Show ap A buu rifi j n 14 1 finiko 4 an I 1 rotator wora r up lu in ewh eh other V ric e autu 1111 round lie co coull alil crow n that would gle gite lun chau men an a pang of jervy snakes dont grow very big up our way said ex sheriff warren kalama YAG of pilm pike county PJ pa to a new ew york sun man but they 1 lie y grow uncommon nion smart ive seen tem cm do de lots lot of cute things the mo most ft of which I 1 have kept to myself because I 1 have always been on good terms with my and ray my business busine us is such that I 1 cant afford to have them wt weaken alren in their confidence in me they lille like all pike county being simple and unsophisticated und and unable to appreciate the fact that truth is stranger r than fiction I 1 am getting along in years though and I 1 dont feel like passing away without putting on record at least a few of tile the evidences ol of genius I 1 have seen in the snakes that live up our way A friend of tny mine ine who lived back in the high knob country captured A young blacksnake once and made JB a pet of it the snake got as tame as r kitten and had the run of the premises one day he be got egg hungry and lie he stole an egg from under a setting hen and swallowed it the egg was just on the eve of hatching und ond the chick picked its wa amt of the egg as ag it lay inside the snake and not finding daylight yet kept on picking i g until it had picked a liole hole through the snake and stuck its head out that was as far as ar it could get and there it stuck the thai inae like it nt first hut but by and by the novelty of the situation seemed to strike him and lie he grew proud of that strange living sly my friend int intervene erfene curious cur iaus to see what the result of thua that singular companionship panion ship woud be the chicken and ami the snake grew grevy acry dond of one another and it was worth a farm to see avem vem cm go to sleep together the snake turning its head back and snuggling lown down by the chickens head the snake kept the chick well supplied with food cat catching dies and worms and insects of N various finds and passing them back to the chicken bythe by the hundred the chicken grew like I 1 weed and along toward the end of a summer the blacksnakes black bluck snakes body was pouched out like a small halad satchel where the chicken was waa spreading out and the latter s neck stretched nearly six inches above the sn snakes alces back it as the funniest sight you ever saw and aad touching too the two creatures crea turea doted on each other SQ so but their end was wa sad one day along in angust the snake and nd his hia friend were taking 12 a nap presently the chicken ch cl en woke u up p stretched liis his neck to its f till full length alad nl got rid of A crow the first row crow of a young rooster poster ac even when he h as the aid that thai seems to be in the sopping flopping of liis his incipient wings is alays wayra a heartrending performance and las s this rooster use his wings is s first crow w waa real olry the snake nake woke up with a start lie he looked wildly idly about lie he was seared scared and no but finally made up his mind hut lie he had been dreaming and setd led down domi to finish riis nap lie he hod had scarcely ear ceily clotted closed his eyes when the r bilig rooster e encouraged by his first EAret stretched elied his neck and tried ir s voice again the snake jumped as auch ch as k ten n feet his eyes full of tor ter or and sailed around aroun d the yard as if 0 were ivere flying from an avenger lie he and ne to a stop by and by bv but glared adly mildly and panted like a hot dog th blicken seemed to enjoy the perform ce hugely ely and whilo while the snake was tul till tr trembling 11 bling in lie he let g go ro another crow then the snake discovered where hll queer noise was coming from froin antl and i lie turned a look on tile chicken that was terrible in ita reproachful ulness nebs the young rooster would have done well if lie lind had heeded it hut but lie he ile he stretched his neck as high as he could and crowed again square in the snakes face the snake struck at the chic chicken kenw licad head but missed it the chicken rot got mad and clipped the snake anake in the head with his bill and then it went they turri tumbled bled and fought around that yard for five minutes then they fud suddenly denly became quiet the snake had got tho the chickens chicken f s head in his mouth anti and swallowed it neck and all ile he had killed his friend but haa choked himself to de death ath in doing doin it |