Edgefield advertiser. [volume] (Edgefield, S.C.) 1836-current, 1851-05-15
a TT tasrm Mt.
One Of the Snake Stories.

twenty-five years ago 1t was not thouSht
amiss to play little innocent trick for
your own amusement or for the amusement
of others. No one dubbed you with the
epithet of "wag," or thought you Sin the
broad road to ruin" but he that could
bring, the greatest fund Of amusement to
the circle in which he moved, was ever
considered a good fellow. The elder
portion Of society would say che is a
smart fellow, and if he lives, will make a
great man." The order of the day was
to "laugh and grow fat''-be happy your
self and make all around you happy.
In musing over my young days, not
long since, for something to amuse me, |
found myself in the midst of "a trick" [
played young roommate of mine. He
was u lawyer by profession, talented, and
occupied very high position at the bar
of fine personal appearance, and noted
for his moral and physical courage-but
he was awfully afraid Of snakes. When
ever he went about in "Snake time" he
was ever looking out for them. Ourroom
was on the second floor Of the tavern,
having closet in tive slept together.
When sleeping hour came he would strip
to his linen, fall in, and having an easy
conscience, would soon be fast asleep; he
always slept behind.
One day, as passed through the back
yard of the tavern, saw old aunt Molly
cleaning the bowels of pig. knowing
Is antipathy to snakes, told aunt Molly
I would give her half dollar if she would
clean about three or four feet of the small
bowels, tie it tight at one end, and having
blown it full of wind, tie it at the other
end, then take it to my room and place
it in a pan of water, and put it in the
closet.
"You must say nothing about it aunt
Molly"
"Oh no, Massa, not word" hand
ed her the half dollar and passed ON.
On my return to my room, looked in
to the closet and found all deposited by
aunt Molly as directed, safe and sound.
Night came on and the usual bed hour
found = in bed, and fast asleep. l
undressed, went to the closet, took out
the gut from the pan-fnding it very
elastic, and bearing much of the surpen.
tine motions of the snake. went to bed
with it in my hand, and drew the sheet
over us. l commenced swing L my
first lesson by way of "snake crawling"
by passing the bowel on his leg. felt
its convulsive motion and withdrew it, for
desired not to arouse him too suddenly,
but by frequent and slight touches to set
him to dreaming about snakes. On the
second application he Kicked now de.
sisted awhile, and concluded that l had
aroused the nervousness of that leg so
much that would try the other. 1t was
evident by his moaning that his spirits were
moved. 1 now applied it to the other leg,
and no sooner had it touched it, than he
gave a tremendous kick and snorted. |
now became fearful that he would awake,
and at once applied it to his back, giving
it all the serpentine motion possible. With
one convulsive bound, he cleared the bed,
carrying the sheet with him, and bawling
at the top of his voice: "Snake snake !!
snake!
Where" said /.
"In that bed you Id fool-get out
oryou'ro dead man.
Out jumped, | requested him to run
down and light candle matches not
then in use.) Off he went at the top of
his speed clearing several steps at each
bound. By the time he returned | had
deposited the instrument of torture, safe
in the pan of water in the closet and shut
the door. He soon returned with the can
die, and examined every part of the room,
but could find no snake. persuaded him
that he was dreaming, adding that dreams
were rs bad as realities. This satisfied
him, and he retired to bed.
1t was some time before he could sleep,
and when he did was quite restless. |
could not move but that he would kick
At last he Into the arms of the "swect
restorer," and slept soundly. l silently
repaired to the closet-obtained my gut,
and returned to bed. He was on his back
stretched full length with his legs close
together. commenced my operation by
passing the bowel up between his legs
He suddenly threw his head and knees al
most together, no part touching the bed
but small portion of the back-he then
landed in the middle of the floor on his
hands and knees, shouting-Again, again,
again. and down he bolted for another
candle.
Before his return the bowel was re-
placed in the closet, the door shut, and |
standing on the floor. He examined the
bed but his actions showed he was afraid
to touch it. He then examined every
part of the room, but no snake was to be
found. As he approached the closet and
put his hand on the bolt of the door, he
observed that it was odd strange" and
opened the door, He looked in, and then
turned his dark, fierce eyes on me, again
eyed the contents of the pan in the closet.
He then turned to me, grinding his teeth
together, his face almost tied INTO knot,
and his eyes darting fire. Ifelt condemn
ed and absolutely alarmed. knew that
unless could give another direction to