Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1885-12-02
Pudgeen seen a Hoople Snake.

rested the critical attention of Mickey
Firms tame crow as he sat on the
mantel. He had fastest just such Der.
ries as those seemed to be in his very
early youth, when they had been in
serted into his wide-open eager mouth
by a maternal beak. With a quiet,
anticipatory cav, he jumped down
upon the stove, then upon the floor,
and with the help of a chair reached
the table upon which lay the hat
He had stolen two of the berries from
the miniature garden, and was tug.
ging at third with his feet braced
against the crown Of the hat, when
Mrs. O'Brien cried out:
"Musha, Biddy: lux at that black
divil w
Then Mrs. O'Brien seized the hat
and Mrs. Finn the crow. They both
pulled. The crow secured the berry,
but with two-inch wire attachment,
which caused it to lodge in the crows
throat. The crow beat his wings
wildly, and tried in vain to utter a
protest.
"Shake him by tn tail !" said Mrs,
O'Brien.
Mrs. Finn shook him until the tail
feathers came out in her hand, and
the crow lay struggling upon the ta-
bic. Fertile in expedient, Mrs.
O'Brien said:
"Git button hook, Biddy."
While Mrs. Finn held the crows
mouth open, Mrs. O'Brien, with the
button hook, deity fished the berry
and wire out of the crows neck. The
crow uttered detected croak, and
walked under the bed, whence an oc-
casional hoarse cav interrupted Mrs.
O'Brien's story of the Doolan ball
on the previous evening. Little
Mickey had been shooting firecrackers
in the yard, but hearing the commo-
tion in the house he came in. Hav-
ing satisfied himself that the crow
would live, he became interested in
Mrs. O'Brien's recital.
"What music had they ?" asked
Mrs. Finn.
"They had the Coogan orchestry-
Patsy Coogan an his Gordon. Y'll
mind, Biddy, Patsey can play wild his
two hands. There's ne'er another on
Cooney Island can do that same, 'ud
make your hair curl. He has a new
song he plays an sings. He med the
song all alone widout any one helpin'
him. He calls it The Mule that
Carted tn Bricks Away TIL last
two lines is:
From airly mornin' till close of day.
The mule he carried the bricks away
"Jist whin tn mirth was the merri-
est an tn dancers was bobbin' around
like potatys in billin' water, tn or
chestry stopped playin'.
"Arrah, go wan, Patsey, what's
the matther wild ye! KEN from all
parts of tn room.
"Axin' yer pardon, ladies an gin
tlemen, bu' l can't go wan. 1 have u
pain in me leg
(Which leg, Patsey? says Mrs.
"'This wan,' says he. An thin
they all roared wild laughter, fur Pat
sey had pointed to his wooden leg.
Whin the laughin' had stopped Pat
sey took off his wooden leg at the
knee, and held it up so that livery wan
could see it.
"'Yez kin all laugh says he but
if ye had happen to yer legs what l
had happen t my wooden leg tn day,
yez, 'ud be far on yer way to purga-
tory"
From the kitchen Mrs. Finn detect
ed the sound of clinking crockery.
A moment later she led Mickey back
into tho room by the ear. There
was blush ON the boys face, and a
few grains of sugar on his lips. Mrs.
O'Brien resumed her story
'In tn bulge O. the wooden leg was
a hole like as if ye'd drive tn ind O.
the poker in tn flure, an Coogan said
tn hole was made by tn tail of a
hoople snake. De ye liver hear tn
likes O. that? Ye know, Biddy, Coo
gan an Fogarty have a potaty patch
out forninst Divil's Lake. Coogan
said he was out tharo pickin' potaty
bugs Yesterday, an hoople snake as
big as a cart wheel KEN rollin' out O.
tn bushes an struck him in the leg.
Besides, he says Fogarty was out
thare this day week, a tn same snake
KEN rollin' down bechune two rows of
potatys. Whin Fogarty struck out
the hoe handle, tn snake stuck his
tail Until it, an tn hoe handle swelled
up an busted, and Coogan said he
was afeerd tn leg 'ud split like tn
hoe handle, an he would have t. buy
a new wan"
While the two women were discuss
ing the veracity of Mr.. Coogan, the