The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1896-11-15

ow enu myaeu met ono In the ROAD as We
MsTSon OUT way TO spend the day At camp meet
tall to he middle Of the body. aud il you strike
twill fall apart but will come together again.
Well, ! struck this fellow u corker and. II fell
and each part was a. least = foot from the
other; Camp meetin' didn't see us that day, We
s,aysd there and watched that snake; AZ Ions
thing. Then we climbed a big tree right over II
ana kept our eyes open and our mouths shut:
ana pull itself, together. First the head part
m9ved tnward the part that csme next
penter Joins two pieces OF moulding. 1t kept
that up until finally the tip Of the tail Was
properly l adjusted and then Mr.. Snake crawied
early as II O'Clock when i struck the blow and
the sun was just goin' down when the final con-
Lord! what a good liel' exclaimed one I'M
thinking listener.
In u minute the doctor was of his stool ana
ready TO close with him.
"A southern man don't take the lie, young
FELLOW" he said holly. ,.
planned the critic. "But you see it's too cold
for snakes to thrive where came from. In
about them. You and your friend have told
SONS pretty good stories, don't you think .
tor. Didn't You hear US say we'd seen all the
snakes we've, talked aboutH And we've seen
ioa .T more we pa, h%ye Trin talked a, about q ~ il calculated
to make one see sights" remarked the cynic In
a low tone.
glance at the cynic, do you recollect the time
! got that little piece Of shell thrown INTO me
t Wrsb Ms % sed y ,yanf h \" 'e 5o t ,Sts mes. along" along with
several chaps who had received similar doses, In
an am bulance to the hospital in Richmond ="
SNAKES, Charley ="
why surely you call to mind the snake we
Of Us fellows forgot 81 ti iEIt the war was going on.
much less did we remember that we had sub
stan 1ti. souvenirs Of It's prosTWSs s,, di .a Hol Sae N
to the snake: 1t was q large follow, a striped
one. We never would have seen IT, but for the
pitiful cries of a bird that sounded quite clear
fainter rs we got nearer to It.. We saw the bird
first flying round and round in, a circle just
road. Nearer and nearer the bird flew to
the limb each time and yet we could see
p ainly that It WAS doing its best to get
away. When we came up almost underneath
It there we saw stretched at full length on the
the bird, which was almost completely under
the spell of its. charm: We were all willing
ali; but bless me. before anybody was able TO
say so. Jake. our niger driver, jumped to his
feet aud struck that snake a mighty blow With
the long hickory switch which served him for q
whip. The smell was broken, and the bird-it
was a lark-was free. 1t gave a curious little
gasping noise, such as a woman makes after the
strain of "A terrible ordeal is over and lust before
she breaks into tears. But the lark didn't burst
, ,nae t ns Il rose Is 0 hisSe a" and h 11h%as '0ok R''"-
Jake. ] wish you hadn't done that you
said. for l wanted to see what would be the end
I'm sorry. Marse jim answered Jake. but
pears TO me Ike dat music is with not seem dc
end o de bird, and We all agreed with him.
That at least was one time when song was better
than science"
VERY pretty and very probable" commented
a rattlesnake with your own hands ~ he asked
in quite a friendly spirit.
Did l. young man 7" returned The doctor,
taking the question to himself. well. ! guess
! did: One day | was ridin' along the road when
all Of 4 sudden my horse began to shy like the
nothin' whatever in sight to make the nag cut
up like that, so let into her with my whip: but
plunged and trembled until l thought she'd un-
seat me in spite OF myself. About that time my
tlesnake ! ever laid my eyes on. 1t was lying to
one side of the road and its stomach was fear
fully distended in places. didn't get near
enough 10 make n thorough diagnosis. but
wheeled about and tied my horse to a saplin' at
safe distance. Then l began to collect rocks
big ones. carried them up on a little embank-
ment that happened to flank the road on the
opposite side from the snake. and when l
thought had enough lit into that RATHER with
but It acted as II 1t might be full OF dope. az you
people n up here non say; l.. couldn't run worth q
had its head mashed TO q jelly. About that time
some dsrkies came along, the, road. and they
EN- to me-. Here's the button now" he said.
taking a little hard. round object from his
s %Sas dc y SG't sSink " was saf inside Il Of for th lSef blame. Aea
rattlesnake? Three young rabbits and seven
hens eggs. all whole. No wonder II couldn't
crawl. 1t measured four feet and seven inches.
and it makes me have cold chills down my back
to think of it now" he concluded, draining his
glass for the 'steenth time.
Say. jim" said the literary man. "how
would you like TO wind up with q pousse cafe
before we goi'
What you gIvin' me. Charley ~ he answered.
by, all means let's stick to our whiskey
straight"
CAD exclaimed the critic, no wonder
snakes live and grow and wax fat and large and
sagacious in the SOUTH
Young man" said the doctor, as he but
toned up his long black coat. I'VE haven't
been tellin' snake lies. I'll give you my
hand on it. A. an honest Southern rentle-
man. every word you've heard us utter is
the essence OF truth. II you don't believe il
come down to the land Of Tillman and we'll
goes, and bigger snakes than any you've heard
us talk about. They don't 20 into their holes
down there until about Christmas time. when
the weather Is mild like IL is this fall, and some
OF EN- stay out oil winter