Mississippi leader. (Jackson, Miss.) 1892-1895, 1894-08-28


to bamboozle you into paying $40 for lot Of
Gagged snakes that very likely viii be the death
of tsome Of us Is enough to make any one ques-
tion your sanity"
Now, you Just hold your horses. One Of
these days will be able to cell those snakes for
10 or 20 times the amount paid for them, and
as for managing them-you just let that to
me-"
CHAPTER II.
Jacob Joslyn was always q peculiar man
anyway. It was wonderful what delight he
took In looking after his cage of trained snakes.
There were Is Of the reptiles housed in large
case in which were Is holes for the snakes to
crawl in and out
In few weeks time the snakes seemed per-
fectly at home, crawling about the yard, lying
In the sun and often were found in the house,
until Mrs. Joslyn was almost crazed with fear.
Jacob" she would say, you must really
destroy those snakes. They must all be killed."
That's all you know about It," Jacob would
reply. "Those snakes are of kind that can
not be killed. Cut of their heads, and another
head will grow right on. Cut them up in pieces,
and head will grow on every piece. They
had a stock of these snakes out in Maine, Kan
sas and 1own. They passed prohibition law
there and ordered all the snakes destroyed.
Now, they say that the snakes still flourish In
those states, and recently the Republican par
ty in Iowa passed a law permitting the snakes
town or county"
Jacob, IL the snake still lives in Maine and
Kansas, It'll is for the reason that the work of
killing them off has not been placed in proper
hands, 1t is more than likely that the job has
been given to friends of the snake owners, and
Of course the snakes are permitted to live"
CHAPTER III.
Ifit were not so serious and dangerous thing,
Il would amuse you to see how Jacob handled
those snakes. He had o name for every one,
and such names! One he called Forty Rod
Whisky" another Jersey Lightning" an
tfSs he eaisa od Ss more Enesh nam
One morning Mrs. Joslyn came rushing fran
ti9aly up TO- where Jacob was at work and ex-
sJacobI Jacob! it's come! Two Of the cows
are dead, having been bitten by some your Of
Jacob hastened down and found it was too
the farm that that's the work of Forty Rod or
well" said the indignant wife. what are
Now said Jacob, ''dor get excited. I'll
Thus Ss far they they have had ali LICENSE IN the World
Now III fix them-lll put them under high
"Why, instead of having Is holes for the
the holes"
sGS Matilda sfs soY Gsns no That mnp plan is advo
Gated by many wise men, who know more in
one minute than you know in a year. 1t stands
sS sass as hroS s.
just wait and see how the plan works."
CHAPTER ".
Jacob, the bay mare lies dead in the sta
"No?'
"Yes! say yes! Two hundred and fifty dol
lars more gone as the work of your snakes.
Jao9b. how much longer are those snakes to
''Too bad, too badr'
to know Is what is going to be done about it2"
u am going to fix matters right this time,
Matilda: am going to put the snakes under
"Under whatr'
LOCAL option. IN put the case Of snakes
over the fence on Neighbor Smiths land, and
IN pay him a reasonable sum for the privi-
"Jacob, where in the name Of common-very
common-sense did you discover that fool
Matilda. don't you read the papers2. That
plan is a great success. 1t keeps our land clear
Of snakes, and 1t is none of our business hoy
many snakes there are on other peoples land.
day is, Look out for No. l."
"Even If it were true that the snakes would
snakes are permitted to live, they will find
their way in here. You just mark my words"
CHAPTER v.
Farmer Smiths wife Is now on the warpath!
"See here, Charlie, one Of Joslyn's snakes at
tackled our little Reuben, and II 1t had not
been for his thick boot he would have been
bitten to death. You were fool to permit
that man to place bis case of snakes on our
land. No amount OF money can begin to COM
pensate us for the danger and damage the
snakes cause. Now ! am not going to stand 1t
q m9ment longer. Here's the new Ak, with
the Prohibition trademark, warranted sure to
kill, Take it and cut off the head of each one
Mrs. Smith meant business. Charlie knew
took the az and started off,.
When near the snakery, he met Jacob JOS
lyn, who, strange to say, was also armed with
"Well." said Jacob IN astonishment, where
are you going, Neighbor SMITH"
"Going TO cut off the head ED Of every one Of
It's got TO be DONE
Lets 90 slow. I've been forced on the same
eryand, but 1t seems to mo foolish, senti-
mental piece of business. Snakes were cre-
been here and will always remain. There is
no danger in q snake per Sc, as the lawyers
say, which means by itself. l expect to sell
those snakes for q good round sum. and am
willing to pay you for keeping the cage on your
politics, and suppose we fool them In this case.
Let us say that we did our best to kill them
cut off the head of one and the tail of another
but they are as alive as ever-they'll believe it.
Women and preachers can be made to believe
almost anything"
The plan was agreed upon.
The women were mad, but had to submit to
1t.
Jacob had been reading some New York pa
Der and had discovered a new plan to regulate
the snakes. 1t was called the state control.
He was going to get new snake case with
only two holes in It, and get a government
stamp to paste over the holes, so that the
snakes would know they were under state
control. They would therefore be more care
ful in amount of poison they used.
But, strange to say, neither Mrs. Joslyn nor
Mrs. Smith had any faith In 1t.
CHAPTER vi.
More trouble on the farms!
Some Of the snakes had gone over to the JOS
lyn farm, and as result two COWS were dead
and Mrs. Joslyn's favorite house dog was about
giving up the ghost. Mrs. Smiths pet pony lay
stiff and dead In the stable.
The two women held a meeting In the Joslyn
parlor.
They organized themselves into a Prohibi-
tion party.
They passed prohibitory law and then re-
solved to put the law into practice.