The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, April 28, 1901, Page 9

THE SUNDAY CALL. NAKES are increasing rapidly in A few years ago a diamond cked rattlesnake would not have ight b cents from any dealer in ay a good sized rattlesnake least. Twenty-five dollars by a public zoological gar- hysiclan interested in snake v b: [ of physicians in rake the United specialty of study- eted bv the four ven- kes of this country. They com- ffects of these poisons upon the v with the effects of the xines iced by the bacilli of various 5. In this manner they hope to an antidote for snake xine for swamp feve that flesh sther ills is by rakes in The Smith- ashington is con- stalking expedition to South Carolina un- der the lead of R. L. Ditmars. Mr. Dit- mars will soon start South on a second snake hunting trip. Dr. Weir Mitchell, the author and sclentist, is one of the best known students of snake toxines. It s 1 that he sometimes has as many as spakes in his laboratory. ‘or various reasons poisonous snakes are much less common in the country than they were at one time. Still there are enough to make things interesting in many localities. In We: rn Texas ranch- ers’ families living in sod huts look un- der the bed dally for prairie rattlers and only sleep secure under a mosquito net opy. The poisonous snukes of the United States are the rattler, copperhéad, moccasin and coral snake. The first three belong all to the same family—the crata- lidae and their poisons, so far as known, re similar. The coral or Harlequin ake is found only in the South, and its venom very much resembles that of the deadiy East Indian cobra. He is brightl banced, small, harmless looking, but ve vicicus. No certain remedy the bite of any of these s and strychrine given enough often to produce convulsic usu Ity most ¥y much de- s upon the of the person effective. Ve constitutio EXPLAINS DIVINE and Ramsey e w About that.” Uncle Ramsey w Able nd enny- prove has the Divine s some Chap strawberry mark on Get peeple to Think he w he I ite for that e ¢ at they'll Let r king or Sum- country ¥ run hospitals on Them before it up a Thrown, the ng k J uss Ceezer. He had fits, Romuns thot he was the oldest hat miten’t Like it if ke him work for a living ke them think he nd they Let him Other crowned him in Their had common d of royal after set was real the working Them when and pretended collar button. 1im and prit- that could the while he was peeple game on buv the v do you s'pose of stood couldn’t ever if he ALL ARCUT T RE RIGHT. 4 Them out behind the Few days to See him thro wouldn't of Believed in h pallus a Fit? Divine Million dollers it couldn’t of had his Spells rite Alonz. “Over in England much luck with some susp! that mebby the Divine got Switched off some way, Hole lot of Growling. But the ones that are I al Look back to the Crazy Georges and Tell the rest to keep up their curridge becoz it must be in the Blud yet and mite brake out allmost enny time. “But what about Germunny?’ maw ast. “Their Emperor seems to make them Believe he has the divine rite without he they haven't their kings late had and hus rite's nd there's a ‘Well," paw anserd, “he Has so menny other kinds of Things that the peeple seem to Think it's all rite, without the Spazzums. But still he doesn't Seem to trust them very much. He knows a Lot of them are Getting to suspishen Him, so insted of Leaving the windows open when the nites are Hot he hides ‘Behind the pickel barrel or Sumthing down in the and keeps cool that way, and when he wants to Go out and Lay a few Holly- hocks on his Grandfawther’s toom he Gets sumbuddy to set a barn afire over in the next Block so they won't be Enny- buddy present to hit him with an ax or blow Him up with Dynummite. Still, I he likes the Job or he wouldn't s'pose keep it. “I can't help Feeling kind of sorry for the Zarr. There’s a boy that Luck seems to be against good and plenty. He started in by Having his fits regular enuff to soot all parties, and a case of Blud disease that seemed to give his peeple Confadunce in b Divine rite all rite, but just as things Got to running kind of smooth he cott the typhoid fever and it Left him without his fits.