Newspaper Page Text
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STORIES BY A SNAKE LOVER.
HOW SNAKES LIVE DIKING THE
COLD OF WINTER.
G. H. O'Reilly, A\ ho Ha< Mn.le n Life-
Lons Sillily of Reptile*, Tell* of
Their Strange Habit* of Hiberna
tion, Giving Many Curion* Inel
dent* of Their Intelligence—Snake'
Adventure* in South Africa—A
Fijfht Between Two Little Shrew*
and a Blk Poisonous Adder—A
Mink'* Appetite for Snake-Diet.
New York, Dec. 2.—1 saw the first In
stance of the hibernation of snakes in this
country in 1592. At Greenville, Jersey City,
there was a large heap of rubbish—stable
sweepings. I believe—which lay near the
creek at the west end of Cater avenue.
There was a considerable amount of straw
in it. so that It wasn’t very solid. Jt had
lain there probably for several years and
had mostly turned to mould. While pass
ing it one day in the month of October I
saw a snake's head sticking out of a hole
in the side near the ground. Going to a
nearby house I got a spade and dug over
the whole heap. I found thirty-nine stakes
in it, chiefly watersnakes and garter
snakes. They were not all together, but dis
tributed generally throughout the whole
heap. Now. this manure pile was not more
than two feel high, and the ground was
very hard and solid underneath it, so that
if a very severe frost had come, these
snakes would all have been frozen as they
slept. From this it would appear that
sometimes, at least, the wisdom of snakes
is not sufficient for their safety.
Now the question is, did the snakes spy
1 <
DRAWING A RATTLERS FANGS
out this manure-heap during the summer
and decide that it would be a proper place
to winter in, or, if they didn’t, how came
the whole thirty-nine to find it? Probably
my experiences during the autumn just
passed will give the true explanation of
this puzzling question.
Hi* Neighbor*, the Snake*.
My house is situated in the midst of thick
woods, with here and there some rocky
hillocks, open sunny spaces, and frequent
ewampi I have had every opportunity of
observing the proceedings of my ophidian
neighbors, as well during the heat of the
past slimmer as when the weather began
to grow cooler. During the ordinary sum
mer weather. I found that the snakes were
scattered generally through the woods, liv
ing a vagabond life up ami down, here and
there, so thal you could very seldom meei
with more than one at a time. But mark
the change which occurred >aieron.
When the cool nights toward the end of
September warned me to increase my
clothing, I noticed that the snakes had
also taken heed of it, for I now began
to find them five or six together around
sunny rocks, or in some sheltered perch
of sunshine in the thickest copses. After
a few days, I would find that they had
left those places also, moved on, like the
true vagrants that they are, to some oth
er place of sojourn.
Getting Heady for n Winter'* Sleep,
About the middle of October I euw
quite a number of garter snakes on a
rock-crowned hillock not far from my
house, where I had often sought for them
In vain during the previous monlh of Sep
tember. I didn't disturb them, for I was
glad to have the opportunity of observing
their movements, as the weather grew
colder, in hopes of finding out something
about their hibernation. For about a
week they stayed around the rocks. Dur
ing the daytime they would bask in the
sun, five or six in the space of a few
yards. If I approached too close, they
would glide In beneath the rocks. Several
times during the week 1 visited them at
night, and found them always coiled un
der the stones. But one night it came
on much colder thun usual, and the next
afternoon, when I visited my hillock, not
a snake was to be sen, neither under the
stones nor elsewhere. I concluded that
they had felt the nipping wind of the
previous night, und had moved away in
search of some more favorable location.
Very rarely after this cold wind did I
meet with a snake in the woods or
swamps. They had deserted the rocky
hillocks, and all the other sunny spots
where I used to see them.
I soon found out where some of them
had gone. In one corner #>f the grounds
attached to my house there is an old
well, now disused. Once only during the
summer had I found a snake at this
well, and that was at a time when water
was scarce in the woods. But now, when
the cold was fast driving the snakes from
one retreat to another, I one day noticed
several of them sunning themselves by
the well. For two or three days I saw
them there, and then found that they
Lad either left this place, too, or else
stayed closely hidden away, for 1 saw
them no more.
Five Sunken in n Cellar.
About this time also I found the fresh
ly cast skin of a large water-snake in the
cellar of a neighbor's house; it had evi
dently gone in there to hibernate. A search
in my own cellar revealed a very inter
esting state of things. I'nder a pile of
rubbish I found five garte*, enakes com
fortably colled. When I discovered them
they put out their longues but didn’t
otherwise move, so I fixed up the place
as it was before, and left them to continue
their winter's sleep. Since then 1 have
looked at them several times, but have
found them always in the same position.
