The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1873-08-25
The Terrors Of Vacation Time.

New Workers who have spent the sum.
mer in the city without being murdered,
or drowned, or robbed, or crushed TO
death, certainly hNva reason to felicitAte
one another over their good fortune-nU
so much that we have escaped these sup
posed dangers Of metropolitan existence,
which the provincial On.lookcr delights to
magnify 10 truly appalling proportions,
but rather that we have SO successfully
avoided the troubles and terrors which
might have beset us had we followed the
tide Of tourists that has rolled out from
our borders, seeking health and strength
and relaxation in fresh fields and pastures
new. For the fact appears 10 be lndfspu.
table that country lite during the present
season has been held by an unusually
precsrious tenure, and been begirt by
horrors unknown even in Imagination TO
the city resident. 80
To begin, the Rca.serpent, truly tradi.
tional terror, has been ubiquitous and
omninresent in o manner quite unprece.
dented, now turning pale the tourist at
Ticonderoga, and anon startling the
sportsnsn in the Savannah swamps; one
dsy opening the almond eyes Of the Ce.
lestials on their entry into the Golden
Gate OF California, and the next rendering
homesick the Boston merchants encamp'
cd beside the KennebeCesis river IN
Maine. Nor have lesser reptiles been
wanting, the men who have killed ana
Conda.llke blacksnAkes with their PEN
kniver, and fought desperate battles with
tremendous rsttlesnakes, and recovered
from the effects by course Of still more
tremendous whisky.drinking, were never
before 50 numerous; while in addition
TO the "hoop snake" which has In
previous seasons rolled rapidly after
the retreating vacatlonist, by the device OF
inserting its tail in its mouth, we have this
year serpent with d second and pecnl-
arly ghastlY head upon the end OF is tail.
Dissgreeably numerous, too, have been
those less vcnomous Crawlcrs, the mud
turtles, whose shells have thrust upon the
faded wayiarer's notice the inscription,
~. Smith, June, 1855" o.. %B. Brown,
~" almost as persistCntly as the rocks
have urged him TO renew his vigor by
using several rs with large number Of
numerals; while in Georgia, in town
eleven thousand feet above The. sea level,
mysterious alligator, with deep bass
voice" and lurking place In the sewer,
roams about by night and clears the
street Of all stray negro babies:
The wild man, too, Is as liable as ever
TO be met with. Last month he was on
an island in Moosehead Lake, grovelling
in dry goods box; and again in the Adj.
rondacks, chattering in a tree top; while
only a week ago he was seen in Tularc
county, California, adorned with growth
OF heavy black hair, long white beard
and claw.like finger nails, Coming back
to Iowa, we find the inhabitants OF Ores.
ton, in that State, troubled by monster
whose cry sounds somewhat like the
voice oil q woman in distress" but whose
footprints do not resemble those Of q wo.
man, or, indeed any other animal known
TO the nAturalists Of CTeston, being
"nearly round, Of great size, and showing
the indentuTe OF the toes without any Op-
pearance OF nails or claws" The beast
Itself, when seen by moonlight, appears
10 be "as tall as a yCarling CALI" and also
to "rear up on its hind feet, TO crouch in
a springing attitude and 10 advance by
crawling" and though the daylight might
perhaps show him of 10 greater advan-
tage, If he would but consent 10 appear
then, he is evidently no more agreeable
companion for the dog days than the
Lake George mocking bird which initiates
the buzz Of rattle snake
But the latest terror is the "spoCk" OF
Kohvs Mill, in Cumru township, Penn
sylvaniA, which on Tuesday Of last week
made It's presence known by uugallAntly
throwing clubs and stones ut q party Of
women who were engaged in picking
huckleberries. The missiles were verV
tangible, but the thrower thereof was moi;
nor vet on the next day, when the party
returned accompanied by the men Of their
household, could he be discovered, though
the sticks and stones fell in showers.
On Thursday of last week party Of
fourteen men and women, whose
names are printed in the Reading Eagle,
made systematic attempt TO solve the
mystery; but when the men closed in
about the spot, measuring some twenty
feet square, from which came the clubs
and stones, they found nothing, and only
heard the voices Of the terrified women
telling them that the missiles were COM
ing from another direction. SO they gave
it up. And We presume, in view Of this
horror and the fatal interference Of the
lightning with that other party Of female
berrypickGrs at RAttlesnRke Pond, near
Scranton, on the following Tuesday, that
huckleberryipg will henceiorth be given
UP too, or at least will become less
popular pastime among Pennsylvania wo-
mankind