A FIGHT TO THE DEATH 331 



coffin, but as none could be had in that rustic town it 

 was necessary to send to Easton for one. And so the 

 plucky boy was laid beneath the sod, and the neigh- 

 bors and visitors to this wild region revel in stories of 

 snakes, of snake bites and snake fights, and the men 

 hereabouts look carefully where they tread, and jump 

 at the rustle of every chipmunk. And the women — 

 God bless 'em — they hug the safety of the boarding- 

 house or hotel porch and will not wander afield for 

 love or money. And who can blame them? The 

 fields and the woods and the groves of Pike swarm 

 with the deadly rattlers and the women — again I say 

 God bless 'em ! — all know it. They take no stock in 

 snakes of any sort. They haven't forgotten how one 

 of these reptiles befooled the Mother of Mankind with 

 honey and soft-soap and piled upon the shoulders of 

 the world a pack of trouble under which it still stag- 

 gers. No ; since the time of Eve and her mischievous 

 apple all womankind have had a dread of snakes and 

 always will have till the world grows gray and Time 

 gives up the ghost. 



