New-York daily tribune. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]) 1842-1866, 1855-08-01

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irg afraid of the snake, which, she said loved her
too well to hurt her She showed me her h.nds
| on which were faint traces Of tie bites which the
reptile hsd given her on TuesJay and Wednesday
last during the exhibition. She said these bites
/ hunt Der very little that at the time they wele
given Robin was tired OF being exhibited, a beng
handled, that be wanted % sleep aud was cGoss,
snd that when she took him out Of the box he bit
her little because be was angry but that IL did
not hurt much and that she was not at all afraid
Of him.
Sic finally offered to show NE the snake. II
Was in box about two feet long with two lids,
one OF glass, the other of wood. The box was on
the floor at one side of the rOom with the outside
wooden lid open. The glass lid was shut aud
nothing was visible within the box bat so ne hay
and saucer containing milk. The snake was
asleep beneath the hay. AT this moment the father
OF the girl into the room, aud hearing me say
Dat should Ike TO see the reptile, be raised the
glass lid and took out the saucer of milk, at the
same time lifting up the hay and disclosing the
sleeping snake ceed up on the bottom ct the box.
We said nothing whatever to his daughter. who
continued for few minutes talking with me. AT
length suggested that | should Ike to see Der
handle the snake She Immediately ra5 TO the
box. not only with Iut hesitation but With positive
eseerness pushed aside the hay and took up the
snake, showing il to me with evident delight,
though not without certain sort OF excitement,
such as children are apt To manifest when per-
forming anything unusual or which tickles their
vanity II il a common black snake, about four
feet long, and lethargc if not fully aroused
from sleep. The father said il would be very live
" about an hour later, but that snakes were usu-
ally somewhat torpid until toward noon. The girl
held il loosely By the neck. sometimes letting 1t
slip through her hand to the length OF a foot or
more. She grasped its body with her lett hand
when she desired TO move IT, She allowed IL to
coil around her ankle and leg saying to me with
laugh that it was nice garter. III was evident
d at she was not in the least afraid OF II, although
she handled it as one might handle kitten, with
certain degree of caution not to provoke II TO
scratch or bite She hung il round her neck and
shrugged her shoulders 50 as to hug it closely.
1t is a question among naturalists whether or
not snakes hiss The common belief that they do
is secuted by some az vulgar error But GER
taiply heard this snake hiss while in the hands OF
the girl He thrust out his tongue and Kissed
when any one went very near to him. In other re-
spects be appeared to be a well-disposed and re-
spectacle animal
After pla,i ing with the snake for about quarter
of an hour the girl replaced it in the box and
covered it with the hay. left the house satisfied
that whatever else might be alleged against the
exhibition il is false that she is afraid of the snake,
or that she is constrained by her father to handle
it. The uproar that has been made in our papers
on the subject was got up by the reprters, who
constitute a numerous and active body IN Boston,
ard in the dearth of events at this dull season are
clad to avail themselves Of any topic on which to
exercise their vocabularies For time the
MAYORS SQUIRRELS on the Common gave them an
easy and copious subject, and that being exhaust
ed what theme could be more apropos than
Lowell, and interesting girl, bitten by horrld and
Disgusting reptile, and tyrannzed overly brutal,
mercenary father Your true reportsc Is always
chan pion OF distressed humanity or injured mno-
eence.
lam convinced however. that it will be imprac-
ticabe for the persons who control this child and
her snake to make public exhibition of her. If
the child can endure the excitement without IN.
Jury which is questionable, the snake surely WIZ
not endure to be handled and worried at pleasure
He will get cross and bite the girl, aud though his
bites are harmless theI will be an cutlery OF pub
lie horror and the snake will in the end be sum
marily suppressed by some enraged phlanthrOplst:.
think if the exhibition, conducted as 1t was, had
continued another day in Boston there would have
been row and the snake would have been killed.
If the girl is to be suffered to keep her strange pet
/ see DO reason why she should not be exhibited.
But IL should not be before an excited, nisOrderly
crowd at 25 cents head Ii would be better to
show her quietly to few persons at time, aud
make them pay roundly for the sight. If any one
cDOOfps 10 give uOudf 10 stt II giil Win tohiO
snake let him; there is no harm in that
lam wholly unable to judge whether or not the
story told by the girl and her parents as to the
way in which she became acquainted with the
snake is TO be relied on. 1t is not an improbable
story There is no reason to disbelieye that yOung
children have become intimate with snakes ia the
the fields round their homes, IL is asserted In
some Of the papers that Mr.. Hill caught the snake
and has trained his daughter to handle it. This
II II L. - il nj IN.
tie consequence hOir the intimacy arose The fact
is certain that the girl has the snake for pet, and
that they are mutually attached. The notion that
the girl il charmed and that TO destroy the snake
would epdaDger her life, is prepOsterous. She
would undoubtedly grieye for his death as she
would for the loss OF pet squirrel, but nothing
more-except in intensity, nothing diierentln kind.
There is nothing magical or supernatural In their
connection, unless IL be on her side. She told me
she could charm the snake with her eyes, and am
inclined TO believe IT, from their marvellous bright
ness Assuredy there are persons who exercise
a sort of magical power over snakes, or who at
least possess the art or power OF tanning them
with the greatest ease. The Psylh so often
mentioned by the classic writer's, were OF
this character so also were the Marses and the
Cphopeues who had some method ef fascinating
snakes In modern times their art is poo sessedby
the spake-charmers of India, of Egypt, md espe-
cialy OF St Dnaar. Ano tbe traNeier ctedah states
that among the negroes OF Dutch Guiana there are
women who make business of tanning serpents
Psulin de st. Barthtemi, in his Travels in India
relates that the poisonous asp OF Hindostsn, which
is species of adder five feet long, is tanned
and rendered perfectly docle by giving it sugar and
milk. IL was by feeding the black snakes with
bread and cake that the Hill girl attached them 20
her. But suFpect she has some peculiar faculty
which gives her a natural control over them. Per-
haps we all possess IT if we only knew now 70 use
II In Portland there resides or did until lately,
cor,noser and teacher of music who was addicted