St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1888-02-25

monster out into the air.
One Of the assistants seized the loop
of its body. and the two bore it. trying
feebly to struggle. to the tub and
plunged it in. As soon Is it struck
the warm water the serpent stopped
wriggling and sank in quiet enjoy
ment to the bottom. The chief and
the assistant did not let 60 Of him.
They swashed him gently to and fro.
as laundress rinses out dresA They
kept him there perhaps ten minutes.
When they lifted him out the other At
tendants ran up with some towels and
gently rubbed the big creature OF from
head to tail When he was complete
ly dried OF the chief gently insinuated
him into the cage again. and. letting
60 suddenly. jsrked his band out Of
the cage and shut the door.
I'VE 60 through this operation every
ten days" he said. III we didn't the
anaconda's skin would get dry. crack
open. and in . short time he would
die. II is . matter Of absolute neces-
sity. and not Of choice, you may be
sure. It's no fun to be Juggling the
big brutcs around. Did you notice
how l caught him by the back Of the
neck? That is the secret Of the whole
business. When you get hold Of
snake there he is practically powerless-
In tho first place. he doesn't know
what to do unless he can get his head
.,o,,u1 ~. chat - ~>u e>n vvhat ;s rvn-
ing on behind him. In the next place.
the pressure ON the spinal cord and its
delicate nerves deadens the sensibility
and partly stupefies the snake. You
know that . man who is hanged feels
no pain after the drop falls even il his
neck is not broken. because Of the
pressure of the rope on the nerves Of
the neck. II should grab him six
inches back of where / do. there would
be the liveliest thrashing and pounding
around that cage you ever heard Of.
and six men like me couldn't hold the
crazy creature"
Suppose one Of your snakes should
get away. what would you do?"
1T wouldn't worry us any. That's
happened lots Of times. As long as
the snake doesn't crawl out into the
cold and endangsr his precious life we
don't caro- . snap. We just throw
blanket over his head. and. while he ID
confused and struggling with it. =
couple Of rs rush in and get him by
the neck and put him into his cage In
. ji6y. I remember" continued the
hoarse-voiced man. ''an experience l
had with . blaek-snake many years
ago. I was sailing about with one
companion among the sloughs and
lagoons Of tho Upper Aississippi-a
region that used to swarm with the
reptiles We were rowing alsng ono
day close to the bluff shores Of little
island where the water had followed
out holes in the mud-just the place
for black-snakes to crawl and sun
themselves. We came al at once to
one hole worry much bigger than the
others. where there was . great mass
of the reptiles-it looked a. though
there was a thousand Of them-all tied
up in . knot together. OF course. it
would never do to miss such . royal
chance for fun as that 20 each
of Us took an oar and stuck into
the black mass at the came
time There was such . wriggiing
and twisting Of shining black bodies
~ you never saw in your life. and
snakes went wriggling of in every di.
rection. We damned them with the
oars whenever We could see them, and
were having great sport when all Of .
sudden I heard my companion give .
scream of terror and plunge over.
board. Before could understand the
cause of it . big black-snake had
wound itself around me. tore at il
with my fingers. but its muscles were
like iron. In spite Of al my struggles
it squeezed harder and harder. The
miserable thing was actually squeezing
the life out of me Ny breath came
short my ears sang. and every thing
swan before me. Igave up and fell
down. That saved my life. The snake
had wound itself about the oar - well
as about me. and when I fell the oar
crushed him just back Of the head. Ny
companion 6shed himself out Of the
water when he saw the snake was
dead. So much for . black-snake.
How much show do you think man
would have against one OF these fcl-
lows here, who 10 twenty times -
strong - . black-snakee"
DO snakes in captivity ever show
any attachment for their keeperss"
"Well. Two read that they do. and
some people have told me 50. but !
never saw the slightest evidence OF it.
I have known snakes that have been
under the daily care Of one charmer.
rs they call them. for ten years. TO Be
Just n dangerous at the end Of that
time rs they were at the beginning.
Snakes have no affections that's my
opinion, and not much sense. don't
want any Of them for pets. notwith-
standing my twenty-five years ex'
perience q . chief snake-huntcr. v
N T. Commercial advertiser.
Ma. !" demonstrated Bobby. ''whcn
Twas at grandma's she let me have
two pieces Of pie" ''Well she ought
not to have done %. Bobby" said hia
m ther. Il think two pieces OF pie
are too much for little boys. The Older
you grow. Bobby. the moro wisdom
you will gain" Bobby was silenced,
but only for . moment. "Well. ma.
he said. grandma is . good deal Older
than you are."