Year: 1870




The following morning I awoks


refreshed; and having joined with


the family in their matin derOtions,


I ate breakfast with an appetite and
gusto that many a cromned head
would have envied. Repairing to
our next rendezvous, the Northeast
Section corner, we met our other
friends and proceeded to work. Eve
~ vestige Of the North quarter-post
being gone, made it by placing a
corner stake half way between the
Northwest and NOrteast Section-cor-
ners, Then setting my compass,
ran thence SOutherly, a random line,


setting tally-stakes each twenty rods


or five chains.


Coming into a field of growing


grass, We felt that it might contain


a few interesting specimens Of the


massasaUga, which, if 1 have correct


ly spelled it, is I believe, the Indian


name of a species of rattle-snake,


brown, short, thick, sluggish but


given to a disagreeable habit of coil


ing itself with its head in the center


and suddenly measuring its length


in the direction Of any intruder, be-
ing very apt to fasten its venOmous
fangs into whatever it strikes. 1t
is said to become blind during dog


days and bite without sounding its


usual note of alarm with the rattle


in its tail. We were in that reputed
fatal season, and we naturally picked
our way through that grass as ginger
" as a cat walks across a wateTy
plate. One of the axmen was sud-
denly brought to a stand-stiil by an
onimOus noise. He stopped, poised
on one foot fearing to set down the
other, The fright was contagious
and reached back to myself. We
doubtless presented q striking Ia


bleau. 1t makes me laugh to think


of it. But shame gradually over


came my fears, and / moved up to


the exman whose foot was thrust out


like that of a pointer dog. As soon


as 1 heard the terrible noise I knew


it was not the rattle of 'sauga."


I had heared that sound before, and


sympathy and Indignation took the


place of terror 1t was a piteous cry
of distress. Putting my finger to
my lips to indicate the necessity for
caution and silence, I Imotioned the


axlnan to neighboring log in the


direction of the shrek of agony,


Carefully crawling up on it, I peered


sharply into the grass beyond and


at length discovered what / expec-


ted to find, Pointing in that direc-


ton, 1 asked my companion In q


whisper if he saw that garter snake


down in the grass, with one leg Of a


small frog IN his mouth. After a


little he replied, as the tenson Of his


muscles, somewhat relaxed, Faith


an I do that" Be quiet, 1 said, and


1 called the rest Of our company up


to see the sight. Very ingeniOusly
| the serpent drew its struggling prey
| gradually further down its long


throat. till both hind legs Ofthe poor
| frog had disappeared, the terrified


victim shrieking afresh at every
| movement of its eaptor's jaws. We
are not wont to sieze our food alive,


nor to draw it into the mouth unai-
ded by the hands; so that we can
hardly appreciate the feat Of his


snakeship in working the frog into
his throat. But let some one who
thinks it no trick, imagine that be
!, has caught a bull-frOg by one hind
leg with his teeth-aRd q frog Of


that size is proportionably no larger


for a mans throat than a small frog
is for a gartersna1e's throat. Now
, let him pretend that he is endeavOr-
inc to work his struggling victim in


to his mouth by the movements Of
his lower jaw-his upper one Is sta


tionarv-and if he does not perspire
Il like an iee-water pitcher in dOg-days,
with the faneied exertiOB, | viii


own myself greatly mistaken. An
old odage enjoins us to ''give the
devil his due" and shall yield him


proper homage by eOnfessing that his


snakeship-the earthly representa-
tive of his sOoty maiesty-evinces
much skill and patience and dOgged
! determination in his manner of sci
zing and securing his prey. After
t all, 1 may be thought to Overrate his
e cunning, when it is considered that
= the catching of such game is a mat
{ ter Of life and death with him: he
r must snatch and swallow, or starye.
lThen again, though no ophiologist
. nor anatomist of reptiles, / suspect
5 that serpents have the power Of en-
r larging and diminishing their upper
r iaw-their lower one is stationary.


More over, practice makes perfect,
E and constant experiment enables
r even a garter-snake to obtain suffici-
{ ent food to escape being starved.
After we had feasted our euri0si-
: ty, mOtiOned to my companions to
2 continue quiet, aud softly retreating,
!. | found long stick with which I
? gave the snake a "crick in the back, !"
I Just as his poor victim had given
t his last shrek, on the way to re-
r gions Internal, or perhaps internal


would be more fitting word, though
I l think a snakes belly is quite an in
o formal abode for frog. 1t would
a have done any philanthropist good
Il | to see the series of long leaps made
d by the nearly doomed captive, as
b the 'fre in the rear caused his
e snakeship to open his mouth. Doubt


less that frog will retain a lively
e sense of gratitude to his emaneipa-
e tor as long as he lives. The thought


occurs, why does man naturally start
e back at the sight Of a serpents Why
9 does he set his teeth in anger, and
II why does the reptile menacingly
o dart out its forked tongue-and


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