Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1888-02-26
LIVELY SARPINTS.
THE OLD SETTLER HAS SOME SNAKE
STORIES TO TILL.
The Days When Reptiles Had Vim and Sporting
BbOd-Why Little Pslsg Lay Awake and
Dreamed ALI Night
Ed. Mott IN NeW York Sdn.

III WIS Ulh1u ~ VIC OSoh shos tASAS w.
something ~agitating the inquiring mind OF
littls Peleg, the Old Settlers lively grand
son. The Old Settler himself was busy
tying e. lines on the bits of shingles,
which indicated that he wa contem-
plating an early trip to the pond to fish
for pickerel through the ice. He was
evidently not in a good humor. 1t
was that fact, no doubt, that led
Peleg to try and relieve his mind through
the medium of his grandmother, the Old
Settlers amiable Maria. She was putting
on her hood, preparatory to starting for the
old red school house, where Brother Shed
fiddle of the Lost Crow Barren circuit was
to preside that evening at an experience
meeting; but Peleg wa wild for inforna-
ton, and he ventured this question:
"Gran'mammy," said he, "what's the
reason that snakes goes in their holes in the
winter time and don't come out again till
spring." -
Il QuuuO, NY bUu1 oa4O ClCe . klduu-
mother, as she tied her hood strings under
her chin with a jerk; "but I CUES it mus
be cause they don't hev no wife to carry
in stove wood for 'em every night to keep
'em warm all winter, like some people
th't amt snakes has!'
Peleg'sgrandmother looked severely at
the Old Settler as she finished her answer,
and then she went out Of the house with
her head so high and her back so stiff that
the Old Settler remarked to Peleg, after he
had heard the front gate slam shut:
''It'd be with yer vile, Peleg, to drop
inter the red schoolhouse this evenin' an
listen to yer gran'mammy's experience.
tn be %livelier, b'gosh, thin that yaller
book yev been readin' bout Squint-eyed
Gabe, the Injin Chawer."
Peleg busted himself BY wetting his fin
ger in his mouth and making snake-like
figures with it on the kitchen table. cast
ing q wistful glance now and then toward
his grandfather, who kept on with the rig
giDg up of his pickerel tackle. The Old
Settler finished his work at last, and, light
ing his pipe, sat down in his rocking chair,
and for q few moments smoked in silence.
By and by he said:
I"Peleg, wen yer piniu' fur little p'ints
in nat'ral hist'ry, alluz come to me. Yer
gran'mammy hain't had the chances TO
study natur' ez / hev. an if she had, she
couldn't lay down the p'iuts to We ez plain
an simple e. l kin, her narves bein'
strung a leetle too high, an her patience
with childhood strugglin' to l'arn bein' a
leetle short at one end. Now, wat were
it aehin' fer to know?'
Peleg frightened up like a ray of sun
light striking a tin rooster on a barn, and
eagerly repeated the question.
"Gran'pop, what's the reason that
snakes goes in their holes IN winter time
and don't come out again till spnng?"
oval, Peleg," said the Old Settler,
blowing a cloud of smoke toward the cell.
ing, aud watching it as it writhed upward
and contorted itself into shapes wildly
suggestive of the subject Of Peleg's inquiry,
"It's all cause times hain't like
they usety was, an cause snakes
has degin'rated the same ez ev'ry-
thing else. Wen ] were a boy in
the Sugar Swamp deestric' it want 30
Snakes didn't climb fer a hole in the rocks
in them days, ez soon ez the fust fetch o.
frost struck the air, like they do nova
days. They had vim in 'em, an sportin'
bleod, an was on the taps fer fun an bust
urss jist che oamo WON tho snnw ws.S fSu.g
foot deep on the level ez they was wen
birds nests was ripe an chipmunks was
sassin' Of 'em on buck-an'- rider fences.
Tn want no snake deus nowhar round
Sugar Swamp, time tat ! were a boy.
Peleg, and if I'd ha' only thort Of it then,
an list sot down an writ nat'ral hist'ry
'cordin' to the way natur' cut an fit
ted things en- turned 'em loose in
the Sugar Swamp deestric' go or 70
year ago, it'd make ye laugh so to read it,
sonny, th't yer gran'mammy wouldn't
hev' no time TO DO nuthin' but sew yer
buttons on, y'd bust 'em eff 80 slick an
regular. Snakes in them days know'd a
good deal, an they worked 'arly an late
durin' the summer, an then list layed
back an inj'yed themselves ez long ez
| winter lasted. Peleg, ef you KID ha' just
sot by in the brush adj seen a passed. o
Sugar Swamp snakes laying theirselfs out
in q regular o~lfashionsd game o shiny on
the ice, one side bsin' made up, mebby,
With slick an glistenin' blacksnakes
t'other side, ez like ez not, bein' gay an
festive rattlesnakes-if you KID only hs'
sot by some'rs an seen a sight LICK that,
| Psleg, I'm a thinkin' th't the things We
see an hear nowadays d seem tanner thin
q pet red squirt in a tin cage"
but, gran'pop," said Peleg, show did
they" ...,.
"Ast me no questions. sonny, interrupt
ed the Old Settler. IAN I'll tell yez jist ez
much truth. l hain't a feelin' p'tic'lar
good this evenin' or I'd give ye a hull
string O. facts ez to how Sugar Swamp
snakes played shiny on the ice wen l
were a boy. Some, other time, mebby I'll
feel more clipper like, an I'll give ye I'll
the p'ints. I'll pass over 'em now, an tell
We sumpin' else th't they usety muse
theirsells with in them rippin' Oh
times, fore everything Begin to degenerate
an natur to quit q doin' things up brown.
Peleg, did ye ever see a boss race?"
"No, gran'pop," replied Peleg, shut l
seen a lot a fellers racin'a creased pig once,
on a Fourth O. July, tryin' to catch it and
get a squash pie that was the prize. Bill
Simmons told me though"
Never mind bout wat Bill Simmons
toll ye!' said the Old Settler, severely.
"We'm dealin' in fac's now and haint't got
no time for Bill Simmons miracles,
b'goshi Rscin' a CREASED pig, Peleg,
hain't 'zac'ly like o boss race, though
it can't be a durn sight more slippery
piece O. business nuther. az fur ez ]
kin jedge. Wall, l hadn't never see
a boss race, nuther, till las fall, wen l
went over to the fair at the county seat to
contribit my mite to'ards fosterin' an in
kerigin' aggercultur', an were inveigled
by the squire inter putin a dollar an a
half on a gray hoss, witch were sartin, they
said, to beat t'other ans so fur th't ye
wouldn't be able 10 see any of Fem wen the
gray kim in. Wall, ez 1 were ssyin',
Peleg, /"
Ibid the gray horse come in all right,
grran'popP" inquired Peleg, developing a
sudden interest in the fostering Of agricul-
ture.
Eyes, sounv," replied the Old Settler,
The kim in all right, but sumpin' must hs'
gone wrong with his harness, or the runin'
kha rranon A. ar~f.D 20 h.