The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1891-06-25
THREE INSTANCES.
Men Who Sometimes Forget What Coun-
try They Are Living In.

had intended to head this article
Instinct" but it struck me that two
of the stories, says writer in the ST.
james Budget at least which | have
TO tell can hardly be called instinct,
and as don't know what else to name
them [ call them simply Three In
stances"
They are on the same principle as
that old story of a singer who had
lived on a canal boa. before she be-
came famous. and one night, as she
stood before the audience. somebody
shouted out Low bridget and the
woman ducked her head.
The first instance is about two young
fellows who, barefooted in the wilds of
America, were turning hay III Il
meadow. The two were talking to-
gethcr as they turned the hay. Sud-
denly one of the BOYS heard sound
like the rafting of very dry peas in
pod. He never looked down TO where
the noise came from, but. with Il sud-
denness that was puzzling to his COM
panion, ne gave one yell and jumped
at least half rod. His ccmradc. look
ing in amaZemeut from the boy 10 the
place he jumped from. saw coiled near
spot where bare foot had been
large rattlesnake. Two or three blows
from the pole with which he was turn
ing the hay killed the RATHER Now.
the Young man who jumped had never
seen rattlesnake before. never had
heard Il rattlesnake rattle. WAS not
thinking of suakes at all, did not even
see the snake before he jumped. yet if
he lived TO be 100 years old he will
never again take such Il leap as that
one was.
The second instance is about snake
that wasn't there. | was up the other
dav seeing man who had spent most
of his life in India. | noticed that one
of the panes of his window was broken.
How did that happcn?" asked.
You see," was the answer, lit was
this way: Yesterday l went out for
a long tramp, aud wore Il hole in the
toe of my stocking, which didn't
notice at the time and didn't notice
this morning when put it OF. l was
absent-mindedly putting on my shoe
when suddenly my toe touched some
thing cold, and before could remem-
Der that | was in England and not in
India kicked that shoe through the
window. | never put my shoes on in
India without shaking them out to see
that nothing was in them in the shape
of snakes. This morning forgot that
| was in England and remembered
that ! hadn't shaken my shoe"
The third instance was something of
the same kind. | was coming from
the Temple station to the Strand when
| saw ahead of me well-known war
! correspondent. 1t was a nasty, Slushy
| day and | hurried to catch up with
| him. On one of the streets leading
| from the Strand to the embank ment a
good deal of building is going on. At
! the moment | speak of a cart filled
with gravel backed up to where the
! building operations were proceeding
and the man opened the back Of the
| cart. The gravel. with rush and roar,
fell out on the road Instantly my
| friend, the war correspondent. flung
! himself face down in the mud. He got
up rather sheepishly, looked around
him and brushed the mud off his trous-
ers as well rs he could. When ! came
up to him said:
What in the name of wonder made
you do thing like that? You didn't
"Trip. did you?"
No" he said. Il didn't trip. l
threw myself down. and he laughed
rather uncomfortabIy. 1T was like
this, you See: You heard that gravel
shoot out of the cart. Well that is
exactly the sound of a she'll overhead.
Coming up from the station | was
| thinking of the Russo-Turkish wal. and
i was really at PIcvns and not in Lou
don ut that moment. and when | heard
that rush of the SHELL | was down on
my knees before | thought of it.. That's
what we always did when we heard Il
shell coming during the war. If you
are down on your face in the sand you
are not so apt to he hit by the frag-
! mentS"