Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-08-25
A.LosINe CONTRACT.

Joe w is big, 1ovlal German-Amerfean,
, witty. always ready to give joke and take
one without losing his good temper. Wherever
Joe goes he takes his appetite with him. He
has solved the quail-eating problem, and when
the last bird disappeared from his plate at the
close Of his eating engagement he was ready
for dozen-course dinner considering it
fitting climax to his victory over the stomach.
trying test. A few weeks after Joe won his
wager, he dropped into q milk depot In the
lower end of the city and gulped down fresh,
cool glass of buttermilk without taking breath.
The proprietor is friend of Joe's. and, in
offering him another glass, asked: Joe, do
you like buttermilk 2"
"Oh, can drink glass or two when Pm
thirsty. Billy"
"Tell you what Pll do, Joe: I'll give you ali
the buttermilk you can drink in four weeks for
80 cents. II it's 90 you can settle each quar-.
ter"
"All right" said Joe, 'I'll drop in and see
you occasionally when Pm dry. Good day,
Billy"
Next day Joe dropped in. He called for
buttermilK and Billy, the proprietor. served
him. Before the echo Of the last gurgle died
in Joe's throat he called for another glass. He
got it. Then another and another, until Joe
had swallowed 20 glasses. Billy's eyes fairly
bulged with astonishment, and he realized he
naQ enbereQ luLO q losing COnITacIs twenty
glasses of buttermilk at cents glass equaled
ST. and it was not hard to calculate what would
60 to the profit and loss account at the same
daily average.
'That will do for to-day, Billy" quietly re-
marked Joe; '.Pll see you later"
"Oh, no you WON'T" said the milkman.
Here. take this ive-dollar note and well call
the contract off,"
Joe pocksted the v, smiled all over his good
natured visage and departed full Of laughter
and buttermilk.
A MEXICAN SNAKE STORY.
THE old traveller was in the storytelling mood
and spun this yarn.
Lying in a deep ravine In the mountains of
Santa Clara county, Cal, Is the little village of
New Almaden. So. narrow is the gulch that
only one street is possible, and down the length
of this ripples stream of limpid water. fresh
from mountain SHOWS. Flowers thr ong along
the roadsides, and the roses fling themselves
over the sides of the adobe houses.
.sHigh up on the mountain is the entrance to
the quicksilver mines, from which the village
takes its name. Up the keen slope, in the sui
try mornings the miners take their way in
heavy-footed bands, and plunge into the bowels
OF the earth. Besides the quicksilver there are
other products-Mexlcanc children and rattle
stones or the threshold of each house TO keep
out the serpents.
Zone day Mexican mother sat her little
dusky daughter on the floor and went out to
bake her bread in the brick oven. which sew
eral of the neighbofs used in common. She
was gone some time, and when she came back
she found her baby surrounded with the Deauti-
full reptiles-beautiful and hideous things.
which filled the room. Paralyzed with terror
she could not speak nor move. Aud the little
one was in ecstacy. 1t gave vent to little
rapturous cries. Its black eyes danced with
happiness. She played with the glttering
things and let them enwrap her. Not one of
them tried to harm her. They treated her with
something like reverence.
"At last, with a scream of desperation, the
mother snatched up her protesting baby and
called for help. The big miner women drove
out the intruders amid the lamentations of the
baby. And afterward. from childhood to
maidenhood, this girl could wander at will
through the canyon, without fear of molestatiou
for any reptiles and the miners crossed them
selves when they saw her, and said that she
bore charmed life."