Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1898-06-18

not aware OF II. WlIllalnS hau CIR.
cular cage constructed in the win
dow of his house facing Pine street,
which coulu be seen from the street,
rs au exhibition. In the middle Of
the den was a stump used as coiling
place for the snakes. In the den
We're twenty eight of the most danger
Gus reptiles, most of which We're rat
tiers, some of them as large as n man 5
arm.
After the doors were broken, the
men rushed inside, and Foreman Cam
pos. of Engine No. ,, gave orders to
open all windows and allow the dense
smoke to get out. This was done.
aud in few moments FiremeD Pitts
and Douglass got to the den. and TAX
ing it for window. struck their axes
into the wire netting. They could
see rothing for the dense smoke. and
pulled for some time in an effort to re-
move the stump, in order that the
outside wire might be opened.
y Fireman Douglass clinched snake
several times, but remarked to Pitts
that the stump was probably rotten as
it was "soft" in places. Finally the
task was abandoned and going out
they reported to Foreman Campos
that they could not move the stump,
and asked if another attempt should
be made. AS the blaze was under
control, however, having received the
contents of two chemical tanks, it was
decided to let the window alone.
About this juncture Williams, the
proprietor, appeared at the door and
cried out: "For mercy's sake, get ont
of here, men; this place is alive with
snakes" The place was vacated by the
tiremen as quickly as though the walls
were falling. After the smoke passed
away Williams managed to get his
reptiles back into their corners. The
tremen did not feel at all good over
their experience and specially those
who attempted to remove the stump.
A Brush With u RhinO.
We were with our gun bearers, 7
being in front, when suddenly we
heard peculiar grunt, which sounded
so exactly like lion that we halted
Immediately. writes an African traveller
in the Geographical Journal. 1t was
Andrews shot, and I was just getting
off my mule, when instead of lion,
out of the bush charged a grunting
rhino. We were in little gully, with
rise IN front OF us, hill on our left,
and bit of thick bush from which the
rhino charged on our right. About
ten yards off the rhino made several
short, erratic charges, and then, un-
fortunately, decided to go down the
narrow path along which Andrew was
riding. When about fifteen yards
distant the sensible mule turned tail
and bolted, but before he had gone
twenty yards the rhino was within a
yard of him. The rhinO was gaining
fast, so Andrew tried to turned his
mule into the bush on the left, but a
mule is mule, and he would not be
turned. Andrew threw himself off on
one side, hoping the rhino would at
tack the mule, but no, he swerved in
his course so quickly that he managed
to strike Andrew in the middle OF the
puSh, DuO III tuC uOl IlppCN
up the back of his coat and shirt.
After the shock he knew very little,
except that he remembers lying flat
and seeing a mass of clumsy legs over
him. When this disappeared he had
just enough sense and strength left to
crawl into the bush, and was greatly
relieved to find that he could even
crawl. 7 then saw the rhino standing
over Andrew and showing no signs of
moving. I rushed ON the animal, the
men following me, all shouting, as we
had no guns, and the rhino then made
up his mind and charged the fleeing
mule, which he came up with, but,
though he knocked it flying into the
scrub, did it 10 serious damage. We
brought Andrew, in semi-conscious
condition, into camp; he was badly
bruised and had his knee sprained,
the latter injury preventing him from
walking at all for many weeks.
Wcyler's Butclicries in Cuba.
"When Don Valeriano Weyler came
out to command us he got together
the greatest rascals in the country,
under the name of volunteers, and if
the regular soldiers under Weyler
were cruel to the country folk the vol
unteers were far worse. The dregs of
Havana, they perpetrated every crime
on the defenseless country folk, and
women and children suffered every
outrage at their hands. Weyler be-
lieved in killing people wholesale to
strike terror into the insurgents, but
it did very little good.
'It was enough to be discovered to
be a distant relative of an insurgent
to receive sentence of death. Boys
and women were shot, sick and
wounded in Cuban hospitals were
bayoneted, and when once or twice IL
lad in the ranks fresh from Spain re.
fused to obey the order to kill he was
promptly shot by his own officer. We
soldiers, however, generally got into
the habit of killing, and did not think
much of it, but we were never such
savages as the volunteers. "A Span
ish Soldier in the London Saturday
Review.
| An Electric Scarf Pin.