Litchfield enquirer., 1831-08-04
FrOsa fks BsaQrport Farmer.

lage, have been on illa tiptoe of curiosity
 and delight at supp tsed case of fascsna-
 tiOR, or charming The facts are bris Iy
 these: A child about l3years of age. be-
 longing to tho family of MT. Lewis. had
 been very much frightened by dead snake
 thrown in its way one day last week. This
 was during the forenoon. In the afler- Enoon she joined some little girls in search for grapes. After having picked and eaten
 to their satisfaction. on proposing to re- \ turn, the girl, who is the subject of the 1snpposed fascination, was found lying ! senseless under small tree, from which il
 is said she had just fallen. She had clinab-
 ed upon it to get at the grapes; here she
 continued looking for some time, when her eye caught the vision of beautiful snake,
 with beautiful ring round its neck and singing most merrily. She swooned under the enchantmeltt and felt Tn thai condi- ton she was discovered By Ter companions.
 OM partly recovering, and they urging her to go home, she seemed to finger on the spot as if she had been bound by some ir- irresistible agent, though no snake was any
 where to be seen. The halincination con- ltinued for some days, and is not vet entire- {ly dissipated. She talked of the sweet mn
 sic and exqnfsife beauty of tie snake and
 was continually asking to go back and find n; The case IS iare. but not unlike manys Which tho records of medicine contain.
 The child had eaten imnloderatcly ofl grapes, as was ascertained on the exhibition lof aii.emetic by the physician called Tie sympathy of the whole nervous and intel- lectnal system witl, deranged stomach. ls well enough understood even by lnDro- tessional readers in these dyspeptic times. ln such state of the, nervous system, girl- l dinesss, faintness, and spectral illusions, though not very common, are not very usa- frequent. No more natural exciting canse of this fit of irregular action can be men- tioAsay than that of leaning over sconsid- erabIe height, with the mind already on the alarm from the morning' alright. Whoti- er a snake was actually seen or not, isl doubtful. We have no testimony but that of. the girl herself. Her description is nm. like any of the serpent kind now found ir \ this region. The suppositionsUf one actti. ally there, renders her suffering hardly more applicable. The swooning and fali. and temporary nervousness, are all very reasonable and c0mport with what is known of Arrangements of the nervous system. The mystery is in the continu- ance of the illusion so long; and that too may be reckoned the result of the same cause.
 w GREEN FRUITS.
 One can hardly walk in the street with out seeing children with their hands full of green apples or some other unripe fruit. No doubt they have many moral, and sometimes learned lecture on the folly of| their conduct. They will certainly make you sick, says one parent. A' They will kill you, says another. Do you not knows says a third, that John Thompson. died the other day feating green apples? But the temptation is too strong to be overcome. Grcon fruit is exhibited in market, inftie shops, and at tIlescorners of the streets. Besides this, trees not unfrc- quently stand on the highway, whose fruits arc regarded by many children as lawful lplunder. They venture te cat them; and in spite of the solemn warning of tho par
 ont, they find themselves alive and well. l They eat again, and again other children do tho same 1t is tensto one but the par- |ents buy as little which for any thing Inc child can see is as greonsa as that which tiloy fproscribe; yet they arc not siclx they slo not die. Orif they die, it4 is of feUey or some other disease. John II rhompson died off fever 50 tho physician snid.
 But can parents expect children 10 re- frain from eating green fruit under these circumstances :? Can tlley expect to be be- lievea when they speak of its hurtful ten- dency Why do they not tell them the
 truth, and no more and set them . good
 example9 Example, after all, is iD this, as well as other things, better than precept
 Let Us take a survey of the training tp I which our children are in this respect sub- ljected. Peas are eaten much too young; 1;
 but these we will omit, we arc not aware i that it isyet customary to eat tho blossoms. i CuEranls are suffered to remain on the
 bushes till they have attained the size of 2 \ pepper corn, before they make a heGItkg dish. Strawberries and cherries seldom como to market til they beginsto redden,
 Now for cucumbcrs. These nsay be
 eaten, according to custom, both raw and ldnfipe. Other green trash generally un. dereoes some Kind. Of cookery which ren. Iders is rafiier Isss pernicions than before live arc not qniie sure of the fact however, 1. Ibut talk ofboiling, or baking or stewing, o ' Ir0asiing cucumber; or of letting it gfoV lto that maturity to which it was 1osignel | hy Gbe Maker, before you eat t. and yol ! lwo6ld be laughed al. Thirty gehl { {Tshonanzons Sysav die in d WG1k of b6&e