The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1880-09-01

SnakeSF' asked an ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
looking gentleman of the Eagles city
editor the other day.
eff they are fresh and true" re-
sponded the editor.
Exactly" replied the farmer.
"These items are both. Nobody knows
'em but me. got farm down on the
island q piece, and there's lots of snakes
on to it. Near the house is pond about
six feet deep. A week ago my little
| girl jumped into the pond, and would
| have drowned il ii had not been for a
snake. The snake seen her and went for
her and brought her ashore The par
ticular point about this item is the way
that he did it."
Chow was itp" asked the city ed
itor.
"It was black snake thirty feet long,
and he just coiled the midd e of himself
around her neck so she couldn't swallow
any water, and swum ashore with his
head and tail. Is that good item"
FirsC class"
"You can spread it out, you know.
After they got ashore the girl pqtted the
snake on the head, and it went off rs
pleased as Punch. Ever since he comes
to the house regular at mealtimes, and
she feeds him on pie. Think you can
make anything out of that itempn
Certainly. Know any moreP"
Yes. l got a baby six months old.
He's boy. We generally sit him out
on the grass of a morning, and he hol-
lers like a bull all day; at least he used
to, but he don't any more. One morn
ing we noticed he wasn't hollering, and
wondered what was up. When we
looked, there was rattlesnake coiled
up in front of him scanning his features.
The boy was grinning and the snake
was grinning. Bimeby the snake
turned his tail to the baby and BACKED
his rattle right into the baby's fist"
"What did the baby doP"
"Why he Just rattl5d that tail so you
could hear it three-quarters of mile, and
the snake lay there and grinned. Every
morning we found the snake there, until
one day bigger snake came and the
baby played with his ratGles just the
same till the first snake came back. He
looked thin and reckon he had been
sick and sent the other to take his place.
Will that do for an itemp"
Immensely" replied the city edi-
tor.
"You can fill it about the confidence e
Of childhood, and all that, and you
might say something about the blue
eyed cherub. His name is Isaac. Pdl
that in to please my wife,"
81 will do it. Any more snake
itemsp
"Lemme see. You have heard of hoop
snakes P"'
Eyes, often"
"Just so. Not long ago we heard a
fearful row in the cellar one night. 1t
sounded like arock-blast, and then there
was a hiss and things was quiet. When
looked in the morning the cider bar
rel had busted. But we didn't lose
much cider,'
How did you save itp"
"It seems that the slaves had busted
out, but before they could get away four
hoop-snakes coiled around the barrel and
| frightened up and held it together until
we drew it off in bottles. That's the
way we found 'em, and we've kept 'em
around the house ever since. We're
training 'em for shawl straps now. Does
that strike you favorably for an itemP"
Enormously" responded the city
editor.
"You can fix it up so as to show how
] quick they were to get there before the
slaves were blown of. You can word in
the details"
"Of course. I'll attend to all that.
Do you think of anything moreP"
81 don't call any to mind just at pres
ent. My wife knows a lot of snake
items, but I forget 'em. By the way,
though, I've got regular living curl
osity down on my place. One day my
oldest boy was sitting on the back stoop
doing his sums, and he couldn't get 'em
right. He felt something against his
face, and there was little snake coiled
up on his shoulder and looking at the
slate. In four minutes he had done all
the sums. We've tanned him so he
keeps all our accounts, and he is the
! lightningest cuss at figures you ever
seen. He'll run up column eight feet
long in three seconds. l wouldn't take
a reaper for him."
"What kind of snake is heP" in
quired the city editor, curiously.
"The neighbors all call him an
adder"
"Oh, yes! yes |" said the city editor,
little disconnected. I've heard of the
species. When did all these things hap.
p6nP"
"Along in the fore part OF the spring
but / didn't say anything abont 'em
cause it wasn't the season for snake
items This is about time for that sort
of thing to begin, amt itp"
YES" chipped in the exchange edi-
ior. You couldn't have picked out {
better time for. your snake stori' -
Brooklyn Eag'e.