© As soon as the students found it out they commenct to Riot and the dynamiters wanted to Blo up the pal- lus. Just think what a otrain it must be on His nurve: He dassent -have boiled aigs for breckfust, becoz mebby when he broke the shell they would be a nexplo- sion. When he hears the Royal cook pounding the Beef staik in the morning he Jumps up the anarkists hammering Down the pallus walls, and every lime the water gets in the steam pipes and commences to Thump they haft to cloroform him to get him quieted Down again. “So they are no Dainger of having a Nemperor here, becoz as Soon as enny free Born american gets to acting as tho He bad the divine Rights in his sistum the Doctors throw him on the Dissecting table and the Operation’s successful with the Funeral set for Thursday afternoon, Frends invited.” Uncle Ramsey happened to Rock on the pupp's tail then, and when we Got them apart his wooden Laig showed bad sines of ware and Tair. GEORGIE. THE MAN OF LEARNING. & WISE man and a Bumpkin i went forth into a Field to Hunt Bugs. Now it was so that the Wise Man knew All Manner of Bugs in Books, tut the Bumpkin had lived among the Real Thing. And it came to Pass that the First Day Out there appeared an Enormous Creature having Horns and a Hoarse Voice. “Ala; howled the Wise Man, “we are undone! It is the terrible Horned Lion of the family of Am- phibiestosis!” and he straightway clomb a Tree. “Not so!” guoth the Bumpkin, “it is but my Pet Bull!” and he went and fondled the Creature. The Wise Man marveled and held his Peace. But it so happened that they presently entered a Wood where the Wise Man beheld a Small Bug wearing Yellow Stripes, like the re- galia of a Convict, sitting upon a lead- colored cone of Lint, taking the air. “Bebold!” whispered the Book- Reader, “this on= is just my size!” “Nay, nay!” besought the Bump- kin; “of a truth he is not good for thy Health!” “Go to!” sneered the Wise Man. “What knowest thou about Bugs? Hast ever theu rcad Obsnilicus? or Bamboozilus? Thou canst beard the Horned Creature and then shy at this Meek Bug! Lo!,I shall have him in my Collection ere the Sheep’s Tail wags twice!” and he went Cautiously forward while the Bumpkin fell over Limself seeking a safe place. And it fell out that the Wise Man did make 2 Violent Pass at the Strip- ed Bug and burst Open the Cone of Lint; whereupon divers and many of the Same Breed came forth and sought, one and all, to join the Wise Man’s Collection. “Doth the Small Bug appear more harmless than the Horned Creaturef” asked the Interested Bumpkin. “Not so!” sobbed the Wise Man., ““The Horned Creature looked deadly, but the Small Bug Feeleth so—which is many times Worse!” Then did the Sage do the Coochee- Coochee and the Cakewalk, including the Nile Wriggle and the High Kick, lifting up his voice in bitter lamen- tation as he fled through the Wood, breaking down Much Brush. Moral: Don’t sneer at the Small— the Microbe is an insignificant ani- mal, but he stirreth up revolutiors in our Midst. Second Round: The Tack and the Banana Peel, though small, have laid many of the mighty low. The Theme: The Hornet is never so Large as when he buzzeth in our Back Hair. peeple there are Beginning to be | s pail @8 & Gost and thinks its | aloud, bitten, and upon the portion of the body that the snak fan, strike. In general nine-tenths o ons bitten by these snakes die. goes to prove, of course, that snake hunting is a real sport, | inasmuch as the hunted sometindes gets back at the hunter. “For persons who enjoy snake stalk- ing,” said R. Ditmars of the Bronx Zoo, “I can recommend certain parts of South Carolina above any other section of the United States. For example, a four-mile swamp near the little town of Robertsville in Hampton County is a snake's paradise. There be the snakes of the South und the snakes of the North. v creeping thing is as the sands of for numbers. Portions of the are overgrown with huge