Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 41, Number 86, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 July 1909 — Instinct or Reason. [ARTICLE]

Instinct or Reason.

A Pittsfield man, as a proof that plants reason, offers the following account of a vine on his premises. The vine grows in a box on the window ledge. While watering it recently his daughter noticed a delicate tendril reaching out towards a nail in the side casing. She marked the position of the tendril on the wood and then shifted the nail about an inch lower. Next day the little feeler had deflected itself very noticeably, and was again heading for the nail. The marking and shifting were repeated four or five times, always with the same result; and finally one night the tendril which had grown considerably, managed to reach the coveted support, and was found coiled tightly about It Meanwhile another bunch of tendrils had been making for a hook that was formerly used for a thermometer. Just before it reached its destination the young lady strung a cord across the window sash above. It was a choice then between the old love and the new; and as some vines seem to prefer a cord to anything else, it tru not long in making up its mind. In a very few hours tt3 pale, crisp, little tendrils—which, by the way, conveyed a surpassing suggestion of human fingers—had commenced to lift toward the twine; and tte nest day they reached It and took a Arm grip, Mother—Yea," &uth, tho way to a man's heart Is through hig stomach! - Ruth—lt'n lucky dad ain't a gamut, ain’t It mamal