Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-12-03
SNAKES IN IRELAND.
Two Specimens of the Ring Variety
Found on the Island.


Found on the Island.
From the New York Herald
Do we wake? Do we dream? Do the sun
move? Do things fall up and not down? Do
two and two make five? Is the world fat
and not round? Was it Bryan and not Nc
kinley who was elected? Is Mr.. Croker
patriot and a martyr?
Has everything been turned topsyturvy,
in short?
The discovery that there are snakes in
Ireland will affect many people as strangely
as any other portent that could be mag
ined. The fact that Ireland is snake,ess
and has been so ever since that great and
holy man st. Patrick concluded his minis
try there is one of the accepted facts of
Irish history. 1t has been set down In one
OF the shortest. most succnct and most
famous chapters in all modern literature
the chapter in a book on natural history,
headed Snakes in Ireland and contain
Ing only these memorable words:
There are no snakes in Ireland
The same fact has been establish ID in
song. in story and in hagiology. Who does
not remember the poem containing these
lines:
There's not mile in Ireland's isle where the
dirty vermn musters,
Where'er he put his dear forefoot he murdered
them in clusters;
The toads went hop. the frogs went hop slap,
dash into the water,
And the snakes committed suicide to save them
selves from slaughter.
According to famous legend there was
one snake old and so cunning that he
survived all the rest of his species for
many years, despite every effort Of the
saint. At last the latter conceived a nota-
Die plan. He had a strong chest made with
nine bolts upon 1t. Then he walked out
carelessly to the lair of the reptile and in
formed him (this, it will be remembered,
was In the days when animals not only
understood what was told them, but could
talk back in return) that he had built an
elegant winter house for his snakeship
And the snake believed his smooth words
and followed him to examine the house.
But when he saw the nine bolts he grew
alarmed and was for making off.
Nay" said st. Patrick. Its a nice
warm house I've made for we, and It's a
good friend l am to ye.'
THANK We, kindly, St. Patrick" an
swered the snake, but it's too small for
me-"
TOO small?" cried the saint, with we'll
affected surprise. I'll tell you what me
boy, I'll bet you gallon of porter that if
you Will only get in it you will find plenty
of room.'
Now, the snake was thirsty that day,
and the thought of doing the holy man out
of gallon of porter was joyous to him.
So swelling himself up as big as he could,
In he got, all but a little bit of his tall
There. now" says he, I've won the gal
Ion. We see, for the house is too small for
HE, CdH gel III the SUu OIL my tall.
Whereupon. what does the saint do but
slam down the heavy lid Of the chest. In
went the serpents tail like a flash.
Straightway the saint began fastening the
nine bolts.
"Oh. murder! Won't you let me out. St.
Patrick" cried the snake. I've lost the
bet fair, and I'll pay the gallon like
man"
tomorrow" and with that he heaved the
chest into the lake below. And to this day
the serpent lies there at the bottom Of the
lake. His struggles make the waves upon
the surface. And many man in the neigh
borhood will swear that he has heard his
piteous voice waling:
us it tomorrow yet? Is 1t tomorrow
YETI"
But tomorrow has never arrived up to
the latest accounts. Is 1t possible that the
snake has at last found means of escape?
Twice in this century, however the alarm
has been raised that snakes had reappeared
in the Isle of Saints.
In the year 1881 an Irish gentleman named
James Cleland determined upon an expert
ment. He wished to ascertain whether the
climate and soil Of Ireland were in them
selves destructive to the serpent species He
therefore purchased half dozen of the
common, harmless English snakes in Co.
vent Garden market, London. These he
turned loose in his garden at Bath-Gael,
in the county of Down. A week later one
of them was killed at Milecross. about three
miles distant.
The persons who killed it had no idea of
its nature. but fancied 1t to be a curious
sort of eel. DR.. ]. L. Drummond, IA
nous Irish naturalist. was consulted. AS
soon as he saw the body he declared 1t was
a snake. The idea that "rale live sar-
pint" had been killed within short dis
lance of the very burial place of St. Pat
rick raised an extraordinary sensation
among the peasantry. The most absurd ru-
mors were circulated, and credited alike
by the country clergy and laity. One priest
declared that the appearance of the snake
foreboded the approach of the millennium
Another saw in 1t type of the approach of
cholera morbus. A third warned his flock
that the snake foreshadowed 1.-The beginning
of the end
More predetermined persons subscribed
a sum of money to be paid out in rewards
for any other snakes that might be de- /
stroyed in the district. Three other rep
tiles were in fact killed soon afterward !
within few miles of the garden where |
they had been liberated. The remaining |
two were never clearly accounted for, but |
no doubt they also fell victims to their |
hunters.
Again in the year 1890 snakes were re-
ported to have been found in Ireland. Three |
years previous an American Snowman |
named Wilson had arrived there with a