Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1889-08-18
GLUTTONOUS REPTILE.
HOW THB WABASH PIONEER DROPPED
INTO THE SKIN
Instead Of the Snaks-Ths Story Related 10 the
Grandchildren With Munchausen Ike
Truihfalness BY the Pioneer.
CHICAGO Journal,


yerselves quiet, 'thout interruptin' while
I'm perceedin' with my tale, which come
purity nigh bein' one of sorrer an mournin'
an leavin' ye 'thout grandpaw long
afOre yer nam war born, I'll jist give ye
all the perticklers about one of the
oneriest scrapss with snake, th't ever
a hnman bein' got inter, hopin IN |
be warnin' to We fer all time to come to |
stick to well-trod track when yer arter
anythin', iustid of tryin' to be smarter
nur other folks an takin' short cuts that
may lead ye inter the soup-as the sayin'
goes.
Yer grandpsw come to settle in the
Wabash Valley when the ager were so bad
th't it'd shake the skin often every critter
quicker'n lightnin'. Iojuns wer thicker'n
skeeters nowadays, an atween Their yellin'
an the wolves' yelpin', the hull kentry
wer' howlin' wilderness.
'Ther' WANT no great sights of folks
Twin close together in them days, an yer
grandpaw's highest neighbor, 'cept the
Irjuns, were nigh onto ten miles, takin' it
on bee line, but by follerin' the trail it
war bout fifteen. This trail WANT very
clear, but every one tuck it in them times,
b'leevin' th't the longest way round were
the surest way of gettin' thar.
One day yer grandpsw havin' to go TO
Peeswivelfs-the highest neighbor's-de-
tarmined to take the short cut an knock
off five miles on the trip. Injuns an
wolves couldn't skeer him, an as fer
bar, he jist laughed at the chance to shake
hans with one.
1.-THE mornin' war bright, an the sun
war jst raisin' the lid often one eye when
yer grandpaw, with some jerked venison
in his pocket, started out.
''The birds were singin' Their sweet
notes, an all mater were rejOicin' cause
Summer had elm over Spring.
Snakes, ss ye prob bly, know, only
change clothes oncet year, an that is
doorin' the hot weather.
when changin' time comes, they hunt
place whar no one'll be likely to find
'em, an then they tar hole in the tail o.
their skins an slide it off over ther heads
like shirt.
1T ginerully takes 'em bout two weeks
to git through with the job. an when it's
done an he is ready to curl himself up an
let the sun tickle his new hide with his
enliyenin' rays that snakes jist bout
hungry huff to swaller anythin' comm
his way. He'd wiggle hull mile on
broken glase TO make meal outen a suck
lin pig, an in tn yerly days O. tn Wa
bash settlin', wild hogs were thicker'n
yaller jackets round boy what's bin
pokin' nest with stick"
"What did 80 many hogs find to live on?"
"Well, Charles, yer akin questions
afore squarely settled to bizznus, but Tll
answer SOS TO keep ye from interruption at
some pertickler pint whsr l wouldn't liz
sen to ye. Them hogs want lookin' roun'
fer nick-nRx, but war willin to FL up on
almost snythin' that come their way. But
if there war one thing what they liked
more'n another, it war the discarded wear
in 'parel of snake, an 'kasionally they
didn't object to snake, hide and all
''Ez war sayin', yer grandpaw tuck the
short cut, an want lettin' no cOwslips
come Dustin through the sile under his
shoes, ez he elm over the windfalls er
ysnked his feet outen soft spots ez he
steered for Peeswivel's.
HE gone bout three mile, an the sun
war gittin' hot when he struck little
clearin', bout 200 feet acrost, which war
kinder wet an marshy. He war goin'
round it first, but then he seed piece of
bark, ez he tuck it fer, which run TO an
old log what reached to t'other end o. the
clearin', so he walked the bark an stepped
onto the log, an the next minnet went
flynn higher'n the tree tops. When
he started down, after turnin' heels
up, he seed it want no log, but
A GEEwHILLIKEN BIG SNAKE,
which war waitin' with his head bout
forty feet from the groun' an his mouth
open bout three feet fer him to come down.
Now, yer grandpaw seed that thar want
no bark on the groun' an diskivered that
it war the snakes skin, an war still stick
in to the reptiles lower jaw, so when be
was bout droppin' inter the snake mouth,
he iist give hisself hitch an double an
dropped inter the open skin. He drapped
bout thirty feet an wedged in the ekin
tighter'n a wedge in a twisty log, an the
force of the drsp broke the skin from the
snakes jaw an yer grandpaw come down
kerchunk.
1.-THE snake had undoubtedly gszed on
yer grandpaw's plump tigger in fond sntic-
ipation of sunnin' hsself on full stun
mick, an wen he war gin the slip, he jist
vent tarin aroun that clearin madder'n a
wet hen.
"Yer grandpaw want fraid O. wildcats,
Ipiuns, or bar, but wen he seed through q
| little hole in the skin, the tantrums o. that
are critter, he got naryous, beiu as how's
he war stickin in the skin tighter'n wax.
1.-THE sun war raisin higher'n higher.
an yer grandpaw war bout billed, wen
along come bout hunderd wild hogs to
waller in the mud o. the clearin.
1.-THE snake, arter sizin up the crowd,
went in fer dinner Such a fight was
never seed afore. The snake war quick
erin lighenin'. His head an tail war
eyerywhsr to wunst, an while he war
swollerin' one hog be war striDgin' 'nuther
on his tail for future use. After he
had strung Just thirty-nine pigs on his
self and swollered the rest yer grandpaw
let a regular Ipjine warwh0Op outer
the hole in the skin an scared the pigs
what war strung on the snake SOS that
blamed if they didn't go scootin' through
the woods TO beat creation, while the
snake KEEP his head an tail up sos that
none of 'em d slip off.
AFTER the hull lot war skeered out. yer
grandpaw lay there rumiratin' an reflect
IN on the folly of bein' smart. He lay
there fer hours with the sun peltin' down
on the skin which KEEP dryin' an shrink
in till yer grandpa VS. blood began to stop
runnin' an he started to swell.
IT WAR A TIGHT RACE
a'twixt him an the skin as TO whether
he'd swell fast enough to bust the skin or
the skin draw tight enough to smother
him. Things war just bout tie when
the sun went down, an the dew COM
nenced fallin, When the skin got damp