The Press., 1888-06-28
THE MEDICAL VIRTUES OF THE RATHER.


 take ye to place not moren n mile from here whar ye kin git all ye want an not only rattlers, nuther, but pilots an blowin' adders an hull rafts O blue racers an' the likes O them,
 Uncle Hiram Sleight is a guide, philos- opher and friend-on conditions. He is q guide if you have his price. He is phil osopher when there is no lack of that which is raging" He is friend when that is we'll supplied. Uncle Hiram knows the woods, every inch of them, and he seems to know by intuition just where the big gest trout lie and just how they may be tempted to come and be caught. If a hunter or fiherman ever went empty hand cd out of this region it was because they knew not how to make of Uncle Hiram a guide philosopher and friend. On the oc- casion of the above remark he had been asked if there were any rattlesnakes there about.
 | "If tn wasn't no rattlers round here," said he, "how'd get this yaller grease that l wouldn't take the bes' g. bill ever was made fur. Y don't suppose fry 1t out'n groun' hog taller, do yeP"
 Uncle Hiram took a small vial from his pocket. It was filled with pale yellowish oil.
 "That," said he, "is the genuine, simon
 
 myself, an the sarpint that shed the most
 O what's in this bottle s'rendered to me right in front O this cabin door. Ipicked up a few more on 'em jist back O the cabin,
 on the rocks. That want this season. I lgethered them snakes about the shank end
 O las season. l hain't gone out fur more yit this year, cause it's a little too arly,
 and none haint tuck it in their heads to
 come round whar be. Y kin git all the
 p'scriptions that's been put up since Adam
 had his ub healed, an y kin rub on all the
 'intments that's been made since Aaron
 had his w'iskers greased, but when y want
 sumpin' that'll take holt O the roomytiz
 like houn' pup holt of rabbit skin, an
 leave iist about ez much of it when it's
 done with it, iist grab onter bottle O rat
 tlesnake ile. Roomytiz an rattlesnake ile
 can't live in the same country.
 THE SNAKES WE'RE THICK.
 "Yes, thug quite few O the rattin'
 beauties left yit in this corner O the foot
 stool but nothin' to what tn used to be.
 I kin member when all ye had to do was
 to walk up the creek here not more'n half
 a miled, iist whar the bog meddcT lays, an
 if ever ye heerd a nice sur made it was then.
 It sounded just 'dzac'ly like ye hear grass hoppers singIn' in the fields nowadays. A
 bare-footed fellar prancin' cross that mod
 der in them days wouldn't a been very
 handsome pictur' when he got to t'other
 side, an as fur his chances, they'd a ben
 bout as good as fellar's thatd lay down in front of a buzz saw when it was travel lin sumpin' like thousan' revolutions a secon'. I dunno what's thinned the sar-
 pints out so, but know I'm put Co a good deal more trouble now to gether my win. ter's grease than used to be.
 NAn Iriahman navar hata1 an Enoiiah man, an wisy wersy, as a black snake an | a rattler hates one another in summer when ' both are out fer business. Two of 'em { can't live in the same ten acre lot without their havin' fight. The black snake is
 always lookin' for somebody to tread on r the tail of his coat, anyway, but he can't ? hold hisself when thug rattler aroun'. He goes for him like a flash O blue light a min. He's as much quicker'n a rattlesnako . as a steam engine is quicker'n m OK team, n an consekently in about three seconds less d than no time, when black snake goes fer a rattler, thug one less rattler to step uI ,r an answer to the roll call when they al a gether at the family h'arthstun in the fall. , But when the time comes the black snake ,,' , seems to get over his grudge agin the rat 't tiers an jist hunks in with 'em as fergivin " ez an angel, an lets 'em keep him warn o till spring without maxim one kick or find N in bit O fault. I've often thunk as T'v, , stood a-lookin' at one O these techin' spec = linens O love on the part of the rattler an ,t furbearance on the part of the black snake 1, kin it be that one O them rattlers is avon SSs derin' what could a-become O his brothe ~, ~ that started out with him in the spring an ., didn't come back in the fall? An if h, ,t knowd that his brother had come back an 5 was layin' ouddled nice an snug in th NJ stomach O the black snake that he hissel I, was kinked around like lovin' ivy, woul, Il he feel bad about it ? say I've often thunl ,r about that, an thug many more pleasin !, an tetchin thorts that them 'fectionat,
 snake balls makes me think on but hain ', got time to lay 'em fore ye Y kin comt up some nice October day an pick em ou ' fer yerself.
 V. "It's durin' these lovin' spells O tn, Y snake family that we git our tools togethe a fer clectin' materl fur ile. All the imple %% %% ments we want is fail an n corn basket v It takes a half bushel O snakes a tol'abl ~ spell to unwind therselfs an git fer thei 'e hole. Fore they can manage to do it we'v
 giner'ly thrashed out of 'em all the Tiff ,s they had left over fur winterin' of 'en h through. We haiht got no use fur nom 10 O the snakes but rattlers, an we sort then ,n out, chuck 'em into the corn basket au ir take em hum an fry out the grease fu ,d future refer'nce.
 lk ALL ABOUT THE ooPPERHEAD. at "But the rattlesnake hain't the onl " snake that carries fire in his tooth roun 10 these parts. The pilot is a sarpint that d ld ways sets in the front row when thug an as fun goin' on. Some folks call the pilot tn re copperhead, and if ye ketch his head wit m the light comin' on to it right it does pu ey ye sumpin' in mind O the shiny bottom ln tea-kettle. If yer ever walkiu' throug y- medder an all of 8 student ye smell COW re cumbers, knowin' tn hadn't orter be n y cowcumbers thar, that's pilot, sure's ye ve born. He may be within reach O ye o le he may be on t'other side the lot, but he be thar some'rs, an ye want to keep yer to In eye open an carry a club. Some folk 1d sticks to it that a copperhead kin give
 rattler nine p'ints an beat him fur heft business in hiz pizen juice, but dunno he I never tlied nuther one an course can en give no opinion from personal knowledg, ct "Sam Helms, who used to live by Setcl
 in snakes an performin' with 'em, alway ht said that pilots pizen d kill rattler'
 pizen an that rattler's d knock the fir mt out'n pilots. Cons'kently he alters kel
 pilot an rattler on tap all the time, so O! when he'd git bit by one he'd let t'oth'
 one sock some O his juice in the sam az place an they both killed each other.