'JO 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 chaffing group at the village store, on 

 occasions when he is crowded a little too far, 

 "Who sed hoss-har snake?" He laus^hs best 

 who lauQrhs 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 



