Democratic Sentinel, Volume 11, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 19 August 1887 — The Cactus. [ARTICLE]

The Cactus.

The prickly pear, despised by foreigners, is, like adversity, not without its uses. Indeed, Ido not know what Mexico would do without it in some instances. In the long, dry seasons, when water is scarce, countless herds of sheep and goats are kept alive by splitting the leaves and allowing the animals to suck the natural moisture contained inside. The chief diet of Mexican donkeys is not tin cans and thistles, as elsewhere, but toasted cactus, which their owners prepare by holding the branches on a stick (it is too prickly to handle otherwise), over a fire till the thorns are burned off. Besides, each variety of cactus bears its fruit—pale green, scarlet, purple or black—all more or less palateable, ari(l good for man and beast.— Cor. Indianapolis Journal. . The owner of a pair of bright eyes says that the prettiest compliment she ! ever received came from a child of four j years. The little fellow, after looking | intently at her eyes a moment, inquired naively: “Are your eyes new i ones ?** He who is greet in little things can rev*: .* IR- ’.c 1: '.lli.j*.