The Penn's Grove record., 1888-05-05
THE SNAKE CHARMER.


THE SNAKE CHARMER.
I don't pretend to account for 1t, you
know, or offer any excuse, such as
inherent madness, or faint in the blood,
but 1 simply say-as I would that ]
have a lock Of gray hair in a bald
place on my head and q mole on my
neck-that l am irresistably drawn
toward tropical snakes and have q
leaning in the direction of fakirs and
smugglers. My friend Harcourt is as
much drawn the other way, but ]
swear 1 had no notion Of the probable
effect on him the day I drew him into
. little cross street or court, where q
number Of very fat, well-preserved
boas were lolling in the Obscurity Of 8
dark glass Ease on a pile Of semi white
blankets.
Harcourt, something Of a dreamer
generally, followed me In my search.
ings after wonders, as amlable as a
collie, with only an understanding In q
taci6 sort of way that 1 was not tC
introduce HIN to women who would
fancy 1t an incumbaut b%enevoleace to
pull him out and make him talk.
I hardly think he knew where we
were until I forcibly plucked him out
Of the unrestricted glare Of July day tt
the gaudily papered passage way to the
museum.
"Harcourt, I have lovely specimens
to show you-mottled boas and cobras,
and an awfully swell kind of a snake
charmsr done up in the true Oriental
fiImsies-red Golf. bracelets of sequins,
bare ankles, and all that. The Rajah
is o snake you should know. Upon
my life, l think he begins to know
me-"
With the best Intentions In the
world. I gave Harcourt a little push
and he stumbled against the cage witt
q dull thump on the glass, which reused
"Rajah." and, rearing his head very
sensibly, he gazed straight into oui
eyes. As pale and limp as a live mar
could ever become, my friend shrans
back and seemed suddenly bereft Of his
legs. / steadied him up, and really
thought on the moment that the minis.
terial Harcourt had imbibed an extra
glass of some spirited American drink.
He asked me to take him In the air.
He was pitiably weak and as ghostly as
If he had Dol his grandmother's ghost
In q camera obscura.
The strong, rollicking breeze
brought him round, and almost quite
himself he led the way to one Of the
wayside parks so refreshingly frequent
in the large cities of this country.
He laid his hat o. the park seat and
nervously wiped his forehead, while
tried to entice a pigeon from the gravel
without plum cake, seeming not tC
notice his strange agitation.
He reverted to the affair uppermOst
In my mind himself in his painful
straightforward way:
"Don't laugh, Strahan. when l tell
you that I am the slave to an all per.
vading dominant horror. 1 cannot
look at snakes, although nee / really
believed that Nature intended to in.
spire admiration in making a brown
and green boa. And women of the
tropics were once my alteration, with
their brown velvety skins, black eyes
and graceful movements" He shud-
dered.
SNOW / can never see the one with
out being reminded Of the other. In
fact, I think there has been . sort OF
sympathy between women and snakes
since the conquest or Eve by the SER
pent. Both are fascinating. The SER
pent fastens you with its gaze like a
woman; the woman stlngs you to death
like the snake. Let me tell you my
story. Perhaps then you may find an
excuse for me, and tolerance Of some.
thing that Is not superstitious, heaven
knowsI'
I could not think of anything to say,
10 I said nothing.
Harcourt, as 1 explained, was pain.
fully direct. l do not like verbiage,
but I shun Q man generally who dives
headlong into a thing aud drags you
with him. Yet, l liked Harcourt, as
we sometimes do a chap who we fancy
has suffered his full measure.
"There are pages in my life. Strahan,
which you do not know; but you dc
know that I was an officer In one of her
Majesty's Foot Guards in India, and
that l sold my commission ON account
Of fever to DE Land, OF the Hawk
hurst Blues, and left before my time.
T was q wild fellow In those days. A
few hours before my departure, while
returning FROM a tiger-hunt In which ]
and my followers were shameiully out
witted, / raj across the tent of a snake
charmer-a villainously dirty old Hin.
doc. who with horrible yells and i'm
precautions made the twilight hideons
by cudgeling his daughter, as he swore
she was, while she asseverated with
lifted arm to 'Allah,' that she was
simply his slave. I interfered, OF
course. we had a free fight, leaving
the old fakir hors de combat, aud 1 bore
of the child Zobeide-one of the love.
liest creatures even then that I had
ever seen, and as wild as a hawk.
sit was lucky that l had been fully
prepared to leave the company. As il
was the boys OF my mess begged me to
have nothing to do with Parsee, Hin.
doc or Arab women. to leave this dark
eyed houri behind. Seeing me obdu.
rate, Captain Bellamy said:
"'Do a you will, Harcourt. but you
may regret the day youdid 80 foolish a
thing. Kindly remember that l warned
you.'
"And how often l haveI
"But then-it was with a glow oil
exultation l admitted to myself the
entire ownership of anything SO tn
tainted and SO beautiful as Zobeide.
She was as delicious to my senses as q
pomegranate blossom, and was graft.
tudo herself. Poor. starved. unl0yed