The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1907-02-28

Il
bath in the boarding house soup. it Il
apt to cause a stampede, but it is q
fact any way.
| / Where am sitting writing this let
ter it is as hot as June nirIowa and
II It keeps on heating up at the same
rate it has been for the last month il
will be as hot as Ill, in the
above named spot by June. If any OF
You fellows have ever taken the tenn;
perature Of three exclamation marks
preceded by dash, kindly advise me
what it was.
Just mere / might mention some OF
the other dormant life that inhabits
this section, which wakes up and
crawls out of its hole in time to eat
few citizens before Washingto1's
birthday. To begin, we win mention
the great prairie rattlesnake. There
are plenty of them here. They sing
beautifully, too, and make a fellow
feel like two bottles Of Peruna, when
ne Unexpectedly surprises and star
ties one of them up out of the john.
son grass. The cowboys keep these
reptiles from crawling over their beds
as they sleep on the plains by encir.
cling them with hair rope. They
say a snake cannot be forced to crawl
over hair rope, but that it will die
first.
There are good many Mountain
Boomers" here. This is large green
species of lizard, which is very pois-
onous and full of fight. They measure
from 10 to 20 inches in length. Tar.
antulas and centipedes are common
in these parts. They are large and
healthy and sociable.
The Vinegar Roan"is another large
inhabitant of Texas. He resembles
a large nude spider about the size OF
a brunette hen egg. There are often
three or four of these Vinegar Roans
under one shock of grain. The boys
tell me that their "claim shacks"are
inhabited by these pests and thai
they often wake up in the morning
and find a couple of Vinegar Roans
or a tarantula in bed with them.
Say! If anybody wants good re.
linquishment cheap, write to ne.
I've got one to sell. But call at the
Herald office and look at a picture
which I made, of what you'll nave to
sleep with, before you make an offer.
The boys says they never heard OF
anyone dying from the effect of a bite
of one of these insects, but that they
have frequently known Of people be-
ing laid up for month at time from
the effect of tn "Old Rye" it took to
counterfeit the poison.
Just a minute, please, while
dig two pecks OF red sane out of my
inflamed and congested eya,-then Ill
bring this disconnected and touching
romance to a close ., "a
The wind blows pretty hard here
at times and one is apt to get up any
morning and find his boots full OF
sand if he carelessly forgets and
leaves them near the key-hole the
night bfore. Key-holes are bad things
in house anyway and especially sc
in Texas or Oklahoma in a sanu
storm. ..
But now, for fear everybody is
worrying about me, and afraid that
something will happen to me. will
tell you, before close, how l am ten,
derby, and lovingly, and continually
watched-by my landlord-so as to
dispel your gloomy fears.
startd to work in photograph gal.
lery for couple of weeks ald asked
the boys where | could get a good
boarding house. They told me, aad
went over, gave the landlord the
sign of distress and applied for a
room. He said he could accommodat
me at $3.50 per accommodation by
the week, but said he "reckoned they
eat more victuals than style at his ia
BILE, but l guess you-all can stand il
with the rest of us, an we dun gone
been eatin' it for long time"
l told him my grandfather was a
Keatuckian and that | '"sorter kalki
lated" l could eat most anything that
anybody else had dun gone" eat anu
that l would try it awhile any way.
He took me to a room that asia,
from the light that filtered in through
the cracks in the wall was as dark as
the inside of coal mousse Every
time l went into it l thought | was
crawling into a hollow log. After
had cleaned up little l went down
and began to size up the droIl AM
ridiculous in the landlord. He looked
like a blonde wooly-worm standing
on its hind legs in lettuce bed. He
would put on an old red overcoat, q
sloucn hat to match, pulled down owe:
mis- eyes, and go over to the depot and
stand around bumped up like a 1000
legged worm, waiting for the train t.
come in. When some fellow from
Oklahoma got off with family large
enough to fill up all the extra beds, the
old man would pilot him over to the
MOTEL, charge him soc per bed at time
of registration, and would then nave
nothing on his mind to worry him
but his hair, until the next night.