The St. Johns herald., 1893-12-07
A CURIOUS FRIENDSHIP.
How a Snake and a Rooster Were
 WrapJ Up in Each Other.
The Attachment Was Harmonious Until His Roosteriets Found He Could Crow 4 Yarn That Would Give Munchau-
 sen a Fang of Envy.

sen a Fang or Envy.
 Snakes don't grow very big up our way" said ex-Sheriff Warren Kalama- zoo Ridway, of Pike county, Pa., to New York Sun man, ''but they grow uncommon smart. I've seen 'em do lots of cute things, the most of which have kept to myself, because have always been on good terms with my neighbors, and my business is such that I can't afford to have them weaken in their confidence in me-they, like all Pike county folks, being simple and unsophisticated and unable to appre- ciate the fact that truth is stranger than fiction. I am getting along in years, though, and 1 don't feel like passing away without putting on rec ord at least few of the evidences of genius I have seen in the snakes that live up our way.
 "A friend of mine, who lived back in the High Knob country, captured young blacksnake once and made pet of it. The snake got as tame as kitten and had the run of the premises One day he got egg hungry, and he stole an egg from under setting hen and swallowed it. The egg was just on the eve of matching, and the chick picked it's wa out of the egg as it lay inside the snake, and not finding day light yet kept on picking until it had picked hole through the snake and stuck it's head out. That was as far as it could get, and there it stuck. The snake didn't like it at first, but by and by the novelty of the situation seemed to strike him, and he grew proud of that strange living protuDerance. My friend didn't interfere, curious to see what the result of that singular com panionship would be. The chicken and the snake grew very fond of one an other, and it was worth farm to see 'em go to sleep together, the snake turning it's head back and smuggling down by the chickens head. The snake kept the chick well supplied with food, catching flies and worms and insects of various kinds, and pass ing them back to the chicken by the hundred. The chicken grew like weed, and along toward the end of summer the blacksnake's body was pouched out like a small hand satchel where the chicken was spreading out, and the latters neck stretched nearly six inches above the snakes back. It was the funniest sight you ever saw, and touching too, the two creatures dotted on each other so. But their end was sad.
 ''One day along in August the snake and his friend were taking a nap. Presently the chicken woke up, stretched his neck to it's full length, and got rid of it's first crow. The first crow of young rooster, even when he has the aid that seems to be in the Hopping of his incipient wings, is al ways heartrending performance, and as this rooster couldn't use his wings his first crow was real spoolzy. The snake woke up with start. He looked wildly about. He was scared and no mistake, but finally made up his mind that he had been dreaming, and set tied down to finish his nap. He had scarcely closed his eyes when the young rooster, encouraged by his first attempt, stretched his neck and tried his voice again. The snake jumped as much as ten feet, his eyes full of ter TOT, and sailed around the yard as if he were flying from an avenger. He came to a stop by and by, but glared wildly and panted like hot dog. The chicken seemed to enjoy the perform ance hugely, and, while the snake was still trem bling, he let go another crow
 ''Then the snake discovered where the queer noise was coming from, and he turned a look on the chicken that was terrible in it's expenditures The young rooster would have done well if he had needed it, but he didn't. He stretched his neck as high as he could and crowed again, square in the snakes face.
 ''The snake struck at the chickens head, but missed it. The chicken got mad and clipped the snake in the head with his bill. And then it went. They tumbled and fought around that yard for five minutes. Then they suddenly became quiet. The snake had got the chickens head in his mouth and swal- lowed it. neck and all. He had killed his friend, but had choked himself to death in doing it."
 Grecian Antiquities.
 Archaeological research in old Greece oon+ipJac with fha pacciO0 and d111-a-