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 chaffing groujD 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 



