Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1905-07-11
SNAKES FOND OF CHILDREN.
Instances Of This Characteristic Taken
From Life in the Australian Bush.

From Lire IN the AuSIraitan 6uSns
1 have found that children In the
bush show very little fear Of snakes.
The bigger the snake the greater the
Joy of getting near 1t and the stronger
the desire to play with 1t. The snakes
bright eyes and sinuous motion prob
ably charm. And snakes, even the
most vicious, respect the confidence,
says Chambers's Journal. have
known numbers Of cases with which
they return 1t with what must be
called affection. A snake that will
wiggle away from an adult will plac-
idly survey a child and wait for en-
couragement to approach.
Here Is an instance to my hand:
We all knew there was snake In
the house. Glimpses Of 1t had been
caught on three separate occasions,
but 1t was too swift in getting under
cover. Bush houses in Australia are
roughly put together, and odds and
ends Of various sorts are Uttered
about, with occasional heavy articles
against the walls. To move the heavy
things is somewhat dangerous unless
the light is good and an experienced
bushman be Of the party. The usual
plan is to watch and walt. The sides
of the cottage were built Of round
timber and there was a likelihood on
each occasion that this particular
snake had wriggled through and out.
Minnie, q child Of three, was more
vivacious than usual next morning.
She sat on an opossum rug on the
floor of the room adjoining the break
fast room, where most Of the family
were collected. Her chattering ex-
cited comment. "Stay," whispered her
father; something strikes me. She's
talking to something, and I bet it's
the snake"
With his riding whip in his hand
he stepped softly to the open door
and peeped In. The snake had Its
head in Minnie's lap and was being
fed with little snips off a square Of
lump sugar.
1t was a black snake of a dangerous
size, and the father was doubtful how
to act. If alarmed it might viciously
attack the child. He surveyed the
possible means Of escape, and whisper
ed to his wife to call Minnie. The
child moved at the call, and the snake
drew back and made sudden dive
toward a chest Of drawers at the op-
posite wall. That was what was
wanted, and the riding whip did the
rest.
A friend of mine tells of an Incl
dent Of a similar kind. At Koondrook,
q little settlement in Victoria, a
woman heard her child, IS months
old, laughing as If she were having
great fun. The child was supposed
to be asleep in bed. The mother
went to the room and found the child
scrambling over the bed after some
thing she could not see.
That happened several times. Once.
however, the mother went in suddenly
and heard something drop off the bed.
Looking hurriedly under the bed, she
distinctly saw q large snake that
turned upon her with evident inten-
ton to fight. When the husband
came home he pulled up the boards
of the floor, but there was no sign
Of the snake. Next day, however,
snake and child were discovered ly-
ing together on the floor, the child
asleep, and the snake apparently so.
That night the husband tried plan.
He placed a candle on the floor along
side Of the child, and asked the wife
to play a slow air on the harmontum.
Movements Of the snake could be
heard, but the rustic was all he
vouchsafed.
Next night the child was similarly
posted, and the mother tried the ef-
feet of working her sewing machine.
The sound was too tempting. The
snake wriggled to the child with
alacrity, and was promptly despatched
by the father. It was tiger snake,
nearly five feet in length, and when
killed was fondled by the child as an
old pet.
We never hear in the bush Of a
snake biting a yorng child. On the
other hand, numbers Of cases are re-
counted in which mothers have laid
infants on the bed in dark rooms and
discovered a second later that snake
was underneath the child. The snatch
ing UP Of the child released the snake,
and invariably the trouble ended there.
A governess In charge Of a child
was fond Of sitting among the rocks
at the seashore. She read good dead,
and was contented so long as the
child played about without making
noise. At last, perhaps when she had fin
ished her book, it struck her as strange
that at that particular place among
the rocks the child was always pre-
ternaturally quiet She rose slowly
and glided to a projecting boulder,
behind which she knew the child had
crawled. The child was motionless on
hands and knees, and was staring at
some small object beside a tuft of
withered grass.
The governess watched intently fol
several seconds. Gradually she made
out two deadlike eyes, like little points
Of fire, and with further inspection
was able to define the small head OF
a snake, similar in color to the with
cred grass. A hole ran under the
rock, and the snakes head alone pro-
truded. The pupils Of the child's eyes
were dilated, but in other respects II
was half asleep. This would help the
claims of those who endow snakes with
power to fascinate birds. But there
is nothing to indicate that the snake
In question meant injury to the child
A bush clergyman visited me on one
occasion, and, dismounting, threw his
saddlebag on the veranda. The flar
fell open and a green whip snake pop
ped out. 1t happened that there was
no weapon handy, and the snake dis
appeared under the house. The clergy
man was greatly frightened. He cal