But the cellar is not the only part of
the house where the snakes have come
In to hibernate. Since the weather grew
severe 1 rarely go in the dining room;
and as there is nobody in the house but
myself, it is a very quiet apartment. I
never dreamed, however, that snakes
would have come in from the woods and
chosen it a9 a place for hibernation.
Nevertheless this was the fact.
Cl/af n Box in the Dining Room.
In a corner of the dining room, on the
floor, was a card-board cox with a hole
in one end of it. What was my surprise
one frosty day to find a garler snake in
this card-board box. He had come into
the house probably weeks before, and find
ing the little hole convenient, and the box
comfortable, had enconced himself within
U. But in this he proved very imprudent;
for when I looked at him during the se
vere freeze of about lwo weeks ago, I
found him frown stiff. X took him into
the snake room, thinking that the heat
might revive him; but no, he was dead.
The frost had crippled him as he lay
in the bo* and he had to lie there and
die in its clutches.
Though snakes sleep through the winter,
it is very evident that, in this country,
some of their enemies are very wide
awake.
During the Iftst two falls of snow I no
ticed the tracks of some animal passing
into and out of a hole under the steps
leading up to my front door. A slight
examination convinced me that it was a
mink, and that he, too, had taken up bis
quarters in my cellar. 1 was pleased to
know that he was there, and never feared
for my garter-snakes; but after writing
the paragraph aboveabput the snake in
the dining room. I took a lamp and went
down into the cellar—and what did I find
—my garter snakes' retreat broken open,
and only the heads of two of litem re
maining. The mink had eaten the rest.
Neither had these snakes chosen, wisely.
In another part of the cellar there are
two other garler snakes which have not
yet been molested.
Fate of llelnted gnnken.
It Is not to bedfllppSlod Chat every snake
succeeds in finding a hiding place satis
factory to him before the frost sets in. I
have found them still abroad seeking a
refuge, as lale as the 10th of November.
Late in the evening on that date 1 met
with two lying out exposed in the woods,
overtaken by the cold, so bentimlied that
they could scarcely move, and ready to fail
a prey to the frost, or the, first predatory
animal that chanced to* find them. On
being taken into the house they recovered
and are now as lively as they ever were.
Now, bearing in mind the observations
I made above on the proceedings of the
snakes during the autumn in seeking
tlleir winter home', let us go to the . ac
tive snakes in my colection, and see if
they can give us any additional Informa
tion as to the why, when and how of their
hibernations.
One of the things I have most noticed
among my captive snakes Is their great
sensibility to change of temperature. Too
much heat or too much cold discomposes
them, and they show thelrdlsapprov.il by
trying to get out of their cages. With
| ordinary summer temperature they are
i content. Even when autumn, comes on, if
\ the heat in their cages lie kept regular,
| they show no evidence of uneasiness. But.
i let a blast of wintry wind blow on them
and the temperature continue low for a
few days, and the snakes which have felt
it will give up eating and scarcely cease
from their efforts to get out to seek some
warmer place. I have known snakes, af-
I ter getting the first shock of wintry cold,
to give up eating in consequence for two,
three or even four months, and only re
gain their appetite by being kept contin
ually at a summer temperature.
Stepped Mating When Sleep Began.
My bull snakes (Pltyophis), from Texas,
having felt cold winds in September, 1896,
gave up eating at once and fasted contin
uously till the following March, while
snakes from these Northern and colder
states resumed their feeding in January;
though they ail had the same heated room
during the period. That they all had their
appetites interrupted by the first cold only,
is evident from the fact that this year
and other yeats when I have been more
careful to keep them at an equal heat
they have all continued feeding and cast
ing their skins as if no winter were reign
ing outside; the casting of their skins Is, I
may mention, n thing they do not do in
hilic rnaiion.
Now, it is only reasonable to suppose
that this interruption of appetite and great
sensibility to cokl, and this desire to seek
warmer quarters operates the same when
the snakes are at large in the woods, as
when they are in captivity. And in fact,
my observations of the wild snakes on the
rocky hillock and elsewhere lead to that
conclusion.
Drawing Fnng* With Bare Hand*.
Snakes become so sluggish during the
period of their hibernation that they do
not even resent being touched and hand
led. I have taken venomous rattlesnakes
and drawn their fangs with my fingers
I without the least danger, although this
usually revives them pretty thoroughly
! from their stupor. I had a photograph
taken showing how this was done. Such
treatment shows that snakes must be al
most insensible to rain during hibernation.
°"d Retreat of Smith Africa Snakes.
