St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-07-22
A MOTHERS SUSPENSE.
She Watches a Deadly Serpent Crawl
ing on Der Babe.
TERRIBLE, BUT TRUE TALE.
Her Intellectual Effort to Throw 1t Off,.
The Father Succeeds, But Breaks
the Ch;Id's Cellar Bone.

For the truth of what follows | can
vouch, says writer in Chambers Jour
nal, as all the collateral and cOrrobo-
rative circumstances, though not the
main incident, came directly under my
personal notice.
The wife of one of the overseers on
the EnmOre estate in Demerara had
one morning laid her baby asleep in its
cradle while she performed certain
household duties. Enmore is-or was
at the time of which write-the largest
sugar plantation in that county, for so
are the three provinces called which to-
gether make up British Guiana-namely,
Demerara, Berbice and Essequibo.
The estate has a station on the little
line which runs through several small
towns, still bearing their quaint old
baby aforesaid was carefully screened
from the blazing heat of the day
within a cool, green-jalousied We
randa, and was lightly covered with
a muslin net to guard its slum-
bers against the disturbing influence
of flies, marabundas, scorpions, spiders
and other small but unpleasant deer, of
which this favored land is the happy
hunting-ground. 1t was three months
old, and was the pivot on which the
daily life and love of both its parents
revOlved. | regret to say 1 have for
gotten whether it was boy or girl.
Picture to yourself, then, If you can,
the horror of the young mother when,
on stealing into the veranda to refresh
herself with a peep at her unconscious
Il Il, In, Iii fha t1cII or
a live serpent! She had not been long
in the colony, but had already suf-
ficient experience of its teemlng
reptilian fauna to recognize the
blOod-red, blunt-headed creature
which lay on her child as coral snake,
reputed to be so deadly as to Stay man
or horse with. Its bite in twenty minutes.
1t had apparently fallen into the cradle
from the edge of the Venetian shutter
above, and its weight causing the mus
lin to bag down, it was unable to raise
it's body high enough to get over the
edge of the wicker work and escape, as
it seemed to be endeavoring to do.
AWFUL MOMENTS.
TerrOr-Stricken as she was, the poor
girl by desperate effort summoned up
all her Selt-cOntrol and remained still.
knowing that if the baby were disturbed
III ny us movement pIOfOhC UllO
snake to strike. After watching the in
effectual efforts of the latter to climb the
side of the cradle for a few moments.
which seemed like hours, an idea flew
over her half-numbed brain. She crept
gently forward, inch by inch, until by
stretching forth one foot she could
touch the rocker.
Getting Der toe underneath this, she
slowly raised it until the basket was
tilted considerably away from her, and
was consequently lowered on the side
toward which the intruder was direct
ing its attempts at ascent. The plan
succeeded admirably; the unsuspicious
serpent Wriggled its way up the now
moderately inclined plane of the net,
retarded in its progress only by the un-
stable hold afforded by the latter.
Its head was already over the edge.
and in another quarter of minute it
would have been on the floor, when the
treacherous rocker slipped from her
foot, the snake rolled back lower than
before, carrying the edge of the narrow
curtain down in its fall, ane the mother
stumbled wildly to recover her nearly
lost balance. 1t was too much for her;
the awful tension snapped and she
called her husbands name with hOarSe
cry.
Well that she did! He was bearing
the house at the time on his hOmeWard
way to midday breakfast, and just
caught sound of that agoniZed whisper
as he crossed the muddy canal. A
few seconds later he was in the
veranda, reading his wife's bloodless
face with wild, questioning eyes. No
speech could she force through her hot
lips; no word spoke he, but he followed
her OutStretched finger as she pointed to
the still swaying cradle.
A FATHERS STRUGGLE.
With one dash he seized the muslin
and tore it off. Had this baen done at
first, no doubt all would have been
well, but the free border being
within the shade, the light
net slipped from under the weight
Of the snake, and the reptile
fell Kissing and writhing upon the
naked body of the child, now crying
and lifting up its hands toward its
mother. There was no moment for
thought. Like lightning he gripped
the infant by the shoulder and threw it
out on the floor, where it fell with a
broken cOllarbOne, but saved!
And it was through being called upon
to administer reStorativeS to the wife
and to treat this injury may
iIofO bSCll SCuCOu Wy luO ldllS UI3
probably, by the frenZied grasp of his
powerful hand-that l, in the absence of
my friend, DR.. D., whose guest l
was, learned the foregoing particulars
within ten minutes of their occurrence.
The snake was already dispatched, and
lay on the veranda boards with its head
smashed flat by all unnecessarily ire
mendous stamp of the paternal heel. 9.
l may just say that youth and a good
constitution, in which the Morayshire
breeZes were not dissipated by fever
and ague, enabled the mother to throw
off the nervous illness with which she
was threatened; and that, although the
condition of the child'S shoulder and the
pain attending it naturally caused the
parents great grief, it recovered per-
fectly without ally impairment of the
use of the arm.
The fragments of the snake were
gathered up ond preserved in a glass
jar of white rum from the factory STILL"
and long afterward, as he told the tale,
the big black-bearded ScotchmanS lips
would grow white with anger and his
forehead bead as he shook his fist at
you devil'' in the bottle. And l dare
say that it moves him to this day.
FARMERS JUBILANT