, 1880-09-03
A Few Snake Stones.


ed the city editor.
"Exsetly," replied the farmer
"These items are both. Nobody knowS
EN- but me. got farm down on the
island a pisee, and there's lots Of snakes
on TO IT, Near the house is . pond sis
feet deep A week ago my h'tle glrl
jumped into the pond, and would have
drowned If il hadi,, been for a snake
The snake seen her and went for her
and brought her ashore The parti-ulAr
point about this item is the way be did
to-
SHOW was it r asked the city editor
"lt was a black snake, hbout 30 feet
long, and be Just eoiled the middle Of
himself around her neck 10 she couldn't
swallow any water, and swan ashore,
with his head Aad tail. Is that good
item
81" Firstclass."
"You can spread it ont, YOU Sno~.
After they cot ashore the girl pat'ed the
head OF the snake, and L. went of pieasfsd
as Punch. Ever since then he comes to
the house regular at m.al tunes, and
she feeds him on pie. Do you think
you can make anything out Of that
itemF t.r ".# .- d
'"CertainIy. Know any more 9
s"Yes. got baby six months old.
He's a boy. 1--WE generally set him out
on the grass of morning, and he hoi'
lers like a. bull all day long, at least he
used to, but he don't any more. One
morning we noticed he wasn't hollerin'
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. Blmebv the snake turned his
tail to the baby, and backed his rattle
into the baby's fist" .r.E ..i
sWhat did the baby do !" .i.. aa, O..
"Why, he Just ratified the 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 a bigger snake came, and
the baby played with his rattle just the
same, till the first snake came back,
He looked thin, and l reckon he had
been sick and sent the other snake to
take his place. How will that do for an
item p F u.a.
g Immensely"
"You can fill in about the confidence
Of childhood and all that, and you may,
say something about the blue-eyed
cherub. His name is Isaac. Put that
into please my wife. 4" '''--
"Ill do it. Do you know any more
snakeitemsP '..'y n.
"Lemme see. You've heard of hoop
snakes q '.F ..... ...u. .,.
eyes, often" ...n
"Jpst So Not long ago we heard a
fearful row in our cellar. 1t sounded
like rock blast; and then there was a
hiss, and then things were quiet.
When looked in the morning, | found
the cider barrel had busted. But we
didn't lose much cider" .....s., :.
'"How did you save it z sa. .l,aM
at seems that the slaves had busted
out, but before they could get away four
hoop snakes coiled around the barrel
aud tightened it up and held it in to-
gether until we drew the cider off in
bottles. That's the way we found 'em,
and we've kept them around the ,house
ever since. We're traiAing EN- for
shawl-strsps now. ! Do that strikegou
favorsbly for an item?' 's-" 3
Enormously" responded the city edi-
tor. III & D rese,
"You can fix il up SO as to show how
quick they was to get there before the
slaves were blown Off You can work
in the details"
"Of course I'll attend to all Of that.
Do you think of any more2@
"Ain't you got enough2 Lemme
think. Oa, yes One Sunday me and
my wifewas going to church, and she
dropped her garter somewhere. She
told me about it, and 7 noticed a little
striped snake running alongside and lis.
tening toher. Bimeby he made spring
and Just wound himself around her
stocking, or tried to, but he didn' fetch
IT," y E & 4 ~
"Why not g. .s,t,-rt.5se1 ...r..gt
"He wasn't quite long enough. He
Jumped down and shook his head and
started off We hadn't gone more'n
quarter Of o mile when we see him COM
ing out of the woods just ahead Of us.
He was awful hot and tired, and he had
4