The Bryan daily eagle. (Bryan, Tex.) 1895-1898, 1895-12-21

locking passengers. says the Snake
Valley Rather The little wiggling rep
tile was not over a foot and half long.
but the gardener who killed h was ~
proud as II he had just taken his first
girl home Hc believed In the old adj
age. ITO KIN the first snake you see
In a season is 10 Kill or overcome, yow
enemies" The three old gentlemen
gathered around the snake. turned b
over several times with their canes.
and. after seating themselves IN a cool
corner OF the station. became reminis-
cent I'm never forget little advent
ure ! had with a snake. began one Of
the party. II think ! was between u
and 10 years old when went out to
my Uncle Jonathan Gilmours farm. on
the Susquehanna. TO spend the summer
for my health I'd Just gotten over the
whooping cough measles and pretty
bad case Of scarlet fever had not
been on the farm a week before | felt
like another boy. and one day asked
uncle II couldn't help plant the pota-
toes and corn lie said could. proyid-
ing | didn't work too hard The next
morning | was ready for the work.
and got down TO the field as soon as
breakfast was over. worked till about
3 o'clock, when became tired and hun
gry-so hungry that ate several OF the
seed potatoes, George Clayton. the
boss farmer. called me TO him and said
Johnnie. think you've done enough
Cor one day suppose you go down by the
willows and take good rest / went
down TO the place indicated. and was
soon stretched out upon a plank seat
placed between two OF the trees Ly-
ing there upon my back aud looking
up through the branches I watched the
ileecy clouds In the sky sail above the
tree tops While thus engaged my a.
tentiOn was called 20 what / first
thought was limb OF one Of the trees
trying to get across to the other tree
II swayed backward and forward like
a huge pendulum. and finally swung
across and attached itself to The oppo-
site tree. watched the operations
with peculiar interest. Lying there up
on my back. with my gaze hxcd upon
the strange performance. | thought il
beet anything had seen In Dan Rice's
circus the year before There was the
limb. as supposed. glittering as the
sunbeams fell upon H. Presently the
thing broke loose from. as ! thought.
the parent tree and collcd itself up
into several complete rings | watched
IL with bated breath aud without wink
Ing my eyes. when an 40 once tho
thing Topped clear over TO the othrr
tree. / followed 1t with my eyes. and
saw that instead ~ being q limb OF "a
tree 10 was a monster snake. There Y
was sliding down the tree toward my
resting place. With a yell, rolled
from the bench, and crying murder as
loud as ! could ran towards the DO
tato field. Clayton heard my cries and.
calling the other men. hurried to see
what had happened told them shat
had seen. aud they ran down TO the
willows to see the monster. They ar
rived there In time TO see Il reach down
from one OF the branches towards the
little pond and swallow one Of unclc's
large ducks that had been swimming
on the pond Two OF the men had
brought hoes with them and with these
they attacked the snake. but as they
struck at Us head u caught one OF the
| hoes In IT, mouth and used q as a wcap-
on OF defense. The other man and the
| snake had q regular fencing lesson
with each other. while Clayton hurried
10 the house for his gun. After parry
/ ing Tor some time the snake swung U.s.
hoe around with such force that /,
knocked the mans hoe from his hands
| into the pond. where u struck and kill
ed a valuable drake.
The snake dropped It's hoe and came
sliding down the tree while We all left
as fast as We could. when II reached
the ground Il took up the hoe again and
chased Ms towards the house. The two
men caught me up snd carried me on
their arms Clayton empticd his gun az
the snake. but did II no harm. for IL slid
on with the hoe In It's mouth across the
meadow towards the woods and was
never again seen IN that neighborhood
Ha