JOB COMMENTS

"I can't help resenting my upside-down promotion," said Colonel Earp, Project Manager of Kings Mountain Recreational Demonstration Area, who plays the somewhat crotchety, grumpy gentleman despite his being a No. 1 study in fundamental amiability. "My elevation to the rank of Deputy Park Warden is puzzling to my customers," he snorted, "and it leaves me red in the face. When I was deputized I was told to police this area generally, to maintain order and, if need be, to cause to desist any persons who were found violating the regulations. But, at the same time, I was cautioned against arresting anyone.

"Now that was embarrassing. You see, for years I'd been arresting moonshiners and they didn't seem to object. Now maybe they'll ask to see my papers in septuplicate. Being a peace officer has only cramped my powers."

The Kings Mountain project has a number of those inconspicuous wooded nooks which long have claimed a leading place in verse of the more ladylike type under the classifications: 1) Bosky dells; 2) Sylvan glades, and, 3) Miscellaneous bowers. They are watered by just the right kind of streams and the conditions thus are unusually favorable for the operation of one of America's most venerable industries, namely the clandestine manufacture of spiritous liquids and allied poisons.

Several distilling outfits, copper worms and all, have been destroyed at Kings Mountain and that circumstance leads to the suggestion that there lies an excellent opportunity for the installation of a trailside exhibit which would be unique among the educational activities of our national areas. A white lightning still, displayed in situ, not only would afford a first-hand demonstration of the mechanics of an ancient vocation; it also would provide cultural materials which take their origins in the broader economic and social development of an entire section of our people.

Such a job would hardly be batted down by the technicians. The historians surely could footnote a good still, the wildlifers would learn that sour mash is ducky for geese, the foresters and engineers would not care, and the landscape architects could never accuse an expertly situated 'shine plant of being an intrusion. It might work out admirably. There also would be a fine opportunity to set up an auxiliary job to provide for making exhibition "runs" for the edification of visitors. The possibilities for education seem limitless.

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The Recreational Demonstration Areas have come into their own this summer. From New Hampshire to Alabama the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, under-privileged children and other groups have buddy-checked thoroughly and given the new camps a good practical workout. The recreation-education programs everywhere are varied and, in general, well balanced, but certain natural advantages peculiar to the southern areas make the counselors' task easier there because of automatic incentives for the expenditure of energy by the young charges whom they direct.

It seems that this has been a fine chigger year in every area south of Maryland. The Job Commentator made a round of seven of the projects and obtained seven successive and complete doses of Trombicula irritans, defined by that conservative authority, Webster's Unabridged, as "a six-legged larval form of mite which sometimes is very troublesome." Along toward the last of the trip there was barely standing room left for the little fellows and in several instances groups of three and four had to stake off and share the same claim. Such cases resulted in brisk competetive drilling that afforded a rare opportunity for scientific observation. For a time it appeared that the chiggers from Hard Labor Creek and Kings Mountain would force Montgomery Bell and Pine Mountain from the field. They reckoned without the vigorous team from Crabtree Creek, however, for the epidermal records now demonstrate conclusively that the North Carolina species is the hardiest and most dependable of the race. The Crabtree fellows are slow starters but they have that rugged endurance which sustains them wonderfully on the long pull. They are plodders but they are uncompromising and can hold out for at least three weeks against all the touted remedies of the medical profession and against even the most efficacious of them all -- the kerosene and salt of Sam the elevator man. It is hoped that such excellently chiggered areas as Falls Creek Falls and Alex Stephens will accept the verdict with the grace of the genuine sportsman for it must be recorded, on the basis of both field and laboratory research, that Crabtree Creek holds the bug ribbon for 1938.

Bookish inquiries disclose some surprising facts about chiggers. In the first place chiggers are not chiggers at all. Chigoes (Tunga penetrans) are small fleas found in the West Indies, Mexico and South America. They occur, by infrequent transplantation, in Florida. The lady chigoe, when in a delicate condition, burrows under the skin, becomes astonishingly distended and causes a serious and sometimes fatal wound.

What Americans call chiggers (or jiggers) are really red bugs. They are mites that resemble miniature soft-shell crabs. When you brush a bush or sit on a log they lay all other business aside, nudge each other slyly and then climb on board with a whoop. After picking a likely site they anchor themselves outside the skin with the aid of specially adapted machinery which they have developed throughout many years of experimentation. They go to work by poking a sort of core drill into the skin, pumping off a little blood and infusing a dash of formic acid, or it may be tabasco sauce. That little contribution is what makes you scratch. Scratching is a grave mistake which, however, can not be avoided. It has put strong silent men abed, yet the quiet determination of red bugs can cause an iron will to cast aside all discretion and indulge in a fine orgy of massaging recalcitrant spots with the fingernails.

Aside from the fact that they cause spasms of torturous itching, red bugs have many mysterious qualities. Those who have reached the adult stage, according to the best biological scouts, do not bite at all. What the young ones do in the woods while awaiting a good meat dish is but one of their many riddles. It has been observed that they get on lizards, and that may account for the novel behavior of those reptiles.

Altogether, here is ideal material for some ambitious young scientist who is looking about for subject matter for a Ph. D. dissertation. He could produce a winning contribution on The Life and Works of the So-called Chigger.

---The Editor