The St. Charles herald. [volume] (Hahnville, La.) 1873-1993, 1917-12-08

=" and De- getting The bottles ready t"
put 'cm III. L"
"No, sir" Sam insisted. "You start
ed II pull en- and you ought 10 do
it. | didn't start to pull EN-, did r.
"Now, see here PenroG became
| arcum"ntative.
'You better quit talkin' So much, y
Sam interrupted doggedly. Go ahead
and pull those two hairs out Of his old
/ tall or pretty soon the manll come out
and drive him away, and then whereli
we be? You started to do it, and So
it's your business to-
"Well, l am gOin' to. amt II"
Snow" Sam exclaimed. "He's quit
lookin' at us. Quick"
Selling this opportunity. Penrod
ventured the deed and was reward
ed. The elderly horse seemed to have
forgotten his animosity in fit of de-
preston: he hung his head, and mark
ed the ravishment by nothing
more than slight Shudder.
Preliminaries to the great expert
ment were worked out with grave
care. The largest empty bottles obtain
| able We're selected, cleaned, and filled
with fair water. Then, with BETTING
solicitude, the two long black hairs
We're lowered into the water, and the
bottles were corkcd. After that. q
label was pasted upon each, eXhib-
iting the owners name and address.
The fascinating work was not COM
to the kitchen clock. and, after some
severe exercise In computation, the
following note was inscribed in pre-
else duplicate upon the labels:
"Hair from Jacop r. Krish and COS
horse tail put in sixteen minutes Of
rvelen o'clock July II Snak comes six
teen minutes Of evelen o'clock July Sc. =
PenrOd took his bottle to his room
that night; it stood close by his bed
side throughout the long dark hours :;
and once. waking suddenly. he CROPPED
for it feverishly, In fear. His fingers
found the smooth. cool curves OF its
neck, and, reassured, he slept again, a
smile upon his face. And in the morn
ing, his waking eyes anxiOusly sought
the bottle and it's tenant: all was
safe, and Penrod rose In JOY.
Never was treasure more closely
guarded or more steadfastly watched ::
and, as the days passed, there devel-
oped in Periods mind a somewhat
definite picture Of the little cOmpan-
lon soon to be his; he was sure 1t
would have brown eyes-admiring
eyes, obedient and faithful, like a
dogs. And, while these thoughts
fioated within him, he would sit by
the half-hOur. gazing at the bottle, 81
gentle and warming affection emanat-
ing toward it from him.
Twenty-One slow days must pass be-
fore the rapturous event; twelve had
gone when Sam reported that symp-
toms of the great change were ap-
pearing in his "snake," which he had
taken to his home. (They had dis
carded the term hair on the second
day.
"Yes, sir" said Sam. she's turned all
round in the bottle from the way he
was layin' yesterday; kind Of looks
like he was restless, to me. And
there's sumpthing like little bubbles on
him up at the end where his heads
goin' to be-"
The hair in PenrOd's bottle had no
such accomplishment for its owner to
vaunt; he looked coldly at Sam, and
began to whistle.
"Yes, sir" Sam went on, with per-
haps too much JUNCTION, that snake
Of mine looks TO me like it was goin'
to make a mighty fine snake"
"WeIl. I don't know" Penrod said,
sighting. 81 like 'em kind Of guieter."
Nor did the fact that his treasure ex
hibit no tokens Of the transition dis
turb him in any way, except thus to
rouse his 'championage. No slightest
doubt ever Swallowed his ardent con-
fidence; never for one instant! Tad
poles became frogs; caterpillars make
themselves into cOcOOnS; and cOcOOnS
are really butterflies; he had owned
cocoons that showed no change in ap-
pearance until the very hour of the
butterflies emerg, rec. The hair in the
bottle looked eytry day more and
more like an attractive young snake.
and by the time Penrod discovered
that the thirty-secOnd Of July would
really be the first of August, it SEEM
ed to him that it almost was snake,
already.
The final week Of he three was one
Of internal exciteLj"gt frightening al
most unbearably a. tie climax ap-
preached. Then. the first Of August
dawned fair and cool. no ~Weeter
birthday could have been selected in
all the year. PcnroG woha Vim the
Joyous feeling thar riJiic; Ind come to
him in his snake.
AS his eyes Opcurd and fell upon the
bottle, bathed in morning sunshine on
the chair by his bed, he stared with
joy. The hair had altered its position
in the water during the night the mir
acls his i begun to work, and Is min
utes of II would see it cOnsummated.
He dressed slowly and TREMENDOUSLY,
wondering what he would name it.
Then, instead of descending to break
fast, he sat upon his bed to gaze upon