Strangely enough the snakes of tropical
countries hibernate the same as theii
cous.ns in the north, it was in South Af
I lira in May or June, 1576, that I made mi
| •'ifi acquaintance with snakes in then
j winter sleep. Although the eastern prov
inco of the Cape Colony is a country whet
frost is never seen except in a very sligh
degree, still the snakes there retire frot
the winter. And the retreat of most o
the smaller ones is very curiously are
wisely chosen. There is In South Afr’.c
a p< tie* of termite or white ant whicl
construct large anthills all over the fa
or the country, but chiefly on the opet
plain*. These mounds are made by Gi-
THE MORNING NEWS: SUNDAY, DECEMBER 4. 1898.
ants carrying up the soil from beneath
and pliing it In a honey-combed rounded
i heap on the surface. These erections are
generally three or four feet high and four
or five feet in diameter at the base. When
new or when still occupied by the ants
they are almost as hard as stone; but
when the ants for some cause leave them,
as they often do, these admantine dwell
ings soon become softer from the action
of the weather and of natural decay. It
is into these deserted ant hills that the
smaller snakes force their way when the
time for hibernation arrives. Consequent
ly, my method of snake hunting in the
winter was to take with me a hoe to
break open the ant hills, so as to find the
snakes eonee-aled there. In consequence
of my having discovered this retreat of
the snakes, I used to add far more to my
collection in the winter time than in sum
mer. Nearly ever deserted ant hill would
have some snakes in it. Sometimes I
would find ag many as ten or a dozen In
a single one, oftgner two or three, but as
deserted ant hills are very numerous my
day’s catch would be quite considerable.
The snakes would seldom lie together In
the same part of the ant hill, but would
be scattered generally throughout. That
these deserted abodes of the ants were
really the very best spots in South Africa
for snakes to pass the cold weather in,
I have no doubt whatever; and they de
serve credil for choosing them, because
the ant hill being honey-combed all
through the Interior and mostly weather
proof outside, the sun during the day
would heat up the whole structure, and
the air in the chambers would preserve
the warm'h through the night.
Little Siireni Against Big Adders.
That the snakes were exposed to some
enemy in the ant-hills was evident, for
I would often find the skeleton of one
puzzled me, until I noticed tiiat I often
cleanly picked. For a long time this
found nests of shrews In the ant-hills.
Most tiny quadrupeds they were, not
more than a quarter of an ounce, and yet
I have seen two of them kill a snake fif
teen inches long and eat a great part
of him afterwards. Indeed, I have seen
two of them attack a puff-adder three
feet long and as thick as a man's arm.
Now the puff-adder is the most deadly
snake in Africa, and still these two in
credibly small animals were so diaboli
cal.y savage and active that they would
infallibly have killed him, if I had not
prevented them. Thus it will be seen that
the winter sleep of snakes is likely to
be disturbed by something very much
worse than nightmare. G. R. O'Reilly.
AMERICA’S TAALEST CHIMNEY.
Ha* Just Been Erected by a Street
k nailway Company In New York.
New York, Dec. 2.—This gigantio chim
ney is fifty-five feet in diameter at the
ground, twenty-seven feet in its narrow
est part and thirty-five feet at the top,
which flares outward from the “neck,” or
narrowest part. To build it required 3,400,-
000 bricks, enough, laid end to end, to
reach clear across the state of New York
from Buffalo to Albany. Or they would
build a wall four feet high and nineteen
miles long. If the chimney extended along
the ground instead of up into the air a
load of hay or the biggest band wagon
that ever led a circus parade could be
driven through it easily.
The object of this sky-scraping smoke
stack is, of course, to furnish a steady
draught for the giant furnaces which will
generate steam to drive the machinery of
the power plant. It has been built with
scientific exactness, therefore, to secure
just the right dimensions for the air pas
sage. The air heated by the furnace fires
rise* and its place is taken by fresh air.
When the florv of this air-current is prop
erly regulated, It keeps the fires steadily
at toieheat. Attempts have been made to
do away/with tall smokestacks by the use
of mechanical blowers, but the engineers
who are building the new power house
believe that the chimney flue still provides
the most efficient draught.
The nicely with which the immense new
chtmnev has been prepared for its work
may be understood from the fact that in
side its wall is a second and separate
chimney built up to a hight of 340 feet.
The reason for this is that the inner sur-
§§
§
P
' ■
B I
THE GREAT CHIMNEY.
face will expand and lengthen under the
action of the hot gases-from the furnaces,
while the outer surface will remain as it
is laid. The result of this process, if there
was only one wail, might be to cause the
great structure to crack and crumble, or
even to topple over. As it is now con
structed, nothing short of an earthquake
will be likely to move it.
