Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1925-08-07
Do SNAKES
MILK COWS?
Naturalist In Dearborn Independent
Gives First Hand Knowledge

of the best journals in America, give'
to its readers the following snake
literature from the pen of S. F
Aaron, one of the worlds foremos
naturalists.
1t is not altogether silly supersti
tions regarding animals and plants
that are the hand-me-downs from an
cient legends, nor the ridiculous in
ventions of more modern folk tales
that most interest us, further than
as curious psychological twists. To
this class of absurdities. belong the
hoop snakes, the singing 'scorp'
lizards, the danee-eompeling tarantu-
las. the kissing bugs, the cow-suck-
ing snakes, the bird-eharming ser
rents, the yenom-blowing spread adj
ders, the ear-sewing snake doctors,
the young-swallowing Tattlers, the
Notwithstanding hornets and a
horde of such untenable stuff. And
yet some OF this has been reaffirmed
by those who, by educational oppor-
tunities. should not be unenlightened.
Witness the tarantula story as oft
repeated for truth: the kissing bug
referred TO. though nearly a genera
tion ago, by a college president as a
dangerous menace CHS child had been
bitten on the lip. while sleeping,
probably by mosquitol, the calm
reference by nature writer TO a rat
tlesnake engulfng its young within
its stomach for protection and the
yearly reference in news items of the
hornets nesting high or low as fore
telling the winters severity 1t is a
parody on the breath of knowledge
by schooling TO admit the acceptance
by educated persons Of these foolish
tales.
Thus with the high school profess
sor who spent one-half of a recita-
tion hour in telling his sympathetic
students how near he had come to
death, while wedding his garden, by
bringing his hand close to a spread
ing adder probably the least harm
full and trucculent of all fair-sized
snakes. One loses ones patience
with the self-lauding Hindu sage con
verified to Christianity and inspired
with the need of holiness who begins
his tale with the statement of seeing
a serpent charm a bird. But most
amusing in this regard was the as
sertion of the intelligent hotel-keep-
er in a fishing resort frequented by
educated men, many of whom lis
tened with credence to the account
of the black snake that MIXED the
COW. She had, when the act was
discovered. become so pleasurably ac-
customed TO the relief of her over
loaded udders that she would. toward
milking time. leave the herd and ap-
preaching the thicketed lair of the
ophidian utter a pleading bawl;
whereupon the snake would emerge,
rear itself under the COW ana get
busy. One comment upon this yarn
was:
well, Mr.. if l had
heard anyone but yourself tell that,
l would not have believed it."
There was a visible swelling with
pride on the part of the narrator and
then the naturalist took a hand.
VERY interesting. Did the snake
continue until it seemed satisfied"
''Milked that COW dry! Stripped
her. every drop,"
Was she good milker?"
Young COW; her first calf She'd
give about two-thirds of a bucketful, .
Gould the snake, being so distend-
ed, get away without"
"oh, it wasn't bothered any; it
crawled away quickly enough "
"A large specimen, one of the big
gest you have SEEM"
Not at all; about four or five feet,
l suppose. Got away and l couldn't
measure it."
Very wonderful, indeed, consid-
ering that the stomach of a five-foot
black snake is about five and a half
inches long and an inch in diameter,
with distending limit all along of
about four inches and an excess in
length of perhaps seven inches, so
that it will. with the distention of
the lower throat also, hold~a young
rabbit. The maximum capacity of the
entire throat and stomach would not
possibly exceed two quarts A milk
bucket holds eight quarts. does il
not? And about two-thirds would
be at least five quarts .
And then from another source
Your story. Mr. re-
minds me of the man who fed q
whole bueketful of milk to his young
pig and then put the pig in the.buck
Ct. There are probably two cases OF
record of the actual condensing O
liquids. But perhaps your snake act
ed only as a hose connected witt
Mother Earth
our host, however, refused to dis
euss the subject further
Now. there is one trouble with thi
checking of errors: some feelings ar
sure to be hurt. There are humble
Of really learned writers and teach
rs. deservedly popular also. VIII
sannot help drawing the long bow
This began long before the time o