The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1899-10-25

est idea where he wanted to 60. I held
up nv left hand and attracted his atten-
ton to it, and he concluded that would
be as good resting place as any. And
! so be made the change. | might have
indicated some other place.
"Suppose, now, that l instruct this
snake to put his head under this raised
| coil. See, he does it. On account Of my
| familiarity with the habits of snakes |
coulo tell by the pressure on my hand
that he was about to lun his head into
that position"
SNAKE DOESN'T KNOW IT.
cit is comparatively easy to handle a
snake. The creature is not aware of the
fact that he is being handled unless he
is pinched or i'll treated. The snake SIM
ply glides over your hand. He has soTe
notion that you are alive, but that does
not worry him. By simply keeping the
coils moving and blocking the progress
of the reptile you can give the impress
sion that you are indeed aIsnake charm
er.
THEIR CUNNING A MYTH.
"You hear much concerning trained
snakes. AS matter of fact, a snake is
! too dull and stupid to be either trained
or charmed. One might as well speak
of horse trainer as being a horse
charmer. The man who knows horses
will go into stall where a vicious ami
NAL is confined and simply pat him on
the side and apparently get him in COM
plete control. l might enter that stall
and presently be kicked to death. 1t
would be because l do not understand
the nature of the horse as well as | do
the disposition of snakes. / know if
grasp reptile back of the head that he
cannot possibly bite me-"
Mr.. Won MOser stopped at this point,
seized seven-foOt rattlesnake, deity
opened his mouth and piled lead pen
Gil under the deadly fangs.
every poisonous" he said, "but /
never remove the faugs from my snakes.
1t necessitates removing them again af
ter time, and the creature is finally so
weakened that he dies. Now, am so
familiar with the movements of rattle
snakes that | know that while in this
position he could not possibly bite me.
When you see man performing on the
stage with six or seven live rattlers you
may know that the reptiles are fangless
and have probably been dIugged. |
could hold perhaps two of these rattle
snakes in my hand at one time, but If |
tried to hold any more think that sen,
sble people would call me very foolish
and foolnardy."
MAY BE AFFECTIoNATE.
"You seem to have a strange power
over snakes" said. us it because they
fear you or because they like you?"
mot at all, /" he replied. "Snakes are
as fond of one person as they are of an
ther. They do not know the difference:
they do not recognize you. Besides Tat
they are very ungrateful. In fact, THEN
ngratitude is about the only true thing
which common tradition accords to
them. ] had snake once for four years.
l warmed him by my freside, 1 petted
ard coddled him, and, just to test his
devotion to me, | let him out of HIS cage.
He ran away and he never came back.
''You speak of the cunning of SER
peat. Why, L have seen two snakes
spend an nour trying to find little frog
IN the corner of their cage. They could
smell the frog, but they could not dis
tinguiSh him from piece Of moss, eX-
cept when be jumped Then they man
aged to get to the place that he jumped
from, and they tried to trace him by
means OF cir tongues. The snakes
sense of smell is very acute, and the
touch of his tongue enables BIN to trace
his pIey. His other faculties are very
dull, and his brain is exceedingly small
de is nervous and sensitive. He does
not want to fight, and he would be glad
to get out of the way.
ga man who says that he can train
and charm snake simply says what is
ridiculous and untruthful. | am very
fond OF snakes, however, for their beau
~ and their grace, and also because they
nave been much maligned
EADTV CARI a AS OF nHInK ENG