The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1891-12-23

| queer sensations. When they come to
Burns, they have, as a rule, never
| handled snakes in their lives. Many
come simply to inquire, and at the first
sight of the snakes they withdraw. never
to return. Others brave the thing
through, and come ont triumphant after
a long struggle. Still others, one of
these a Boston girl who has Mr.. Burns's
uubounded admiration, are at home with
the snakes at once. This Boston girl
came into Burns's place n afternoon
about a year ago. She sat down and
stated her business. She had never
handled snakes, but she felt that she
could do it, especially as she had to
make a living. Mr.. Burns took her up
to the little upper room and handed her
a large anaconda. She took it as she
would have taken a banana. She prac-
| tised with snakes on that day and the
next, looked about for a place on the
third day, and gave a public exhibition
the fourth daY.
Many of these women learn to love
snakes. In fact most of them do. To
a person who IS susceptible to mesmeric
influence, as, for instance, a woman who
takes a keen delight in having her hair
brushed or forehead rubbed, the sliding
of the cool. undulating snake over the
bare neck and arms is a pleasure. Some
! snake charmers say that it makes them
sleepy. They have to counterfeit this
feeling in public as it interiors with that
ouickness of mind necessary to make the
| changes and com binations. Many q
snake charmer gives performances simply
for her own pleasure.
The other morning a slender, neatly
clad young woman walked with an easy,
graceful step down dingy Roosevelt street.
A breeze tiuttered stray whisps of fair hail
that peeped from beneath her hat, and
hu pretty, delicate face glowed with the
warmth of her exercise. There was the
brightness of healthy animation in her
large gray eyes, and more than one whom
she prssed turned for a second look at
her trim figure. She paused at BURNS
animal store, and a moment after hao
entered that domain of shrieking parrots,
kissing gators, and chattering apes. a
square shouldered young man, who leaned
against a tank tossing cabbage leaves to
its occupant, a mantee, looked up at her
entrance and nodded. He was MIR
James Burns, the animal trainer of the
place, and the young woman was his
pupil. She had come there to learn how
to charm snakes.
Presently Mr.. Burns calls an assistant
and, leaving the lower part of the place
in his care, starts with his visitor up
narrow fight of stails which leads to {
bare, cherries room, whose only furni'
ture is an ancient chair. While thu
pupil removes her wrap the teacheI
crosses to a ventilated box. When tht
lid of this is thrown back four young
pythons are seen lazily stretched inside.
They range in length from eight to
fourteen feet.
"Now," says Mr.. Burns, ''catch one
| OF CQOSc duu DIluS l oue'
The two largest snakes, which have
been practically undisturbed since theil
I CAPTURE, and, like the others, have been
kept for some time unfed, have raised
their heads and resent:the intrusion upon
their quiet by rapid hissings. The young
woman remarks this, and calmly refuses
MIR. Burns request.
GAN right" responds the trainer,
"but wait until you get with the sho"
and have no one to help you. What d.
you think you are going to do then
Now watch how I get that little fellow
out" With this he drops a piece O.
mating over the heads of the two refrac
tory subjects, and before they can emerge
from beneath it catches the smallest
snake in the box by the neck and pull:
him wriggling from the corner where ht
lay snugly ensconsed. He waves the
snake through the air in a few rapid mo.
tions and then, assured of his docility,
hands it to the girl with instructions fol
her to follow his example. This snake
has been thoroughly trained, and the
pupil haaoles II Win apparent fearless
ness. Finally she sits down in the chair
and caresses it with Il show of pleasure.
Meanwhile the indefatigable Mr.. Burns
extracts another snake from the box,
and. after putting it through the same
process as he cid its predecessor, gives
it to the girl with instructions to slide
the serpent in her hands on the floor
gently and head foremost. This, he
says, is the way she must always dispose
of her snakes after they have been
handled. It prevents them becoming
suddenly restless.
Courageous from the even tenor OF her
previous experience, the girl receives the