The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1909-08-25

FXCeDllOld1 IONC VI AlAuoAC N'OOAo
rodouDd to the credit of any other
living creature as indicative of re-
fined taste, but in the maligned
snake even this artistic attribute is a
mark of derogation, says a writer
in the North American Review. Our
own Ouakers, for example, take up
4 and indorse the diatribe of Epipha-
Mus against the Lutte players. cob
a serve the figure that the player
& makes in blowing. Does he not bend
himself up and down to the right
n hand and the left, like unto the SER
y pent? These forms hath the devil
used to manifest his blasphemy
against things heavenly, to destroy
things upon earth, to encompass the
world, capturing right and left such
as lend an ear to his seductiOns.
4 And so on. But not a word do we
hear in condemnation of the unre-
generate birds that carol heedlessly
even while the minister is painting
the horrors of an uncomfortable
place.
The fact that some snakes eject
poison against their enemies is held
to Justify their indiscriminate ex-
tinction. We fail to see how. They
did not have the choice of their
means of defense; they necessarily
took what the Lord gave them and
they act as instinct directs. Clearly
reason is not their guide, else they
would not notify an intended victim,
but would strike in silence. 1t is
pleasing to think that in this they
are aCtuated by high sense of hon
or and fairness, but we do not vent
uTe so much as a suppOSitiOn that
they possess an attribute so line.
1t is more likely, as Darwin main
tans, that the rattlesnake uses its
rattle, the cobra expands its frill and
the puff adder swells and Kisses in
order to alarm the 11any birds and
beasts which are known to attack the
most venOmOus species, acting on the
same principle which impels hen
to rutfie its feathers when a dog ap-
prOaches its chickens. In any case,
none of the traditional shrewdness
Or cunning is manifest in it's per-
fOrmance.
1t is a matter of qualification, nat
urally, that our snake was considered
to be as intelligent as his predeces-
Sors; but there was really no need OF
exceptional acumen to enable him to
play his part successfully. If the
devil took possession of his body III
order to accomplish a nefarious puc-
pose it was the devil, not the snake,
VINO framed the enticing argument
lor the unsuspecting Eve. If, again,
II was Lilith who seized an Opportu-
nifty to advance the cause of woman
suffrage, clearly twas her keen ap-
probation of the power of curiosity
mat led to the fall. In either case
me snake was a mere dupe used by
one more cunning than himself to
lurther project in which he had
no personal interest and whose meth
Cd of accomplishment was foreign
10 his shy inclinations. If he had
oeen as crafty as he has been re-
puted can one suppose for moment
mat he would have assumed a role
which was certain to win the ever
lasting hatred of mankind? No;
mere have been and are good snakes
and bad snakes just as diva, of Good
eva, of Coventry, and there are bad
Lyas, some of whom we know; but
tnere is no real ground for the COM
mon belief that snakes are endowed
WIN peculiar SaDience
No snake that ever lived won
greater fame than Alexanders. Lu-
uan tells the story. Apollonius, a
master of the magic arts, had mahy
disciples, among whom was a prac-
native town. There he declared him