Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1872-03-21

0u0 OSAcH ueOu Wyno1A, Auu WAS 20 ld1ly
prepared for covert or open attack. As
for the water-tub, he seemed to regard
it with adherence, as the cause of all
his troubles, and would not even go
near the place where it stood. On one
or two occasions I saw old Gopher enter
with companion, who may have been
relative come to comfort the unfortu-
mates in prison. On these occasions
there was q more than usual fattening
of noses against the glass case, but
nothing came If the conferences till
one day, on returning after a somewhat
heightened absence to my quarters, /
found the cage upset and my gopher
pets departed. A brief examination
convinced me that their friends had
gnawed away the earth from beneath
one side Of the box until 1t was sufa-
GENTLY tilted to enable its occupants
to escape over the top. "A very credita.
BILE piece of engineering for so diminu-
tive creature, but I lost my little play
fellows by their ingenuity. Henceforth
my house seemed to have gotten bad
name with all their tribe, not one of
whom could be tempted to approach
the door.
Ny solitude was, however, speedily
enlivened by the comranionship Of
one of those active, brilliant little liz
ards, so compn in Texas and Mexico,
to which, straightway gave the
name of Spotty Longtail. Into the
good graces Of this shy creature I work.
ed my way by very slow approaches,
till, having made up his mind that I
was most probably harmless, he took
up his daily station upon my writing
table, lying ut his ease on the cover of
book. Eere he would aatten himself
out, peering cautiously over it's edge
from time to time, winking his bright
little eyes, and occasionally whetting
his tongue till some uulucky fly came
within the range of his deadly spring,
and then there would come q Jump and
q snap, and poor hluebottle would be
gobb1ed up ere he could move a wing.
I never knew hum to fail, so my friend
ship with Spotty Longtail, which took
care not to disturb by any indiscrete
advances, continued to grow and pros
pr till my final departure from the
post. Poor fellow, I wonder if he
found the next corner 20 much inter-
ested in his fly fishing as myself.
SquIrmy-for so I called my largest
room-mate-could hardly be deemed q
friend, for we met with mlsgiving on
both sides and parted with mutual un
pleasantness in fact may say that
our acquaiutanceship was literally the
death of him. had heard something
whisking about my room at night, and
once or twice some dark object which
looked wonderfullyRnaky vanished in
haste as I entered the door; but one
gets used to so many queer things in
Southwestern Texas, that I hardly gave
it a second thought, and only christen-
ed him "Squirmy" in my own mind
from his esl-like way of wiggling among
the logs. But one sultry summer
afternoon things came to crisis. I
had been taking my MONDAY nap upon
the bed which stood directly beneath
the huge beam of which I have spoken.
I was in the middle land between alum
Der and wakefulness, when, half OPEN
ing my eyes, I beheld . pair of bead
Like glittering optics shining from the
beam overhead.
I was wondering in q stupid sort of
way how: they came there, when a
dreamy apparition of a head, followed
by an undulatory motion along the
beam Of something five or six feet in
length, suggested a body and tail in
connection with the eyes,-when-
whack with q sudden tumble, down
came great snake directly across nv
face. A harmless visitor, most likely,
with no more evil intent than raid
upon the rats or a quiet mousing expe-
dition but I was too badly scared to
think of that, and, like most frightened
people, lost my temper. I shall never
know which of us got of that bed the
quickest ;-Squirmy made for log
hole and I for my sabre. Unluckily for
the snakeI grasped the weapon before
before he had got through. A quick
cut severed some eighteen inches Of his
tail, which remained with me as q
trophy, while the rest of poor Squirmy
furnished pleasant banquet for q Sc
lect party of buzzards who volunteered
an inquest" and from the way they
fiuttered and shook their ugly heads
over his remains evidently knew no
good of the unfortunate deceased.
Last and least among my list of room
mates came the Hermit, "a very dimin-
utive horned frog, ugly enough to look
at with his manifold spines and knobs
(Which, by the way, he seemed to like
to scratch and rub), but perfectly harm.
less to pet and handle. I caught him
while summing himself outside my door
on q nice sand-heap, where he seemed
to be enjoying q temperature which
might almost have baked an egg. Put.
ting him into All empty pickle-jar and
leaving the top open to admit the air, ]
kept him a close prisoner, giving him
by way of experiment light diet Of
nothing to eat or drink. And 80 he
lived for months, showing no sign OF
vitality save at night, when he would
scratch desperately to get out. Having
kept him till was satisfied that meat
and drink were matters of no Importance
in his animal economy, gave him bis
liberty and saw him hop of, little
surprised apparently at the absence Of
the jar, and trifle thinner than when
he wet in, yet otherwise, SO far as
could see, no whit the worse of his
recent bottling.-Our Young Folks.