The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1905-09-11
And Snake story That Certainly
Calls For the Belt.

aI &
Since the day when Eve got the
snake into print. 1t has been con.
spicuous factor in human experience.
and always occupying an unenviable
position. Beeizebub himself has hard.
ly been attributed with more powers
of evil than the snake and the mere
fact that It is snake condemns any
member Of the snake connection, no
matter though II be as harmless as
any angle worm-in fact. the old col.
ored man who drives my horses as.
sures me in the most emphatic man
ner that 'Dey isn't no snakes dat
isn't pisen. Dey makes me mad when.
ever I sees one. and kills all Of dem
I can get, less'n 1t is the king snake.
and | kills dem IL is mad 'nough."
The king snake. 1t may be explain.
ed, is a member OF the blacksnale
family, which frequently kills the
poisonous serpents by squeezing them
to death. Perhaps that inclination
gave the snake its popularity with
Eve. Who knows?
North Carolina has a fine assert
ment of snakes. To man who comes
from the hill country of Pennsylvania.
where the whole snake membership
Is comprised in the rattle snake and
an occasional house snake, the rich
assortment In North Carolina is EN-.
lbarrasslng. have been nearly two
years trying to get some. of them class.
flied, SO I could know which to run
from and which to stand by and bluff.
I tried the Smithsonian Institute
Report ON snakes to make me nc.
1uainted with the North Carolina
kinds. but could never get one OF
them Ito stand still long enough to be
tried by the Smithsonian test, which
Is largely in Latin, and therefore not.
wholly clear to- a plain North Caro-.
lima snake. nor to me either. for that
matter In other words, X am not
certain when meet Ancistrodon
plsciyorous. whether that Is his name
or not, unless some fellow like I'm
Gle Wash McDoud happens to be at
hand TO blur the snake over the head
is moccasin. stiah 'nough.v Then
with q fenceraiI and say, ewell, da.
! know that he Is one of those chaps
mentioned farther up. for that is what
the Smithsonian report calls water
moccasin. So with big book and
a likely negro we pick up knowledge.
My small boy came in one day to
tell me that the colored folks had
killed a huge snake over In the vine.
yard, and when he said they told him
1t was .'spreadenor,s 1t seemed that
1t must be creature that could bite
the legs OF Of the cows. And 1t was
tsomething of a snake, for II had a way
Of swelling itself up, after the fash.
ion of little, toad, until II, looked as;
big as two,inch water pipe and, far
more ferocious. That putting bust.
ness makes that snakes hit with the.
colored folks. They know by all the
evidence OF yoodoo that snake
which can swell itself to twice Its
normal size is terror. and the
"spreadenorys (which is as harmless
as a fishworm) gets both sides of the
road when he meets a SON OF Ham.
North Carolina has a number Of In.
teresting varieties of harmless snakes.
One OF these is called the horned
snake, because at the end OF It's tail
q horny extension develops. The col.
ored folks will assure you that the
snake Will roll that sharp tail up at
any enemy. and that the result is a
sting certain to cause death Now
were that true, the horned snake
would be formidable. for he is some
six feet long, an inch and half
through and active for his size. For
tunately. or unfortunately for the
story, his singing powers are purely
imaginary.
There are two venomous snakes in
the neighborhood; one. a little rattle
snake about foot long, but like his
kind, a, little fighter, and not being
common. no one gives him much
thought; the other is the moccasin.
which hides in the swamps and rarely
ventures forth. He is related to the
rattle snake, and Is big enough to