Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1896-12-02
BOY SNAKE CHARMER

This is a story of i boy who wanted
10 become Il snake charmer and how he
was broken of his infatuation. 1t began
when he paid visit to museum
where he saw a slender. swarthy man,
advertised as the ''Ophidian Monarch, :"
fondle monster serpents as if they were
the most tractable and lovable creatures
in the world.
The boy was city bred and there was
10 chance for him TO practice on snakes
about his home But he had an uncle
who lived in the country at whose
house he passed a part of the summer
vacation every year. AS soon as he
was well settled at the farm last sum-
mer he set out on what he called still
hunt for serpentsH He was not sure his
uncle and aunt would approve of his as
pirations, but their disapproval seemed
so extremely likely that he decided to
work secretly.
1t was not long before his efforts
were crowned with success. Indeed the
very first day of his sOjOurn at his I'M
cle's house, as he was walking along
path in the ''wood lott he saw Il common
.'streaked" or ''garter" snake Wriggllng
across the foot way. The creature slid
partly under a fiat stone but the boy was
too quick for it and succeeded III cap
turing it before it had entirely dlSap-
pcared He had no difficulty at all in
handling his acquisition, though its scaly
skin felt queer and tritie disagreeable
to the touch, but for q time he was puZ-
Zled TO know what to do with it. He
finally decided to put it in a big empty
packing case, which stood in the orchard
behind the barn.
Next day the young snake hunter
went about industriously turning over
stones in his search for snakes. Before
night on that day a round half dozen
garter snakes of varying sizes had heen
taken and it was not long Gefore the big
box held a regular colony OF Kissing,
Suuirming prisoners. There was 40 cover
TO the box, but as snakes cannot climb
unless they have something like pole
or tree to coil around. they were as
securely confined as if there had been
Il massive lid, held down by tons of rock.
Once or twice their captor took two
or three Of them out and tried to teach
them to coil about his arm and fold
themselves about his neck as he had
seen the ''Ophidian Monarch" perform
with his snakes at the museum. but the
experiments were not marked by great
success. 1t was fun, though, for the
boy to stand by the box and watch his
captiyes.
About a week after the first snake had
been captured one of the farm hands
discovered the lads queer scheme. At
first the man was inclined to tell the
boys uncle but the youngsters pleas
were so strenuous that silence was final
" promised. That pleased the boy
nightly, but not SO much as the snake
stories that the man reeled off. He
seemed to have an endless store Of them.
One was about big 'blUe racer"
The blue racer" said the man, sis
a mighty ticklish sort of snake. 1t will
chase boys, and l shouldn't advise you to
90 around turning too many fiat stones.
Some day you'll uncover a blue racer
and then you'll wish you hadn't both
cred none with snakes.
Blue racers" the man went on, "are
really bIack-that is blue-black, with a
white streak around the neck. When
they are mad they raise their heads up in
the air and then they siss as loud as a
goose and then they start for you. Blue
racers are about six or seven feet long,
more or less. Once one caught a friend
of mine and wound around him and
would have choked him to death and then
sucked his blood, only my friend was too
quick. He managed to get his jacknife
and cut the snake III two"
Whether the farm hands story about
the blue racer" was true or net the boy
never found out. But the tale impressed
him greatly, and the next day when he
upturned a stone under which q rather
big snake. black and without stripes