Custer weekly chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, S.D.) 1890-1931, 1891-06-13
THREE INSTANCES,
Men Who sometim Forget what Coun.
try They Are Living In.

-
had intended to head this article
"InstiDct," but IL struck me that two
of the stories, says writer In the 81.
james Budget. at least which | have
to tell can hardly be called instinct,
and rs don't know what else to name
them l call them simply Three In
stances"
They are on the same principle as
that old story OF singer who bad
lived on canal boat 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 IN n
meadow. The two were talking to-
gethcr as they turned the hay. Sud-
denly one of the bows heard Il sound
like the rattling of very dry peas in a
pod. lie never looked down to where
the noise came from. but. with sud-
denness that was puzzlng to his COM
panion. he gave one yell and jumped
at least half rod. His comradc, look
ing in amazement from the boy TO 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 rattler. Now,
the young man who jumped had never
seen rattlesnake before. never had
heard rattlesnake rattle. was not
thinking of suakes at all. did not even
see the snake before he jumped. yet il
he lived TO be 100 years old he will
never again take such leap as that
Que was.
The second instance is about snake
that wasn't there. was up the other
day seeing n man who had spent most
of his life in India. noticed that one
of the pancs Of his window was broken.
How did that happen?' / asked.
You see" was the answer, lit was
this way: Yesterday went out for
a long tramp, and | wore hole in the
toe OF my stocking. which didn't
notice at the time and didn't notice
this morning when put it on. l was
absent-mindedly putting on my shoe
when suddenly my toe touched some-
thing cold. and before | could remem-
ber 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 nv shoe"
The third instance was something of
the same kind. was coming from
the Temple station TO the Strand when
| saw ahead Of me q well-known war
correspondent. 1t was a nasty, slushy
day aud | hurried to catch up with
him. On one of the streets leading
from the Strand to the embankment a
good deal Of building is going on. At
the moment | speak of q cart filed
with gravel backed up to where the
building operations were proceeding
aud 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 iu the mud. He got
up rather shcepishly, looked around
him and brushed the mud off his trous-
ers as well as he could. When ] came
up to him said:
What in the name of wonder made
you do thing like thatp You didn't
trip. did you?"
Mo- I've said. Il didn't trip.
threw myself down" and he laughed
rather uncomfortably. 1T was like
this you see, You heard That gravel
shoot out OF the cart. Well, that is
exactly the sound of shell overhead.
Coming up from the station l was
tnlnklnI or tne husso-ruIAIsn "aI, ..S1
was really at Plevna and not in Lon
don at that moment. and when heard
that rush of the she'll i was down on
my knees before i thought of it. That's
what we always did when we heard u
shell coming during the war. II you
are down on your face In the sand you
are not so apt to be hit by the frag-