rushes and portions with cane brake dovetailing into pine swamps, the trees running up fifty feet to the first imb and hung thick with sage green m Under foot is a alternating w slimy pools and acherous moras: Night is the very best time snakes, for it is then that the serpent tribes uncoil themselves and glide hissing about the swamp in perfect freedom. Ob- viously this sort of thing is not without danger and after one trial of it the snake | hunter usually prefers daylight. In ihe | moonlight a haze floats above'the swanip and it Hes like a silvery sea. Within t, the pines are ghosts whose long beards sweep the pools, dlamond backed rattlers rear their ugly heads, racers, moccasing land strange pink water snakes glide noiselessly, and alligators keep up thelr uncanny bellowing. In daylight the hunter rides in mounted on a mule usually and clad in an armor 6f heavy brown duck, high top boots ani stout flexible gloves. His weapons are a bamboo stick with & running noose of fine copper wire at the end, and a second cane furnished with a wire net. He always carries a revolver, too, If he is wise. Acrcss the mule's neck is balanced a short cane stick and from each end of the stick dangles a good sized cotton bag These bags are for the snakes and if a score of the squirming things are turned loose in each bag before the hunt is over, it is all the same to the mule. Like Achilles, the mule has one vulnerab'e point, in his heel, but snakes are nea.ly always too busy to go nosing about a th for catching mule’s heels. The mule sasaciously pi his way through the swamp along de paths which wind in and out where a aln‘ step ofttimes would tumble him rider into a pool swavming with alligators and twenty-five sorts of wate® snakes. A snake sta'ker, of course, only attempts to take the more valuable and strange specimens of serpents. When he catch the gleam of the right sort of a c through the rushes, or sples a fine moc- casin dangling from a limb over his head, he_halts and goes into action with h copper: wire noose and bamboo stick. If he can he slips the noose over his snake- ship's neck end draws it taut. Then he gets the puffing, thrashing, spitting rep- tile twixt his thumb and forefinger around the neck and drops him into the cotton bag. He gives the bag a quick swirl so that the fang that darts forth instantly {s embedded iz a thick fold of cloth. In- variably in a crisk hunter throws away copper wires and seizes a snake with his hands, grasping him well toward the head, so that he cannot twist it ‘around and thrust his fang into the hands. It is not uncommon for a snake stalker to bag a dozen moccasins around a single pool. A few weeks ago Mr. Ditmars, in company with his assistant, Mr. Snyder, and a guide, was trekking in the swamp near Robertsville. In the middle afternoon they were pro- ceeding slowly, single file, when Ditmars loitered a moment in search of possible catches. ‘3o ahead; I'll overtake you!" he called to the others. He began prodding the bog with his bamboo stick and found it alive wita moccasins. Some he cabtured wita the wire nocse. One eluded him and slip- ped into the water. Ditmars followed the snake down to his boot tops in the slimy pool and dragged the moccasin forth. After two hours the hunter found himself exhausted, sweating at every pore, but happy in the possession of eleven cotton- mouth snakes. All that remained of daylight was a faint red glow across the rushes. Now, to stay in a South Carolira swamp over fight means death. If the mosquitoes and akes do not kill a man, the foul miasma ites him. Ditmars felt sorry that he ks had told Snyder and the guide to move on. They had perhaps lost track of him. He set the bag of snakes down and drew his revolver. He fired at intervals, thinking that this was more likely to attract at- tention than shots in rap succession. Long after all the chambers were empty £nyder and the guide hove into sight. Well, I bagged eleven snakes,” boasted | Ditmars, as they set off. “Hit mout not of tuck 'leven snakes to see yo' finish befo’ da'k, boss,” remarked the woolly headed guide over his' shoulder. Between a negro and a ke there is no affinity, acd to the darky a man who hunts snakes is in league with the powers of darkness. Mr. Ditmars lately captured a hog-nosed snake in a cottonfleld. The negroes call these serper ders,” and consider them terribly danger- ous, although the bite is about as bad as the pinch of a Jersey skeeter. A hog- | nosed srnake, like the possum, is an actor, | and his favorite role is playing dead. As, soon as the naturalist laid hold of the | tail of this terrible ‘“spreadin’ adder” it gave one despairing flicker and apparent- ly yielded up the ghost. it's trafficking with Old Nick, but I've got to bring that snake back to lfe; I need him in my laboratory,” remarked the hunter. “Fo' Gawd sake, doan' yo' do it, boss,” | pleaded the negroes who had hered arcund. The naturalist made a few passos over the snake and warned the negroes to move back, so the brimstone wouldn ¢ strike them. The snake seeing the coast clear turned tail and ran. 0 s:reamed and in the confusion there wase the scratch of a sulphur match on the and an uncanny plece of sphorus burned on the ground. The ‘spreadin’ adder” was afterward cap- tured alive. The field darkies laid 7T early that afternoon and went to ccnsult a voodoo doctor. A rattlesnake is fair'y easy to capture because he is consum- mately brave, never runs from an enemy, and his warning rattle is unmistakab'-. Skirt the borders of a palmetto thicket any day and watch the waverine shado of the foliage on the ground. Presentiy these shadows if you watch sharply seem to dart ahead in a straight line, with a brassy whirr coming from somewhere | around. The darting line is a diamond | FORTH MR: A. ESOP'S N Old Dog who had lived a A lifs of Peace and Luxwry went forth into the World seeking for a Gay Time. “My life hath had No Spice,” he eaid, “Lo! I feel the need of a Slight Jar to My System!” Wherefore he took a Bone in his Mouth and traveled into a Wood where dwelt many Robber Wolves. Now it came to Pass that he trav- eled a long Way without Adventure. “This will never do,” thought the 0Old Dog. “I must have an Adven- inre!” : So he put down his Bone and lift- ed up his voice in a hoarse Bow-Wow. Then came forth from the Bram- bles divers and many Robber Wolves and they fell upon the Old Dog and worried him and chewed his ears and Bit Holes in his Hide and took his “THE DISCONTENTED DOG THAT WENT INTO THE WORLD:. (Copyright, 1901, by A. J. Moore.) UupP TO DATE. Juicy Bone and departed, leaving bim lying in the Highway covered with Blood and Dust. About the time of Cock Crowing, the Old Dog was able to remember that Something had Happened. He rose and propped himself against a tree and scratched the Dried Blood from his Eyes. “The Adventure hath been bad enough!” quoth he, “but the hardest thing to bear is ths knowledge that T sought it!” and he went home on Three Legs. Moral: Trouble comes to the Dog who hunts for it with a Loud Voice. Another Moral: When Providence fills your Mouth with Good Things, don’t lay them down for Something Else. Best Bower and Joker: Stay at Home until you’re Kicked out! ts “spreadin’ ad- | The darkies+ backed rattler wnose curiously marked skin is in exact imitation of the palmetto shade. The diamond back is the most deadly of his tribe. In the West the va- rieties of rattlers there found inhabit bar ren rocky places and the tall grass prairies. Just now the rattlesnake is hunted mercilessly, for he is valuable {o the medical man for his toxines and to the naturalist because out of the eleven va- rietles in the United States the habits and looks of not more than flve are wel known. In spite of their deadly poison, the hur ing of venomous snakes is not any more dangerous, if as dangerous, as the hunting of boars or tigers or lions in India. The reason is tHat no snake. except the coral nake, is likely to attack without prov. ation. The danger to students of snak 1l in the familiarity bred by close quaintance. For example, less than a fessor Percy Selous