70 EYE SPY 
It is reported that Amos never got his scythe, 
however, the " dead - horse " story - teller having 
backed out on a technicality, claiming that Amos 
could not have seen the snakes, he said, and that 
the snakes had no wings, and consequently could 
not have been seen "flying" over the meadow; 
but the cobbler was at least the means of wip- 
ing out the hair -snake superstition in the vil- 
lage, and even to this day he is heard to sing 
out to the charring group at the village store, on 
occasions when he is crowded a little too far, 
"Who sed hoss-har snake?" He laughs best 
who laughs last. 
There was nothing in the outward appearance 
of Amos to indicate an intelligence superior to 
that of his fellows, the secret of his present victo- 
rious position being found in the fact that he had 
been in the habit of making the, most of his " sum- 
mer boarders." One of these, during the present 
season, had been a college professor of biology, 
who had enlightened him on many puzzling mat- 
ters of natural history, including the mystery of 
the hair snake, whose horse-hair origin he would 
once have maintained as stoutly as did his oppo- 
nents at the village store. 
My own early belief was influenced by the pre- 
vailing country opinion, and more than one is the 
horse hair which I have put to soak with interest- 
ing anticipation. By a mere accident the true 