The chimney weighs over 3,000 tons, or
more than the battleship Texas. To sup
port this immense weight 1,300 forly-foot
wooden piles were driven into the ground
as close together as they could be placed.
On these the foundations rest, so that the
total hight of the smokestack, counting the
distance its supports extend into the earth,
is almost 400 feet.
One curious fact about the great smoke
stack is that it is the only part of the
.tew power house thus far erected. The
dig building, which is to cover more than
in acre of ground space, will be built
ibout the chimney, which now stands In
-olitary grandeur in the middle of a city
block. The chimney has been nearly a
v ar in building and Is not yet entirely
ompleted. For the first 125 feet of hight
t.e walls were carried upward by means
i a wooden staging around the outside.
\hovc that point the work was carried
n entirely flora the inside.. Ail the brick
nd mortar in the upper part of the
tructure was hoisted up the Hue and the
nation* went to and from their work on
• temporary elevator built Inside tho
hlmney. When It i* completed one iron
.adder will run up the inside, giving ac
cess to the top for any repairs! that may
be needed.
The tallest chimney in the world is in
Glasgow, and Is over 400 feet in hight. But
In other respects it is not so large. Its
diameter Is leas, and not nearly so much
material was required for its construction.
THE CONVICT TRIAD MILL.
A Barbarous r uni aliment Inflicted
I lion Inmate* of the Rangoon Jail.
In the Control Jail of Rangoon, tie
British officials have introduced a method
of making the convicts work, which is a
very effective mode of punishment. It is
a tread mill on a large scale. Big wooden
cylinders about seven feet in diameter are
provided with keen-edged plank steps ail
around. Above the cylinders at a conven
ient hight there is a heavy iron pole,
stretching across the entire room, upon
which tne chains of the convicts working
In the tread mill are fastened. When they
are all in their places, the bolt holding
the cylinders in one position is removed
and convicts must tread, tread without a
stop for two hours and a half. If one of
them stops treading he slips down as far
as the chain permits, but the plank steps
SSfcf U^^'~l^'
CONVICTS AT WORK.
beat against his shinbones so vigorously
that tlie skin is bruised and scraped.
This is exceedingly painful, and the con
vict hurriedly catches up the next step
and tries to tread along with the others.
This barbarous punishment is a necessity,
however, for the natives are extremely
fanatical, and death has no terrors for
them; Imprisonment would be for them a
favorite method of living a life of seclu
sion and meditation, with no care for food
or lodging, were it not for the compulsory
work. The large shed containing the six
tread mill cylinders is situated next to
shops where the power Is used in wood
working machinery. About seventy con
victs are at work there at orje time.
A MIGHTY VSGFtJL BEETLE.
He 'ltld* the Orange and Lemon
Grove* of One of Their Foes.
From the New York Sun.
Local entomologists have been Interested
by news that hat? come by way of Wash
ington of the result of a shipment of bee
tles made by Dr. Howard, entomologist
of the United States department of agri
culture of Portugal. The beetle In ques
tion is known to science as the Novius
eardinalis. Its home is in Australia, from
which, country it was introduced into Cal
ifornia several years ago by the board of
horticulture of that state. It was hoped
that it would prey upon the white or flut
el scale that was ravaging the orange
groves of California.
The hope was well founded, and the bee
tle, which is a natural enemy of the scale
insect, is believed to have saved the Cal
ifornia orange industry from annihilation.
It ate up the scale bugs with avidity,
checking their multiplication and causing
an end of the pest.
According to the Washington news a
like result has taken, place in Portugal.
Dr. Howard received an appeal for aid
from the Portuguese authorities in Sep
tember, 1896, when the scale pest was rav
aging the orange and lemon groves along
the river Tagus.
In October of last year Dr. Howard se-i
cured from the state board of horticulture
of California about eixty specimens of the
Australian beetle in an adult state and
some larvae. These were packed in moss
with a quantity of the scale insects for
food on the way, and were transmitted
to Portugal by mail. Only five of the bee
tles survived the trip. In November, an
other colony- obtained in California, was
forwarded from New Y'ork by direct
steamship to Lisbon, of which one male
and five females survived. The beetles
are noted for their fecundity, and within
a few months their progeny numbered
thousands. These were distributed in and
about the city of Lisbon, where they at
once set to work upon the feast of scale
bugs ready at hand.
The latest advices that have reached
Washington state that the beetles now
number millions and are rapidly ridding
the country of the pest.
—An Ohio woman has patented a match
box for pocket use, which is opened at
the bottom to load, the matches being
pushed out one at a time by a button
on the side of the safe, the head coming
Inst, and passing over a roughened sur
face to ignite it.
