The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1889-07-18

girl by q desperate effort, summone
3 up all self-control and remained still
knowing that il the baby were dis
turbed it might by its movement pro
woke the snake to strike. After watch
ing the Intellectual efforts OF the latte
to climb the side of the cradle for a FEY
/ moments, which seemed like hours, al
idea few over her half-numbed brain
She crept gently forward, inch b.
inch. until stretching forth on
foot she could touch the rocker
Getting her toe underneath this, sh,
slowly raised it until the basket wa
tilted considerably away from her, anC
was consequently lowered on the sid,
towards which the intruder was di
recting its attempts at ascent, The
plan succeeded admirably; the unsus
picious serpent wriggled its way up
the now moderately inclined plane o
the net, retarded in its progress only
by the unstable hold afforded by the
latter. Its head was already oyer the
edge, and in another quarter of d min
ute it would have been upon the floor.
when the treacherous rocker slipped
from her foot, the snake rolled bach
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 II hoarse cry.
Well that she did! He was nearing
the house at the time on his hOmewarG
way to midday breakfast, and just
caught sound Of that agoni2ed whisper
as he crossed the muddy canal. A few
seconds later he was in the veranda,
reading his wlfc'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 well, but
the free border being within the side,
the light net slipped from under the
weight Of the snake, aud the reptile
fell Kissing and wrilhing upon the
naked body Of the child, o 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 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
fren2ied grasp Of his powerful hand
that |. in the absence Of my friend, |
DR.. D., whose guest | was, learned
the foregoing particulars within ten
minutes OF their occurrence. The
was already dispatched, and lay |
the veranda boards with its head
smashed fiat by an unnecessarily ire
mendous stamp Of the p%aternal 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 off the nervous illness with
she was threatened; and that, |
although the condition Of the child's
shoulder md the pain attending it
naturally caused the parents great
grief. il 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:N and long afterwards as he told
The tale. the big blackbearded Scotch
mans lips would go white with anger
md his forehead bead rs he shook his
at lyon devil in the bottle. And
daresay that it moves him SO to this
lay.
For | had not the heart to tell him
hat the creature was harmless, and
hat he had broken the baby's collar
bone over a poor worm who could dc
.csS injury than a mosquito. Fervent-
" | do hope that they have never
learned it. | think the reptile could
have been recognized after its
immersion in the coarse canho; but rs
1 lay recently dead, there was nc mis-
it for any thing else than Scytalc
.;oronatn7n, aspocies OF somewhat vivid
'ol0r, %inhabiting tropical America and
some Of the West India Islands, but
devoid Of venom. The error
\ ttnioot 0f ~ ~"~ .r 80 !