let ters. Please address your letter to: Is That So; care of Medford Mail Tribune, Box 575, Sausa lito, Calif. HILTS Fire Destroys By MRS. M. F. CAVIN Hilts A fire, believed to have started from faulty wiring, de stroyed the home of Mr. and Mrs. Carl Woodruff and children about 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. The f a m i 1 y's personal belongings were destroyed. The Hilts volunteer fire de partment, using both trucks, was unable to save the structure. Firemen concentrated on saving neighboring houses and build ings. Mr. and Mrs. Woodruff are former residents of Round Moun tain, Shasta county, and have lived here a short time. He is employed in the sawmill. Mr. and Mrs. D. Baratto of Mt. Shasta were recent visitors at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Foggiato. Mr. and Mrs. F. Gargini and Carlo Favero of Mt. Shasta were recent visitors at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Pete Favero. Mrs. Elizabeth Maquire spent Wednesday night in Yreka, after attending a family dinner for her daughter, Mrs. William Kleaver. The dinner was given by Mrs. Rod Baumbach. Ninth and Bartlett Streets Hilts Home Mr. and Mrs. M. Zannotta of Denver, Colo., visited Sunday at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Joe Foggiata. Mrs. Zannotta and Mrs. Foggiato are cousins. Mr. and Mrs. Jake Lindner of Mt. Shasta were'dinner guests at the home of Mr. and Mrs. M. Sief Sunday. Nick Fremeyer made a busi ness trip tp Chester recently. During the Labor day holiday Mr. and Mrs. Fremeyer and family visited in Alturas. Mr. and Mrs. Frank Ayres camped out at Medicine lake during the Labor day holiday. Guests at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Itala Marin and family last week were Mrs. Marin's cousin, James Hilburn, and daughter of Portland. Mrs. William Wiley attended a Girl Scout meeting in Yreka Wednesday. Several directors from Medford - were discussing the budget for the Girl Scout troops. Guests Friday at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Claude Wasson and family were Mrs. E. Foster of Hawkinsville and Mrs. M. mmTi AT COURTESY CHEVROLET OF THE CURRENT MODEL YEAR, SO NOW is the time to SAVE on new 19S7 CHEVROLET at lower 1957 Prices KTOQElYfLI ACT NOW ' - GET SALE STMTS Dunlap and children, Roddy, El len and Leslie Ann, of Stockton. Guests at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Pat Lynch this week are Mr. and Mrs. Ben Lynch of Sac ramento. Dinner guests Friday evening at the R. M. Cavin home wera Mr. and Mrs. Delbert Black of Yreka. Mr. and Mrs. Robert Trinca and daughters, La Wana and Nancy, recently went on vaca tion trip along the Oregon coast. The Contract Bridge club met Thursday afternoon at the home of Mrs. Al Simmen. Those pres ent were Mrs. Evan Maupin. Mrs. Frank Graves, Mrs. M. G. King, Mrs. Ernest Spannaus, Mrs. Fred Hayne"s, Mrs. William Wiley and Mrs. Malcolm Robin son. High score was won by Mrs. Simmen, second high by Mrs. Maupin, and low by Mrs. Mal colm Robinson. The Hilts Elementary school picnic was held Monday, Sept. 9, at Jackson hot springs. Each family brought a potluck lunch. Ice cream and soda were fur nished by the PTA. Transporta tion was furnished by the vari ous parents. Mrs. Robert De Avilla and children of Yreka spent Tuesday O O n u ras lis rae THE MODEL OF YOUR CHOICE TOMORROW AT 8 A.M. Friday, September 13, 1957 Presley Girl Friend Denies Engagement Memphis, Tenn. (IP) That 18 carat sapphire ring pretty Anita Wood is wearing, a gift from Elvis Presley, is not an engage ment ring, she says. It was rumored around Mem phis, where the 19-year-old blonde met Presley less than a year ago, that matrimony was pending. But M:ss Wood said Wednesday it just isn't so. "Just a gift," Miss Wood said when the Memphis Press-Scimitar called her in Hollywood to check out the rumor. The rock 'n' roll .entertainer bought the ring in Hollywood while dating Miss Wood, it was reported. at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Frank Groves. Mrs. Roy Rushton and son, Ronnie, of Medford visited at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Dick Williams Tuesday. Mr. and Mrs. Williams returned to Medford with Mrs. Rushton where they will spend several days. Mrs. Agnes Cunial, who has spent the past three months in Yreka with relatives, returned home Sunday. Tl V MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUNE THREE CENTERLINES EXPENSIVE Baton Rogue, La. (IP) Road officials say Louisiana motorists may take white highway center lines for granted . . . but it costs more than $300,000 a year to keep them there. A For Over 25 Years A Dependable Place to Duy, Safe -Satisfying OIL HEAT QUAKER HEATERS JOHNSON BURNERS STANDARD HEATING OILS Expert Oil Burner Service ballsy Fuel .Go. 26 West Main Phone SP 2-6115 Medford BOARD CHAIRMAN DIES New Haven, Conn. Charles R. Robbins, 70, chairman of the board of directors and former president of A. G. Spalding & Bros., Inc., sports equipment manufacturers, died Sunday. Phone SP 3-1576
