general statements. After the sermon I ven- 

 tured to tell the preacher that there was an ex- 

 ception to this "universal" rule ; that all snakes 

 were not adders and serpents, but some were 

 just innocent snakes, and that I had a collection 

 of tame ones which I wished he would come out 

 to see. 



He looked astonished, skeptical, then pained. 

 It was during the days, I think, of my "proba- 

 tion," and into his anxious heart had come the 

 thought, "Was I " running well " ? But he dis- 

 missed the doubt and promised to walk over in 

 the morning. 



His interest amazed me. But, then, preachers 

 quite commonly are different on Monday. As 

 we went from cage to cage, he said he had read 

 how boa-constrictors eat, and would n't I show 

 him how these snakes eat? 



"We had come to the cage of the little ribbon- 

 snake from the picnic grove, and had arrived 

 just in time to catch him crawling away out of 

 a hole that he had worked in the rusty mosquito- 

 netting wire of the cover. I caught him, put 

 him back, and placed a brickbat over the hole. 



I knew that this snake was hungry, because 



[-tlj 



