St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1889-08-31

knowing that il the baby were dis.
turbed it might by it, movement pro
woke the snake to strike. After watch
ing the Intellectual efforts Of the latter
to climb the side of tho cradle for few
moments, which seemed like hours, al
idea few over her half-numbed brain.
She crept gently forward. inch BY
inch. until stretching forth one
foot she could touch the rocker
Getting her toe underneath this. she
slowly raised it until the basket wa.
tilted considerably away from her. and
was consequently lowered on the side
towards which the intruder was di
recting its attempts at ascent The
plan succeeded admirably; the unsus.
piciOus serpent wriggled its way ur
the now moderately inclined plane OF
the net. retarded in its progress only
by the unstable hold afforded by the
latter. Its head was already over the
edge, and in another quarter of min.
ute it would have been upon the floor.
when the treacherous rocker slipped
|
lower than before. carrying the edge
of the narrow curtain down in its fall.
and the mother stumbled wildly to re-
cover 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! lie was nearing
the house at the time on his homewarC
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. With one
dash he seized the muslin and tore il
off. Had this been done at first, NO
doubt all would have been we'll, but
the free border being within the side,
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 q
broken collar-bone, but saved!
And it was through being called
upon to administer restOratives to
the wife and to treat this injury
which may have been caused by
the fall. or. more probably, BY the
frenzied grasp of his powerful hand
that /. in the absence of my friend.
DIR. D, whose guest 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 fiat by an unnecessarily trc-
mendous stamp Of the paternal heel.
may just say that youth and a good
constitution, in which the MOrayshire
breezes were not yet dissipated by
fever and ague, enabled the mother
to throw of 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 perfectly without
any impairment of the use of the arm.
The fragments of the snake were
gathered up and preserved in a glass
jar of white rum from the factory
''still;" and long afterwards as he told
the tale. the big blackbearded Scotch
mans lips would go white with anger
and his forehead bead as he shook his
fist at lyon devil" in the bottle. And
| daresay that it moves him SO to this |
day.
For / had not the heart to tell him
that the creature was harmless. and
that he had broken the baby's collar
bone over poor worm who could dc |
less injury than mosquito. Fervent-
ly l do hope that they have never
learned it. l think the reptile could
hardly have been recognized after its |
in the, coarse cdnhd; but rs
it lay recently dead. there was no mis-
taking it for any thing else than Scytale
aspecies of somewhat vivid |
color. inhabiting tropical America aud |
some of the West India Islands. but |
whc!ly devoid of venom. The error
IS typical Of a very common one in
popular nomenclature. The really |
poisonous coral snakes of these coun- |
.ries should properly be called coral"
Is their name was originally derived
rom the Spanish by reason of their
,olors. vermillion, black, yellow and
white. being disposed in ''rings" around
heir bodies. (The intensity of their
ethal power. by the way. is
much exaggerated, the great
,iperine serpents Of those re-
,ions. such as the rattlesnake. fer
lc-idnce. and bushmaster. being much
more virulent). But by corruption the
ERIN coral" has come to be applied
o any snake which bears some degree
Il red in its celebration. and hes car
led avenomous reputation along with
t. II there were any thing in a
'ame. one would be compelled to adj
nit that this same coronatum should
Ne the coral snake. par excellence, Sec
ng that the whole of the upper sur
ace Of its body presents the brilliant
Tue OF that gem. Corral" how
yer. it could not be. as the color 10
lain without patterD from stem to
tern. And il the declaration of it's