Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-25
THE EVENING STORY
One of World Famous Works of Literature

long, and he just coiled the middle Of
himself around her neck so she couldn't
swallow any water and Swum ashore
with his head and tail. Is that a good
item?"
First class"
You can spread 1t out, you know.
After they got ashore the girl patted the
snake on the head and it went away,
pleased as Punch. Ever since then he
comes to the house regular at meal
times and she feeds him on pie Think
you can make anything out Of that
item?"
Certainly. Know any more?"
Eyes. / got a baby six months old.
He's a boy. We generally sit him out
on the grass of morning and he hol-
lers like bull all day; at least he used
to, but he don't any more. One morn
ing We noticed that he wasn't boiler
ing and wondered what was up. When
we looked, there was q rattlesnake
coiled up in front of him scanning his
features. The boy was grinning and
the snake was grinning. Bimeby the
backed his rattle right into the baby's
fist"
What did the baby do?"
why, he just ratified that tail 50 you
could hear 1t three-Quarters Of mile
and the snake lay there and grinned.
Every morning we found the snake
there, until one day bigger snake
came and the baby played with his rat
tie just the same till the first snake
came back. He looked thin and I
reckon he had been sick and sent the
other to take his place. Will that do
for an item?"
Immensely" replied the city editor.
"You can fill in about the confidence
of childhood and all that and. you
might say something about the blue
eyed cherub. His name is Isaac. Put
that in to please my wife"
I'll do it. Any more snake items?"
"Lemme see. You've heard Of hoop
SnakesP"
Eyes, often"
"Just So Not long ago we heard q
fearful row in our cellar one night. It
sounded like a rock blast, and then
there was hiss and things was quiet.
When I looked in the morning the
cider barrel had busted. But we didn't
lose much cider"
How did you save it?"
1T seems that the slaves had bursted
out. but before they could get away, four
hoop-snakes coiled around the barrel
and frightened it UP and held it to-
gether until we drew the cider on in
bottles. That's the way we found em.
and we've kept 'em around the house
CNC1 we
shawl-straps now. Does that strike you
favorably for an item?"
Enormously" responded the city
editor.
"You can fix it up so as to show
how quick they was to get there before
the slaves were blown of. You can
work in the details"
"Of course I'll attend to that. Do
you think of any more?"
IT don't call any to mind Just at
present. My wife knows lot Of snake
items, but I forget 'em. BY the way,
though, I've got regular living curl
osity down at my place. One day my
Oldest boy was sitting on the back
stoop doing his sums and he couldn't
get 'em right. He felt something against
his face and there was a little snake
| coiled UP on his shoulder and looking
| at the slate In four minutes he had
done all them sums We've tanned him
| so he keeps all our accounts and he Is
the lightningest cuss at figures you ever
| seen. He'll run up a column eight feet
long in three seconds. wouldn't take
a reaper for him"
What kind of a snake is hep" in
| quired the editor, curiously.
THE neighbors call him an adder"
"Oh, yes, yesl" said the city editor,
the species. When did all these things
happen?"
along in the fore part Of the Spring,
but I didn't say anything about 'em,
cause it wasn't the season for snake
items. This is about the time for that
sort of thing. isn't it?"
| Eyes," Clipped in the exchange edi-
tor. you couldn't have picked out
better time for snake stories"