Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1893-05-18
LOVE AND SNAKES.

first day of my visit to his farm, which is
situated at the foot of one of the mountains
in the western part of the town of Meriden,
Conn. There's neighbor Thornton, dead
as nit, the doctor hardly knows of what
disease But am well satisfied in my own
mind that it all comes o. that ere bite he re-
ceived last spring from cussed logger in
the swamp. All of our land hereabouts is
hanted by the informal tribe, and you may
as well keep your eyes open if you intend
to march around here in those CATERS and
them linen trousers"
Nothing in the world will save your
life," said my aunt, 'but to cut a piece
right out the very moment you are bitten
before you kill the varmint, mind you, for
a moments delay would be fatal. There
was poor Richard Henderson,
''Ohl the devil take Dick Henderson,
interrupted my uncle. HE was a cold
water man, and in course he couldn't stand
the smallest grain of pisin in his system
not hel Take one of your regular old
bruisers, such as Troup Wright, for exam
pie, and the snake would die, while the
person bitten would not experience any
trouble whatever. Licker is what docs the
business, my boy, for a snake bite-kills
and deadens all of the varrus of the reptile
in no time. If | should ever be favored by
one of the Internal critters, I'd take quart
of fourth proof, and if that wasn't enough
another quart to keep it company. You
know, or oughter know, that you can't get
drunk as long as the varrus is in your
veins"
For a number of days after receiving all
of this information / did not care to visit
any places on the farm where it was pos
sible for a snake to lurk. At last, however,
l was tempted to visit a nice field of red
raspberries on the eastern declvity of the
mountain, though not without resolving to
be on my guard against the peril to which
l thus exposed myself, that part of the
mountain being notorious for the number
and size of its snakes.
The party consisted of myself, Thomas,
the hired man, and my cousin-young and
pretty, as cousins always are; very fond of
me, as no other cousin ever was, and withal
lively and interesting specimen of her sex,
with only few touches too much, of dare
devil wildness in her nature
Kate" said / to her while we were
picking and eating the delicious berries at
rate which would have astonished if not
alarmed locker on from the city, "look
out for those sly and treacherous serpentsl"
"The only sly and treacherous serpent
smile, 'is-yourselfn
"Ahl Kate, how can you be so cruel? You
know am more honorable than those rep
tiles, l will give you fair warming ere in
flict the fatal wound"
1.-THE snakes generally give you warning
enough unless you come upon them too
suddenly to give their better nature
chance. But come it is already dusk, and
we shall lose our way if we don't set out
for the house without any further delay
For my part, I've eaten raspberries enough
to last me the remainder of the year"
80 have |, Kate, If you had only sugared
them with a few words you could so easily
utter. Now, tell me-" and l darted alb
ruptly toward her, 'answer me truly in re
gard to the proposal of marriage Ive made
you, will you become"-
My foot caught in brier bush, and was
precipitated headlong. At the same in
stant an awful rattle smote upon my ex-
cited senses, and n sharp, singing blow was
given me in the calf of the leg 1t would
be impossible for me to tell you how quickly
arose, drew up the leg of my pantaloons
saw the blood oo1ing forth, yelled and
drew knife from my pocket and cut out a
piece of flesh, which in bulk might have
readily satisfied the demands of Shylock.
II will endeavor to 80 deep enough to re-
move the poison" said | desperately in
reply to the exclamation of horror uttered
by Kate, while she became as pale as the
white handkerchief she had bound around
her hair. AS i'll luck would have it, more
over, had made sad havoc with vein of
respectable dimension, and was bleeding
with profuseness, which was in itself
enough to render person considerably
alarmed.
"If die" said | to Kate, who had al
ready burst into tears, while endeavoring to
bind her handkerchief around my leg in
such manner as to prevent too great loss
of Blood, remember, Kate, that | loved
you better than anything else in the world"
"Oh, ohl' she sobbed, throwing herself
into my arms and clinging to me with a
fervency which made me happy as a boy
with his first whistle. How terrible" and
this seemed all that grief would permit her
to utter.
The hired man now came running up.
with terror and dismay depicted on his fea-
lures, for he had readily understood from
our cries and actions the nature of the afflic.
tion which had fallen upon u.s.
"Where did it bite you2" he demanded.
"In the leg?"
that warning rattle was heard close before
him and between us, and both recoiled with
eXclamations of increased alarm.
Take carel'' | cried. Here he is-close
before you, ready for another spring Be
watchfull Can't you get stick and kill
him?"
The hint was acted upon-Barney reach.
ed hickory branch nearly large enough
for cart tongue and began to poke around
the bushes
Still another rattle was heard as Barney
thus swept his weapon over the bushes,
and when he again passed the staff over the
bushes that rattling sound was repeated.
WHAT" he cried, springng forward and
thrashing right and left, while the rattling
grew terrific, "bless mel' and he burst into
laugh which resounded far and near over
the mountain. ut isn't snake, at all, at
all; it's those cussed cocklesr'
1t was true. l had taken quite morsel
OF good flesh out of my calf just because
one of the thorns upon which | had fallen
gave me greeting Foranumber of weeks
| was martyr to the banterings, Jokes and
laughs of my friends, but Kate flnallyspaid
me, and she and | are now getting along
very well together, can assure you.-New