The Fremont weekly journal. [volume] (Fremont, Sandusky County, Ohio) 1867-1877, 1870-01-14
Written for the Fremont Journal.I
A WEEK IN THE WOODS
THE THIRD DAY.


The following morning I awoks
refreshed; and having joined with
the family in their matin derOtions,
I ate breakfast with an appetite and
gusto that many a cromned head
would have envied. Repairing to
our next rendezvous, the Northeast
Section corner, we met our other
friends and proceeded to work. Eve
~ vestige Of the North quarter-post
being gone, made it by placing a
corner stake half way between the
Northwest and NOrteast Section-cor-
ners, Then setting my compass,
ran thence SOutherly, a random line,
setting tally-stakes each twenty rods
or five chains.
Coming into a field of growing
grass, We felt that it might contain
a few interesting specimens Of the
massasaUga, which, if 1 have correct
ly spelled it, is I believe, the Indian
name of a species of rattle-snake,
brown, short, thick, sluggish but
given to a disagreeable habit of coil
ing itself with its head in the center
and suddenly measuring its length
in the direction Of any intruder, be-
ing very apt to fasten its venOmous
fangs into whatever it strikes. 1t
is said to become blind during dog
days and bite without sounding its
usual note of alarm with the rattle
in its tail. We were in that reputed
fatal season, and we naturally picked
our way through that grass as ginger
" as a cat walks across a wateTy
plate. One of the axmen was sud-
denly brought to a stand-stiil by an
onimOus noise. He stopped, poised
on one foot fearing to set down the
other, The fright was contagious
and reached back to myself. We
doubtless presented q striking Ia
bleau. 1t makes me laugh to think
of it. But shame gradually over
came my fears, and / moved up to
the exman whose foot was thrust out
like that of a pointer dog. As soon
as 1 heard the terrible noise I knew
it was not the rattle of 'sauga."
I had heared that sound before, and
sympathy and Indignation took the
place of terror 1t was a piteous cry
of distress. Putting my finger to
my lips to indicate the necessity for
caution and silence, I Imotioned the
axlnan to neighboring log in the
direction of the shrek of agony,
Carefully crawling up on it, I peered
sharply into the grass beyond and
at length discovered what / expec-
ted to find, Pointing in that direc-
ton, 1 asked my companion In q
whisper if he saw that garter snake
down in the grass, with one leg Of a
small frog IN his mouth. After a
little he replied, as the tenson Of his
muscles, somewhat relaxed, Faith
an I do that" Be quiet, 1 said, and
1 called the rest Of our company up
to see the sight. Very ingeniOusly
| the serpent drew its struggling prey
| gradually further down its long
throat. till both hind legs Ofthe poor
| frog had disappeared, the terrified
victim shrieking afresh at every
| movement of its eaptor's jaws. We
are not wont to sieze our food alive,
nor to draw it into the mouth unai-
ded by the hands; so that we can
hardly appreciate the feat Of his
snakeship in working the frog into
his throat. But let some one who
thinks it no trick, imagine that be
!, has caught a bull-frOg by one hind
leg with his teeth-aRd q frog Of
that size is proportionably no larger
for a mans throat than a small frog
is for a gartersna1e's throat. Now
, let him pretend that he is endeavOr-
inc to work his struggling victim in
to his mouth by the movements Of
his lower jaw-his upper one Is sta
tionarv-and if he does not perspire
Il like an iee-water pitcher in dOg-days,
with the faneied exertiOB, | viii
own myself greatly mistaken. An
old odage enjoins us to ''give the
devil his due" and shall yield him
proper homage by eOnfessing that his
snakeship-the earthly representa-
tive of his sOoty maiesty-evinces
much skill and patience and dOgged
! determination in his manner of sci
zing and securing his prey. After
t all, 1 may be thought to Overrate his
e cunning, when it is considered that
= the catching of such game is a mat
{ ter Of life and death with him: he
r must snatch and swallow, or starye.
lThen again, though no ophiologist
. nor anatomist of reptiles, / suspect
5 that serpents have the power Of en-
r larging and diminishing their upper
r iaw-their lower one is stationary.
More over, practice makes perfect,
E and constant experiment enables
r even a garter-snake to obtain suffici-
{ ent food to escape being starved.
After we had feasted our euri0si-
: ty, mOtiOned to my companions to
2 continue quiet, aud softly retreating,
!. | found long stick with which I
? gave the snake a "crick in the back, !"
I Just as his poor victim had given
t his last shrek, on the way to re-
r gions Internal, or perhaps internal
would be more fitting word, though
I l think a snakes belly is quite an in
o formal abode for frog. 1t would
a have done any philanthropist good
Il | to see the series of long leaps made
d by the nearly doomed captive, as
b the 'fre in the rear caused his
e snakeship to open his mouth. Doubt
less that frog will retain a lively
e sense of gratitude to his emaneipa-
e tor as long as he lives. The thought
occurs, why does man naturally start
e back at the sight Of a serpents Why
9 does he set his teeth in anger, and
II why does the reptile menacingly
o dart out its forked tongue-and
coNcLUDED on FOURTH PAGE.