of Michigan, a well known ' naturalist, and a cousin of the African explorer and scientist of the same name, was killed by the bite of a pet moc- casin. Professor Selous was in the habit of taking the snake to bed with him on cold nights to keep it warm. One night he got up in the dari to put the snake r agq Pro- back in its box and accidentally pinched the moccasin’s tail in the door. It turned on bim and sunk its fangs into his flesh and he died four days afterward from the bite. Mr. Ditmars relates that he one time knocked a glass jar out of his office win- dow and broke it—the same jar in which a rattlesnake had been kept. In gather- ing up the broken pléces he cut his hand slightly. For weeks afterward his life was despaired of. His hand and arm from finger tip to shoulder is to-day a mass of terrible scars. A New York naturalist, bitten by a coral snake in Florida last died within forty-five minutes, An tution, year, Washir transferring a to another, Although plied he ratt was bit every k n on the forefinger. wn remedy was ap- b was brought to him from Ran- dia. by a friend. At the first reness in the finger he applied the In- dian herbs, and has twice the annval. pla B4, MRS. BASSSTT AND THE RUMMAGE SALE. Copyright, 1001, by the S. 8. McClure Company AW’S been a good Goal worried about Uncle Ramsey lately Be- coz he goes Out in the Kitche and sits around ‘and Talks Mamie. “I just no,” she told paw a Fue nites ago, “that the First thinz we hear about they’ll run away and Get married. ¥ needn’t tell me She lissens to his stories about The way He fot in the war for nothing. That girl can’t fool me. “T don’t beleave in Being so suspishus paw sed. ‘“Let the poor Old himself. You can’t hardly Blame wanting to Talk to sumbuddy Bes.!dés us wunst and a while Becoz I s'pose his mind Gets tired anl he Likes to hear about Simpler things. He's not used to Taking ‘2 ninterest in zll these Big affairs. But maw didn’t seem to Feel cheerful, so I thot T would help a Little and it was Mamie's afternoon, Out the next Day. Uncle Ramsey alwavs has his chair tilted Back against the Wall when he sits in the kitchen becoz that Seems to rest his wooden laig and me and Little albert took it Down in the seller when nobuddy was watching—I mean the chair—and Got paw's saw. Then I sawed the hind Laigs nearly off up uext to the seat where it uldn't Get notust. 3 w‘l’l allmost seemed like if I could see Uncle Ramsey with the Chair broke Down and him ail Dubbled up next to the wall. I felt sad for him Becoz Uncle Ramsey IS plezzunt to Have around, but it's rong l' have things on maw’s mind if a Buddy help it. “We put the chair back against the wall. where Uncle Ramsey allways likes to sit the Best, and pritty Soon Mrs. Bassett came over to See if maw wouldn’t give Sumthing for tne rummidge sail mext week. Before they Got thru Talkin about it paw came Home, and wanted to Let Mrs. Bassett have his winter Overcoat to sell, But maw sed it was Too good and she wouldn't lissen to enny Foolishness. “Well,” paw says, “we've Got to give Sumthing. I beleave in Charity. Think of the poor orfuns that mite get helped by us in This way. One of the saddest things in Life is to see folks with children of their own never Thinking of other peo- ple's Little ones that haven't enny Faw- thers or mothers and mite be Hard up for Sumthing from a Rummidge sail. “It's tco Bad they are not more men like you in the world, Mr. Moffett,” Mrs. Bassett told him, smiling kind of sad and Looking up tords heven, “But you mus- gen't Do things you can’t afford. Mrs. Moffett knows the best, and everybuddy in Our church is talking about how Good and kind and sweét she allways is when rthing is Going on, with a Good meal ten Cents. ro’l;‘h#n she put her arms around Maw and Kkist her on the Cheak and looked sad at paw again and smiled a Little more, and Uncle Ramsey came down Stairs, pre- tending he Didn't no ennybuddy was There, and ast What Time it was. After Mrs. Bassett got introduced to him she sed: “It always makes me Want to weep when 1 see ennybuddy