The Savannah morning news., 1902-07-27
'CoONS AND 'POsSUMS.
Negro professors" Contribution to
Natural History.
From Zi0n's Hera Id

Negro professors" Contribution to
Natural History.
From lions Herald.
While holding the Blue Ridge con-
ference 1 was the guest of Presby
terrain lady, who lived in lonely, old
fashioned Southern house under the
shadow of Mount Mitchell and about
two and a half miles from Marion, N.
C. 1t was most romantic spot, with
a noisy brook on one side, foothills of
the Black range on both sides, with
only pasture path through sedge and
loblolly pines to the chapel in the
woods a quarter of mile distant, and
which could only be reached by wa
gon by going to the town and back
again. My hostess assigned an old
white-haired negro, formerly slave,
to care for me, and he was assiduous
almost to the point of pain. Years OF
wandering have given me some capac-
ity of self-help, nor do 1 think
wholly lack the disposition. Andrew
had been a house servant under the
old conditions and had the manners of
a good family. In early days, as my
hostess said, he had been a mighty
hunter and, though past 20, had lost
meme of his skill. When some argu-
ment came up between us as to the
anatomy of oposums he promptly said
he would have one when l came back
from the morning session of the con-
| ference, and he did! Andrew was
right, and the book l had read was
wrong.
have met no man of late of keener
observation or closer knowledge of the
birds and beasts around him. Finding
me interested in what he knew he
would linger after mending my fire in
the evening in the hope of further talk,
which l was always glad to crafty. So
for several evenings / made him my
instructor as to deer, bear. wildcats,
snakes, raccoons and opossums, making
notes of what he said with a view of
sharing my knowledge with the read
ers of the Herald. And this is what
he told me of "coons" and "possums. 3"
Yer see, Jedge, I'm an ole man now
| but / hunted UP ter a year ago.
allus went along wild my dog Takes a
pertickler kind of dog for a posSum
| hunt. Dis time OBJ de year de possum
come near de houses lookin for chick
| ms, but in de snowtime dey makes
beds, and good uns, too, in de hollers
OBJ trees and stumps. De possum make
a berry nice bed of dry grass and leaves.
He don't sleep in de winter, like de
bar (bear), but jus trabbels. When
| de snow is on yer kin track him to
! his holler and cut him out wild an AK
A coon will fight dog as bad as an
oder dog, an if he amt a very pertick-
Ter good dog de coon will whip i'm. But,
ledge, dere amt no fight fer dog in
possum. He jus lay down and show
! his teeth an den make believe he's
asleep. But dat possum hab his eye
on dat dog all de time. Sometimes a
| young fool dog come up an smell him
and nose him roun' while dat possum
play dead. But If dat dog jes' turn
tail Oil him one mint dat possum takes
| to de woods!
mo, dere amt much fight in a pos
sum, but sometimes an ole possum
fight right smart. But you jes' git
| dat possum in a tree and he'll whip a
coon. If he's in a 'simmon (persim-
NOM tree de possum will whip his tail
| two, three times roun' a little branch,
and den he'll claw with all his four
| feet and bite wild his mouf. But de
coon can't hang on wild his tail. OATS
whar he am at a disadvantages; he
mus hang on wild his hind legs. So
all de coon can do is to fight wild his
forelegs and his mouf. OATS why de
possum ticks him.
when 1 use to hunt possum my dog
woulud git on de scent and hunt him
to tree. De possum is one of desc yer
night birds. He lie still all day. At
night de possum don't hunt for home
| but climbs a tree to get rid of de dog.
| A possum wild dog after him if he
| is near home will jes' run in. But gin
orally he hang out on a tree as far as
de linn will hold him. Den l shake de
tree. He thinks he gwine ter fall and
twists his tail anoder turn roun' de
linn. But dat don't do no good. case
| l cut de tree down. When he trees
| falls de dog will catch him.
Yes see. dar is two kinds of pos
sums-de gray and de black. De black
will run same as de fox. Dey is more
scarcer dan de gray. Dey are jes'
as good ter eat, but don't grow so
big. case dey is a kind of small pos
sum. Black possum don't play dead
much. He's ready for a fight and ne
nebber comes so near de house, but
stays in de woods. A good fat gray
possum will weigh mebbe Is pounds,
but fat black possum won't weigh
| more dan nine. He's a bad-lookin' pos
sum case he's black! Yah. yah, so
he looks more savage dan a gray pos
| sum-
Yes, all possums are great chicken
thieves, wuss dan sum low niggers!
One night l heered my chickens in a
row. l went to de hen house, and dar
was possum on de roost a-cuttin'
| of a chicken 'roun de neck l done
git light quick and set in de hen
house Den de possum jump down
quick and my dog git him. De pos
sum viii bite mighty hard. Yer mus
choke him off or tear him out
"Coons an possums don't agree much
togedder. In dis yer country coons
live mostly in de rocks. Some say
possum is de best eatin'. say COON
Postum tastes pretty good. but de
coon tastes more strong of wildness.