The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-12-03
us UNCLE's SNAKE STORY.
cprSWOLD REHEARsES 1T BE-
FORE TAKING 1T ABROAD.

.,...,,,ondsport Letter in New York Sun.
NJ ,rao wild swan. Wild Goose and Wild
III, club Of Hyde county, North Caro-
of which Packy Griswold, late in
.-,o+or TO the Hammondsport Try-to-
~ f,lack-Bass Club, is razor-back- hog
I'm, inator-in-chief, is preparing to be-
t.s annual onslaught on things along
T,,,rrico sound, and Mr.. Griswold is busy
inc ready to go down and put himself
| the head of his department. He is try
his guns, training his dogs, and lay
- in necessary supplies. Among these he
a,rays includes a story or two to take
INC and with it amaze the natives of
I'D county. Without any warning he
.,lated his arrangements. in this re-
o,+ Yesterday. 1t was the only thing
4 ~. disturbed the serenity of Thanksgiv-
Il da- here and hereabouts. The Fair
MIA House Circle, having had its
E lrhonksgiying dinner, was in session in
Il e.rr,allv. enjoying its post-prandial
& make Nobody was saying a word. But
3 pactv Criswold was present for a pur-
nose and suddenly, in calm voice and
5 pjtbout making even an effort to open his
& asos he broke the silence.
'nNiv uncle over in the town of Wayne"
"a he seen bear kill a snake once
Sou,n in the Rolypoly Run country, and
49, The snake must a been the last of
-" ace for l never heard of any one
4 saoin' another snake like it since
a s.ying this. Mr.. Griswold opened his
.r 9a' and looked around on his fellows of
s. the circle as if to note the effect OF his
8 onening remarks upon them. He saw
q Looks of surprise everywhere, when SEEM
Cd to satisfy him, and keeping his eyes
s. onAn now. he calmly proceeded:
81 t@of course" said he, "a good many fell
,or citizens of my uncle's sot the story go
~, hat if he had took the pledge when he
Tae Young and had kept it ever since, he
,pouldn't "a seen that snake the bear Killed,
.,,+ tbarn teller citizens was Jealous of my
80 and he ignored their 'siniwations,
1-ant his own counsel, and the same old
two-galion Jug in his house, and told that
snake story till the day he was called 10
Ms fathers and went leavin hole IN the
bodv noitc of the town o. Wayne, Niger =
lively soeakin', that no three O. the best
tind o. teller citizens hain't never been
HE TO plug up even to this day.
zone day. a good many years ago, my
,,ncie was settin' on the edge o Rolypoly
Run Holler skinnin a couple o deer ne
bad killed He wasn't a hunter, nor he
wasn't a fisherman, my uncle wasn't, put
a man whose bond would be look any :
s where's lest as quick as his word. lie had
1riIled Them TWO deer, though, and sot there
sknnin EN-. He skun away at them deer,
and he skun and he skun till at last he mad
'em both peeled hen he happened to look
off to one side where there was an openln
a in the bushes. and he seen somethin that
made him culver and quaYer
'".T twin iewsharpsr said he. It's one O.
tbem log-hghtin' snakes that folks in these
parts used to remember!
They called EN- log-hghting' snakes
& cause they didn't like it when the lum-
& bermen took to goin' into the Rolypoly
81 Run country: so they used to git together
and fight the logs the lumbermen rolled
Il down the hills to the creek, and tried to
stop EN- from gittin there. The rollln'
Il logs used to kill a good many o the
= snakes, and that put the men back with
their work when they come to drive tho
s logs, cause they couldn't tell which was
logs and which was dead snakes. AND
{ it was one o. them snakes my uncle see
garin at him that day, and he was gittin
ready to hand his two deer over to 1t ana
cut sticks for the nearest camp when no
s. seen somethin else so he changed his
mind
This is gettin' interestin' said my I'M
BE. This is, indeedr
Seems to me that was a natural thing
10 say, under the circumstances. First,
here was the two deer my uncle had Jest
kkun; then there was the tremenjus snake
layin off in the bushes glarin' at him,
hnd shootin out a tongue like red-hot
poker; and now here come slammln'
big bear pokin' it's nose out o. the bushes
pn tother side, opposite the snake! That
Nas tother thing my uncle seen. inter-
fstln'? Seems to me that sayin O. my UNI
PIES hit the mark pretty square, didn'
Mr. GTswold paused for a reply. He
pidn get any. This did not disturb him.
The bear" he continued, seen the
fnake and the snake seen the bear stimuli
aneousy both at the same time. The
pear was goin somewheres, and his course
ay through the openin. 1t wasn't Ions
before my uncle seen that the bear was
mhkn Of keepin' right on, snake or no
make, and that the snake didn't Intend to
et the bear do nothin' of the sort. The
ear began to snap his jaws and growl
nd show his big white teeth. The snake
4 lrowed itself into coil
That coil was quite amazin',' my un-
used to say. Tt looked like good
10y chopin o. cordwood piled up, as
On as anything can think Of he used
4 = say.
MY uncle sot down on one of his deer
ll got ready to enjoy the fun that he
moved was bound to come. He couldn't
yer remember how it was done, but
elore ne knowed it the snake had pouKc-
on the bear and had him twisted up
its coil, all but his head and neck. The
axe didnt waste no time, but begun
SOCK the screws right on to bruin.
IL must a squeezed toler-ble hard.
al snake must my uncle used to say,
IN less than two seconds the bear s
was standin' out on his forehead
~ r couple O. knobs on a bury dror."
Inc howlin' and hissin' and snappn,
uncle said, was as good as a hurri-
le dancin' through the woods. Do all
could, the bear couldn't reach back
enough to git chaw at the snake,
an OF sudden the snake give a flop
Ia twist, and the next thing my uncle
was the snake with one o. the bear s
wa Leet in its mouth, and just more
a" uIawin' bruin into itself from that
beIore my uncle could count ten
snake had slid the bears foot and les
'n INTO tself clear to the tail, and was
ann l, out its under jaw to take in t'otn-
4 I'm lfemenjusr my uncle couldn't help
I'm out, and to his dyin' day he de-
that he wasn't afraid to say, and
T ~, 10 IL, that it beat all he ever seen.
fa'urally, this proceedin on the pari
X# Alt snake br ~, g. s,t . /, 90