Evening star., 1950-02-04
This and That
Bv Charles E. TraceweU

That recent warm spell set e. D. B. of
Decatur street to telling about it, and the
review will do us ALI good:
"1hoSe few days of record breaking
warmth brought so many definite signs of
spring.
Flowers. trees and birds responded to the
heat.
THE crocuses pushed up out of the
ground. A Japanese ounce on Sixth street
was in full bloom.
"The forsythia showed its yellow blossoms.
On ride in the country we saw several
weeping willows with their long green gar
lands waving gracefully in the breeze.
The starlings were singing their squeaky
songs. The mockingbirds poured forth their
beautiful melodies"
And here is G. B. S. of Alexandria, Va,
who says we don't know thing in the world
about water snakes and that it is high time
we learned something. as follows:
Quite recently you published letter con-
corning brown snakes which dropped in the
spring when any one approached. and mas
much as mistakes are rare in your column.
and an error is being made when you advise
your correspondent to let these so-called
water snakes alone. am asking you to
change your advice.
There are just two of the so-called wild
things living close by which should be
slaughtered neutrality-suspicious. turtles
and water snakes.
This is fact which can easily be proved
by convincing evidence, as these two pests
are entirely too costly for civilized society
to support.
''All you need to do is catch six Of each and
investigate the contents of their innards.
Also ask any competent herpetologist. He
can and will tell YOU"
At this point we turned this letter over
to Templeton Jones, who had just come
into the Office.
Jones was perfect model. not of major
general, but Of the man-about- town.
He had flower in his button-hole, a real
blossom from Towering ounce, which he
said he had broken off in his own back
yard.
And how are you. my friend?" jauntily
asked the handsome Jones'
He looked down at the letter, read as far
as given above, and then broke into roar
of laughter.
What strikes you SO funny, Templeton?p
we asked.
THE mental picture" grinned Jones, "of
you catching six swapping turtles with one
hand, and six water snakes with the other!
Heb, heh, heh." ,a.a,
And why not?" we bristled.
why you old nature faker, roared Jones.
"The man who wouldn't kill a fly, but fed it
on his desk for two weeks"
"All right" we admitted. Go on"
The man who insists on giving animals
names, and even making them talk, now
and then"
go on"
. "And then to think of you-what did the
man say-cutting open six snakes and six
swapping turtles. just to see what is inside
them
Templeton Jones smote his handsome
thigh.
1T is too, too much" he laughed sThat
is one thing I can say for you, my good
friend, you can never be said to have ex-
perimented on animals"
Thank you, JONES'" we replied, stifdy,
though a bit mollified.
The Alexandrine epistle of G. b, s. con-
tinues:
MY diary under date of July 4, 1913.
showed that we killed z water snakes out Of
a total of 20 that we met, and out OF
had Speckled brook trout in them. And you
said they were slow! Fie on you, Mr. T.,
you don't know brown water snakes They
are slick and fast. extremely dificult to
CATCH We always shot ours.
"One old naturalist told me that one
water snake will eat more fish in one year
than any one man. that they were increas-
ing because man had killed off their natural
enemies. This man believed that water
snakes account for 9 out of every 10 game
fishes alone"
What do you think Of that, Jones?" we
asked.
Templeton Jones smiled owlishly, habit
he has. Il am no herpetologist." he grinned.
And then.
What else" he inquired, "are the water
snakes to eat? If they don't eat fsh, they
would starve to DEATH and no water snake
wants to do that, Il am sure"