The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1898-11-20
WOMEN VIEW THE SNAKES.
ALSO HANDLE THEM IN A SURPRTsING
WAY ar THE SNOW.
Their Hereditary R~epuRnance for the Ser
pent Destroyed Apparently By Famil-
iarity-Entertainment Provided by the

| HOTNo SNOW, muQO n TcfOTu IOf lNHtlI lust Wttk
IL Is about the weirdest thing New York has
seen In many a day. The snakes themselves
arc not 30 remarkable. Plenty Of New York.
ers. who have occasional little snake shows oil
their own. have seen funnier specimens. But
the exhibition az the Grand Central Palace
doesn't have to depend entirely on it's reptiles
Women hate snakes and love horses. but they
are helping the snake show along with the
same fervnr they devote to the Horse Show.
some men. as before said. have grown 20
used 20 seeing queer snakes that plain com
mon serpents, with no appendages except rat
tiers. bore them. Anything less spicy than q
green and violet specimen with a hibbortiGib-
bet head, sapphire wings ard q fantail seems
tame to their jaded appetltes. These ecesn-
trio specimens are not uncommon In NewiYork.
But while plenty OF men know n snake whom
they see IL and even when they don't sec II.
not one man in a million has ever beheld his
wife amiably Juggling with the ~serpents he
saw or with those he thought he saw. He will
have to go to the snake show in order TO real
lie this vision. After he has seen his wife
tickle the boa under the chin and heard her
talk baby talk to the cannibal king, he will
want to ask somebody TO introduce him to her
SO that he can get acquainted all over aRain.
The hall where the exhibition is held suG-
Rests a warm summer day In Tophet. Their
mometers are not provided. but any one espe-
cially anxious to be on the safe side would
guess that the mercury would hustle up 10 90'
without loss Of time. The snakes like 4, The
kind Of way. In the, middle Of the afternoon
their appreclatiSn OF the favor by acting their
prettiest. But the most interesting exhibit is
f peer f1ST INTO the hs b Boxes s ssyI men au sRa E snS Rd e.
my" and tapping on the glass to rouse the
snakes inside. Pretty Roon some woman says
What Find Of a snake is that big ons'"
"A. boa constructor"
light feet. He Is getting ready TO shed his
inc oh n s %PydI How can you tell when he is 60
"BS his eyes.,' and Mr.. Highly. calmly opens
the case. which contains the boa, with four
face TO make them keep away. and hauls out
the great coils, q the eonstrictor;
the Bio, snake on the floor the people edge re-
was put on the tioor a man wa, standing at an
movement Of the people back OF him as they
edged away In q circle made him turn around
%strIotor. which wv was saf p%er fe tiSv fr e,." The fRe man man
didn't make Q sound. but plunged .madly
s tbhreeg men the wS SsoS Sdpp s,%S9t to 9P ps IL S,s two ros Or
or course. everybody laughed and the man
came back rather sheepishly,
M " ithC tul6 kChCIullg 1tdEN6 III T6d
show. and from that time until, the crowd goes
some oil, the snakes are scarcely inside OF their
crowd with the serpents twined around their
arms and necks, or holding one in O mass OF
knots among the fingers OF one hand. II is the
go up to a snake which some one. Is holding
and stroke it with her bare hand;
Did you ever touch O snake before nowp"
the reporter asked such a woman
why do you now?"
'Well II i1 won't hurf thia man H. won v burt
But how about the repuenance women are
We'll, / was curious TO know how 1t would
r 1eel; and sqRp sS}e i, m isS e'qr aon o aSe f "a 3eI my
them" closing her fingers around the snake
and passing her hand up and down. It's cold.
but 1t is perfectly dry. Railways had an idea
Sbossat t6st bss. al2v 3 man said as the
little iii leI fSouMr-rear,oid boy II here g yes Z sa aft @y
noon, and inside Of half an hour my wife was
Datttng the 6Ea on the head while my boy was
A woman has a boy Of pine snakes in one
corner, and her assistant. q auiet-lookipg
velvet collar. seems to have q particular fond
ness for a long. light.colorsd pine snake from
ing and is particularly effective cooled around
that green velvet collar. While the pine
spaked young woman was standing near one
came along. There was quite a crowd. so the
two young women wore pretty close together.
made blue girl and evidently concluded that
the color would suit its complexion quite as
l Sst, L w FfssR; s and T WrlSgieG as sraand her IT. n nTSt
Bowed po Sit SS T. Tie Blu FIJI sYspD anu 'Aea "
King sH eating fns' a rat. Then the Pine S,s snak aa boWsd
sinuating fashion. but still the blue girl paid
no attention to i; So che snake ~tenderly laid
was to brush the reptile aside impatiently and
Said, the reporter: Aren't You afraid to
have that snake poking its head around you In
The girl turned and eyed 1t calmly.
II t. won't hurt her, 1t won't hurt me" she
but il you should see a little Gartersnake In
the road you would run q mile. Yet you know
that the garteEsnake isn't going to hurt you"
be glad to see the n snake run. It seems s difier,
ent here. After you have been In here a while
Then. YOU wouldn't have.touched one when
Mercy. mol thought they were loath-
but somehow you can't Keep on having cold
shivers and thrills Of horror for such a length
Of time unless there's something to help you
The msnagsE of the show stood around
This isthe easiest show / ever had to rum
he said. 1T Just runs itselI. Let some OF the
women play with the snakes and the men and
the rest OF the women stand around and watch,
and It's all they ask. / hadn't any more idea
that this was going TO turn into q sort of a free
for-al. affair than ! had that the snakes would
grow feet and walk around the hall. The only
trouble is TO keep enough OF the snakes In the
boxes TO have a few for people 10 look at that
way. I've had to label the ~rattlers and cop
perheads Danger IL I didn't. people would
be inviting q Coroner's inquest by trying to
We'll. l have one other, trouble; that's 80,
You see. we have to give the snakes live rats
TO eat. and some. people raise q howl about II.
II is kind OF nitiful to see one of the little fell
lows crouched down In o corner. his hair Just
standing on end, waiting to be made a meal OF.
But. you see. I'm between two fires. Either
I've got TO let the rats be killed and eaten by
the snakes or. I've got to let the snakes starve
10 death for lack OF the rats. And there you
Here are a couple Of snakes that don't
guiIe q while Hgo and at fEst he cropched down
Just stood up straight. But the snakes didn't
pay any attention TO him, and finally he began
TO think that, at any rate. maybe he'd like to
a drink before he died. 30 he crawled over |
the edge OF the dish. drank some OF the water, |
and now no seems to be climbing around over
the snakes as II they were the best and oldest
of friends, As thtnRs stand now. I'm not sure
whether the rat Will ear the anakaR nr fha