Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1896-05-26
SNAKES AT SCHOOL.
THEY CAUSE A NEW JERSEY TEACH
 ER TO STOP WORK.

Out of Winter Quarters by the Heat.
 Master and Pupils Nearly Scared Out of
 Their Wits.
 Snakes have broken up the sprina term of school in the Cloverdale district of New Jersey, and obed Harding, who has taught there for the last ten years. says he's got through unless the district sees fit 10 build Q new sehoolhouse.
 Obed is pretty well along in years, and his eyesight is not as good as it was when he was younger When he opened the sehoolhouse ene morning during the warm spell fortnight ago, he saw something stretched across the top of his desk that looked like a pretty good sized stick of wood He immediately formed the opinion that the pupils had put 1t there for a joke, and, reaching out he grabbed it with tho intention of throwing 1t over into the corner by the stove. To his amazement, when his fin- gers settled around the stick it rose up. doubled and wound itself affectioDate- ly around lis arm 1t was q six foot blacllsl1alse, and although it was @ little dull from it's winter sleep it had suifi- cient life to scare 0bed pretty nearly out of his senses. With | howl the teacher ieeped fer the door, holding the snake e4eiralcd arm in front of him as if it belonged to somebody else and he was ia hurry for the other man to take it. On the doorstep he met one of the pupils, who quickly get 8 stick and hit the snake a crack that nearly broke the teacher $ arm, but it had the effect Of making the reptile loose it's hold and drop 10 tie ground.
 'Gfeewhillikinsp' exclaimed Obed. l That Was a narrow escape. It was i an hour or more before he got his nerves into such shape that he could open school.
 The warm days continued, and one afternoon. while Obed was sitting on { the platform that raised him tight inch es above the level cf the foor tilted I back in his chair and secretly watching the pupils from under his half closed eyelids, his attention was drawn to small hole near the middle of the plat form which had served him for five years as q cuspidor He thought he saw the hole move. He looked at 1t sharply, but it showed no signs of life, and, thinking that perhaps he had had a nap and was dreaming, he resumed his vigil [ and did fall into a doze
 It lasted only . minute or two, and E he came out of t with start He saw 3 wiggHng object about two feet long E hauling itself through the hole on to the platform. The next instant the pupils were startled by q crash, and they saw the teacher dancing around behind his desk whipping the floor vigorously E with long supple sapling which he had used ill about the same manner oR some Of the pupils.
 What the matter. lIr Harding?'' shouted enc of the boys
 Snakest replied the teacher, bring [ ing the stick down with a crack.
 In the twinkling of an eye the pupils were en top of the desks, and some of the brayest Of the boysrushed to the as sistance of the teacher, who pounded [ the snake until there wasn | a single [ shake left in its tail. It WAS four foot adder.
 The next day in the middle of the forenoon, while the arithmetic class was reciting, a little girl startled the school with a screanl and climbed OH top of her desk.
 There 5 d snake il the aisleP' she cried, and sure enough a five foot black snake WAS working it's way slowly down the floor between the seats. It was quickly dispatched, and the lessons went on.
 The sehoolhouse is an old building, and in many places the plaster is bro ken leaving the laths bare, and the openings have been made larger by the knives of mischieyous boys. About an hour after the snake was killed ill the aisle one of the boys yelled:
 There's another snake, teacher"
 He pointed to one of the holes ill the wall. from which big garter snake was slowly emerging One of the boys flung a slate at it, and the snake fell te the floor with it's back broken. The pu- pills were getting extremely nervous now, and the teacher had his hands full Ill hSGt}llI2 tli1ili etV ll4SiA 0SOAA2.
 In the afternoon three more snakes crawled out of the holes in the wall, and one was found coiled up in a com fortable spot on bench at the rear of the room. where the sunlight fell. Along about 3 o'clock Obed, who had watched the hole in the platform sus- pioiously eyer since the adder had come through it. saw about six inches of slim, writhing form rise through it. He reached for the bell and let 1t drive in the direction of the hole, but it flew wido of tue mark, and the snake drop ped out of sight.
 Schools dismissed, :" he said, and the pupils lost no time in getting out side.
 The next day the teacher, Hiram Sam ders, Orrin Bump and Gib Tripp went to the schoolhouse and killed 34 reptiles
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