The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1889-07-17
THE HORRIFIED MOTHER.
HER BABE AND A DEADLY SERPENT.
Efforts TO Dislodge the Reptile Fail and
Only Serve to Increase the Infants
PeriI-The Fathers Timely APP
pearance Saves II.

For the truth OF what follows can
vouch, says a writer in Chambers Journal,
as all the collateral and corroborative cir
cumstances, though not the main Incl
dent, came directly under my personal
notice.
The wife OF one of the overseers on the
Enmore estate in Demerara had one morn
ing 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 together 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 Dutch
names, as far as Mahaica. The baby
aforesaid was carefully screened from the
blazing heat OF the day within a cool,
green-i aiousied veranda and was lightly
covered with a muslin net to guard its
slumbers 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, was No. ], and was the pivot on
which the daily life and love of both its
parents revolved. I regret to say that
have forgotten whether it was boy or a
girl.
Picture to yourself, then, If you can, the
horror OF the young mother when, on
stealing into the veranda TO refresh her.
ua1r Of -
ling, she beheld on the muslin cover .
live serpent! She had not been long in
the COLONY, but had already had sufficient
experience Of its teeming reptilian fauna
10 recognize the blood-red, blunt-headed
creature which lay on her child as a coral
snake. reputed to be so deadly as to slay
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
muslin to bag down, it was unable to raise
its body high enough to get over the edge
OF the wicker-work and escape, as it
seemed to be endeayoring to do.
Terror-stricken as she was the poor girl
by a desperate effort summoned up all her
self-control and remained still, knowing
that if the baby was disturbed it might by
its movement provoke the snake to strike.
After watching the Intellectual 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 her toe underneath this she
slowly raised it until the basket was tilted
considerably away from her and was con-
! sequently lowered on the side toward
which the intruder was directing its at
tempts at ascent. The plan succeeded ad.
mirably. The unsuspioious serpent wrig-
gled its way up the now moderately in
clined plane of the net, retarded in its
| progress only by the unstable hold afforded
! by the latter.
It's head was already over the edge and
! in another quarter of a minute it would
/ have been upon 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, and 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 nearing the
house at the time on bis homeward way
to midday breakfast, and Just caught sound
of that agoniZed whisper as be crossed the
muddy canal. A few seconds later he was
in the veranda reading his wife's blood
! less 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 it of. 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 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 mo-
ment for thought. Like lightning be
gripped the infant by the shoulder and
threw il out on the floor, where 1t tell
with broken collar-bone, but saved
And it was through being called upon
to administer restoratives to the wife and
10 treat this iniury-which NAV have
been caused by the fall, or more probably
by the frenzied grasp of his powerful
hand-that L, in the absence Of my friend,
DR.. D., whose guest was, learned the
foregoing particulars within ten minutes
of their occurrence. The snake was al
ready dispatched and lay on the verands
DOaTDS WIFI lAS ACalA bLAlooLNA Lds " ah
unnecessary tremendous stamp OF the
paternal heel.
may just say that youth and a good
| constitution, in which the Morayshir
breezes were not yet dissipated by feve
and ague, enabled the mother to throw of
! the nervous illness with which she was
threatened, and that, although the condi-
! ton of the child's shoulder and the pain
attending it naturally caused the parents
| great grief. il recovered perfectly without
anv impairment of the use of the arm.
The fragments of the snake were gath
cred up and preserved in a glass jar Of
/ white rum from the factory still, and
long afterward, as he told the tale, the big,
| black-bearded Scotchman's 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 1t moves him
! so to this day.