The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1918-03-08
7de Young biologists
Penrod and Sam Have Three Weeks Thriller
With Horse Hair Snake
By BOOTH HARRINGTON
Copyright, 1917. Wheeler Syndicate. Inc.)

put 'em In. +"
"No, sir!" Sam insisted. "You start
ed to pull 'em and you ought to do
1t. didn't start to pull 'em, did I?'
Nov, see here" Penrod became
argumentative.
"You better quit talkin' SO much"
Sam interrupted doggedly. "Go ahead
and pull those two hairs out of his old
tail or pretty soon the man'll come out
and drive him away, and then where'll
we be? You started to do 1t, and SO
it's your business to-"
swell, am goin' to, amt II"
"Noww 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 luminosity in fit of de-
preston; he hung his head, and mark
ed the ravlshment by nothing
more than a slight shudder.
Preliminaries to the great expert
care. The largest empty bottles obtain
able were selected. cleaned, and filled
with fair water. Then, with BETTING
Solicitude, the two long black hairs
were lowered into the water, and the
bottles were corked. After that, a
label was pasted upon each, exhib-
iting the owners name and address.
The fascinating work was not COM
plete, however. Penrod paid visit
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
evelen O'Clock July II Snak comes six
teen minutes Of eXelen o'clock July 80"
Penrod took his bottle to his room
that night; 1t stood close by his bed.
side throughout the long dark hours I;
and once, waking suddenly, he CROPPED
for 1t feverishly, In fear. His fingers
| found the smooth, cool curves Of its
neck, and, treasured, he slept again, a
smile upon his face. And In the morn
ing, his waking eyes anxiously sought
the bottle and its tenant; all was
safe, and Penrod rose in Joy.
Never was treasure more closely
guarded or more steadfastiy watched !;
and, as the days passed, there devel-
oped in Penrod's mind a somewhat
definite picture of the little compan-
ion soon to be his; he was sure II
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. a
gentle and warming affection emanat-
ing toward It from him.
Twenty-one slow days must pass be-
gone when Sam reported that symp-
toms of the great change were APP
pearing in his "snake," which ~ had
taken to his home. tThey had dis
carded the term hair on the second
day.
"Yes, sir" said Sam, "he'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 PPnrOd'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 ii was goin'
to make a mighty fine snake!"
swell, don't know" Penrod said,
sighting. 81 like 'em kind of quieter.'
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 emergence. The hair in the
bottle looked every 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 a shake,
| already.
The final week Of the three was one
of internal excitement, heightening al
most unbearably as the climax ap-
preached. Then, the first Of August
dawned fair and cool; no sweeter
birthday could have been selected in
all the year. Penrod woke with the
joyous feeling that riches had come to
him in his snake.
AS his eyes opened 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
acle had begun to work, and Is min
utes Of IL would see 1t consummated.
| He dressed slowly and TREMENDOUSLY,