that fot in the War. What brave men They were. Of corse you couldn't go,” she Told paw, . “pecoz you couldn’t of Been born yet. But the dear old Heroes are Going fast, and That makes me Feel so Bad. My Uncle Francis was all thru it.” “Say, maw,” paw sed. “I no. give that Japaneze sord I bot We'll at the world’s fair. You sed you never cared for it, Enny way “*All rite,”” maw d him “We can are that about the Best of ennything d the house.” It was hung abuv the mantel in the Li- brairie, and naw went to Get on one of the good chairs to fetch it Down, but maw sed X My Goodness take a kitchen Chair to stand on,” so he went to Get one and y sed he never could see a t thinking of when he was at Spottsulvainey. ett ast him how it Happened nung the enemy ne word, and Got Before our Captun sed t all mixed up fighting with them, and when our Side come up they thot I be- longed to the Fge, becoz I was over the brest Works and everything was sitemunt ennyway new the Captun eve becoz I wasn't Look tot me a Le it it Never turn nd with- out Looking first 3 By that time paw was Back with the chair, but the hook that the sord hung to was so hi That he had to Stand on his tip Toes, and just as he neerly got hi fingers on the Rite place the Hind Laigs broke. Mrs. Bassett nocked Uncle Ramsey over Little albert's hobby horse trying to Get out of the way, and paw looked kind of streaked up and Discurridged when we got him out from Under the morris chair, and the new music Rack maw bot me for Christmus. Maw sa; he had a Feeling the First time she ever saw that sord it was Going to bring Bad luck into our Fambly, and she's glad it’s gone. GEORGIE. THE SUPERIOR YOUTH. So THE SUPERIOR Guy WoBBIED BACK To THE FARM NCE there was a Farmer’s Son O who was Born Proud. And he Sneered at the Honest Sons of his Neighbors, saying: “Lo! I wés made for Better than Thou!” And when ke went to the Village School he gave all the Push the Glassy Eye and the Marble Heart: yea, also did he hand them forth the Frozen Face and the Boston Stare. “Thou art Poor Clods!” said he, “and I feel Superior to Thee!” And so it Went On until the Youth was Grown Up, and being so Very Exclusive he was bound to be Miser- ly—and being Miserly, he amassed Much Wealth. Then said the Superior One: “Now at last will I come to Mins Own!” So he Sought Diligently and got into the Exclusive Circle of the Great Ones of Earth; but it cost him Much Labor and Many Plunks. And it came to Pass that there came a Great Crash and a Financial Panic which left the Superior Ome Busted and Without Friends, for the Swell Nobs Cut Him. “Thou art Only a Farmer, after all!” said they, and they Stared at Him. Then was the Superior One Bowed Down and broken in Spirit. “Alas!”’ said he, “all my Life I have been a Fool! I threw aside Friendship all through the years and ‘Wotted Not that I was casting away Jewels of Priceless Value,” and he went to the Middle Class for Sym- pathy. “We do not know thee!” said they. “Thou hast always Scorned Us. Come not to us when thou art Old and friendless and on the Bum!” Then he Sought Out the Villagers “They offered me their Friendship cnce upon a Time,” he thought. But the Villagers made a Long Nose at him, saying: “Go Chase Thy- self! For lo! these Many Years thoua hast treated Us to the Icy Glare. ‘Wherefore, we love to see thy Back rather than thy Face!” and they Mocked Him and Cast Mud. So the Superior One wobbled back to the Farm and Dug Up the Neigh- bors of his Childhood. “For behold! I have always been a Farmer,” said he, “and now, of a truth, I look the Part® But the Farmer’s Sons looked upon him Coldly. “Thou wert always Too Swift for us,” said they, “even ere thou wert old enough to Chew Bacon. Of a truth we seem not now to Need Thee to any Great Extent!” and they Spat, one and all, and Looked Grim. Moral: Friendship, no matter how lowly, is Pure Gold. You cast away Assets when you discard the Love of a Yellow Dog. Second Weep: Much Wealth may gild but it cannot Refine the Man. Third Wallop: Better be an Honest Farmer than a Fake Swell. .