The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1889-07-05
( To he continued.)
TARSON'S SNAKE KILLING SOW.
Its Fat Cheeks Turned to Receive a Rat
tiers XpnOmOuS Eanpu

TARSoN'S SNAKE KILLING sow.
Its Fat Cheeks Turned to Receive q Rat
tiers Venomous Fangs.
MuIdna is low lying, unattractive
settlement, rather thickly inhabited,
on the Middletown branch of the
West Shore railroad, a little above
Cornwall and not more than a quar-
ter of mile below the secluded glen
called Paradise. The river that waters
Paradise flows darkly through Mood
ma, but it is limpid, sparkling stream
at the upper point and little better
than cesspool at the lower one.
Paradise both on account of its re-
mar kable beauty and the difficulty of
getting to it is we'll named. Moodna
may be said to be the very antithesis
of Paradise. There is no trail of the
serpent in Paradise, but Moodna is
rich in snakes, and would have a still
greater wealth of them were it not for
the untiring efforts of Mr.. Sam Tar
sons SOW. She kills the reptiles and,
though her appetite at the swill tub is
great gusto, and leaves nothing but
the bones behind For reasons known
only to herself, she picks off the flesh
of her prey, and eschews the osseous
portions. Moodna is proud of Tarson's
sow, and the surrounding hamlets
would like to borrow her when snakes
multiply too rapidly; but she has all
the work she can attend to at home.
OF course, most of the snakes that
infeSt Moodna are comparatively
harmless and the sturdy SOW fearlessly
casts her 400 pounds of adipose matter
upon them, and regardless of their
bites, stamps and gnaws their lives
out. The adjacent mountain of Storm
King, however, has many recesses
that are the homes of rattlesnakes.
With the first breath of spring they
emerge hungry, vcnomous and very
wicked, and larson, aided by old Zach
Archer, the professional snake catcher,
secured large one, and determined to
test the power of his pet as it had
never before been tried
He led the SOW into the barn, where
a soap box containing the snake had
been placed upon the floor Then he
climbed upon rafter, so as to be out of
harms way, and, by pulling a string,
raised door which he had made in the
box, Instantly the snake glided out
and at once saw the sow, 1t threw
itself into coil, its eyes gEttered, il
hissed yiciously, and it was ready and
eager for battle The SOW also saw the
snake, as her subsequent actions indi-
Gated; but it is doubtful if the reptile
''saw that she saw it," for no pig I'M
dergoing the process of fattening in
the hog pen over seemed more guile
less than did she as she trotted around
the barn, apparently in search of
bad potato or rotten apple. She was
narrowing the circle, however, and
each revolution brought her nearer
to her hereditary enemy.
At last she stopped moving, and
looked straight at the snake. Quick
as lightning flash the reptile struck
at her, but the SOW knew her business.
With equal celebrity she turned her
head half around, and the poisonous
fangs sank into her left cheek. For a
moment the snake writhed around the
sow's snout, and she tried to seize it,
but it dropped to the ground un-
harmed, and, with amazing rapidity,
resumed its coil. The SOW seemed to be
chagrined. She advanced step, and
as the snake struck fiercely at her for
the second time she obeyed the Script
ural mandate, and, having been smit-
ten on one cheek, she turned the other
To- her assailant. She changed her tao
tics on this occasion, and did not at
tempt to bite the snake while it main
tanned its hold; but the instant it
dropped she pounced upon it, and
grasping it by the neck she pinned its
ugly head to the ground and played
tattoo upon its body with her feet.
She was not materially injured by tho
bites she had received, for the venom
wasted itself in the thick layers of fat
Il at underlined her cheeks, and it
COZ. Id not reach any vital part of her
anaa omy. The snake was soon dead,
and Mr.. larson clambered down from
the r.hster, hoping to secure the body
as n aophy of his pets victory; but
the SOW was i'll no mood to brood inter
ferel >ce. She felt that to the victor be-
longo d the spoils, and her blood being
up, an little of it running from each
check, .yhe drove her owner from the
barn. When he returned fifteen min
utes later she was III more amlcaDl9
frame of und, and she had made
skeleton of tho snake as skillfully as
if the Job ha been done by taxider-
mist. t.SNcw York Sun.
Keep 1g SIeat Fresh.
The japanese keep meat fresh in
hot weather by placing the raw flesh
in porcelain vessels and pouring on
it boiling water, whereby the albumen
of the surface is quickly coagulated
and forms a projection against the
further action Of the weather. Oil is
then poured on the surface Of tho
water, SO as to prevent the access OF
ain and consequent putrefaction Of the
ueat.-New York Telegram.
Died with Fish in His Throat
A curious cause of death was ro-
Gently recorded in India. A native
who was fishing in stream caught n
Noi col lil,0 Gsh ahniit fiftaaD IN Siv-