Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 70, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 March 1911 — BEAUTY IN LOCUSTS’ WINGS [ARTICLE]

BEAUTY IN LOCUSTS’ WINGS

Rare Relic of Seventeen Year Pest Owned by Pennsylvania Is , Quite*Artißtlc. j Bethlehem, Pa.—James O. Kichline, a veteran resident of North Bethlehem, has a unique relic of the Invasion in 1885 of the seventeen-year locusts in this Vicinity. When locusts? by the million overran the country there he spent his spare time gathering the insects. Then, at his leisure, he constructed out of them a wreath and a star. He took a year to do this, and In the construction of the wreath used many thousands of locusts. The wreath Itself is composed entirely of locusts’ wings, arranged in flower-and-leaf fashion. The star’s center is also composed of locusts’ wings, while the six points are made of whole locusts. The background of the star Is made of leaves of locust wings. The wreath and star stand two feet high by three feet wide, and this piece is but one of the many novelties made during his lifetime by Mr. Kichline, who is seventy-four years old.