11 B. Neal, F. P. Mii.laud.
President. Vice President
NEAL-JIILLARD CO.
Buy and Whitaker Streets*
Dealer* In—
Pols. Oils oi iisfe
Steamboat and Mill Supplies,
Sash, Doors and Blinds,
Lime, Cement and Plastei,
-AND
BUILDERS’ HARDWARE,
SAVANNAH, GA.
A GREAT BIRD DOCTOR.
A I’NJQIE ESTABLISHMENT THAT
HAS NOT ITS COUNTERPART.
This I* Nothing I,e* Than a Bird
lloMpitnl, AVliere Sick anti Di*n
-1 led Little Songster* and Their
Big and Brilliant Cousin* May Be
Taken in and Healed of All Their
Disease*.
Chicago, Dec. I.—The surgeon in charge
of this remarkable hospital is Mr. C. A.
Cross—or Dr. C. A. Cross, it should be—
and he is a clear case of inherited tenden
cies, being closely related to the celebrat
ed William Cross of old Hull street. Liv
erpool, England, who, in his day, enjoyed
the reputation of being the greatest bird
fancier in the world. Indeed, a passion for
birds runs through the whole family,
though ihe Chicago doctor has In particu
lar, developed Ihe hereditary instinct. For
tunately, his wife is an equal enthusiast,
and Mr. Cross attributes much of his suc
cess to her delicate care. The two cotistl-
tute the entire medical and nursing staff
of the hospital.
Finding by personal observation that the
diseases of birds were for the most part
exactly the same as those that afflicted hu
manity. Dr. Cross studied medicine suf
ficiently to become familiar with the nature
and application of the more common drugs
Since the establishment of his own unique
institution, the good doctor's fame has
spread abroad, until now invalid birds are
sent to him from all over the country,
a beautiful parrot for which his owner
had refused S3OO having been sent to the
hospital all the way from Denver. As with
individuals, a large proportion of the dis
eases from which birds suffer is the result
of colds and improper diet.
Dr. Cross’ Patients.
“There is no bird that can stand a draft,"
said Mr. Cross, "and yet people who seem
to adore their pets constantly leave them
near open windows and doors. This is par
ticularly dangerous during the period of
molting.”
As I walked through the wards I was
frequently addressed by the interesting
convalescents. "Halloa, how do you do?”
sang out a beautiful old gray fellow, who
however, hadn't a feather on his breast.
He proved to be the victim of high living
His over-indulgent master has allowed him
to eat potato, meat and al) sorts of greasy
food from the table, and now he was pay
ing up for his good times by living on a
very strict diet, taking a good blood puri
fier, and being sprinkled every day with
Indian cockle to keep him from plucking
out ids plumage.
Next to him was another bon viveur who
was suffering from gout, a disease to
which birds of the upper tendom are par
ticularly liable. Their toes swell in the
regulation manner, and sometimes indeed,
have to be amputated. Of course at the
hospital they have to come down to plain
living ond high thinking.
“Poor Polly,” from a cage nearby, next
attracted my attention, and there L found
a bird of brilliant plumage who, however,
showed an ugly tumor on her right wing.
She had already had one removed from
her left, and was undergoing the same pro
cess for the one in view. The doctor's
method for dealing with this trouble—by
no moans an uncommon one—is to take a
silk thread previously soaked in an anti
septic, or a silver cord, and bind it tightly
around the excrescence; every day he
tightens the cord a little, until tjie trouble
disappears, of course treating the general
system meanwhile.
No sound came from the adjoining cage,
in which, however, I caught sight of a
pretty seedy-looking bird. Poor old fel
low! He was suffering from a bad case
of tonsilitis, and his throat had that day
l>een operated upon. He was, however, be
ing braced up on a decoction of whisky,
quinine, iron and water, and was bound
to puli through. The little invalids In
stinctively recognize Mr. Cross as their
friend and allow him to handle them with
the utmost freedom. His method of ad
ministering medicine is to hold the bird
quietly in one hand, while with the other
he drops the remedy with a medicine drop
per oq the side of the face, close to the
bill. Enough is sure to get into the mouth
by this process, while if the mouth is forc
ed upon and the remedy dropped imme
diately in, it is very likely to strangle the
delicate little creature. During my visit to
ilie hospital a woman called to consult the
doctor in regard to her canary, which
seemed to be troubled with sore throat and
hoarseness. The good old-fashioned reme
dy of onion sirup was prescribed, to be
given in the manner indicated,
gome Disease* nn<l Their Treatments
Catarrh, pneumonia, bronchitis, diph
theria and indigestion are among the most
frequent ailments, and birds, especially
parrots, are almost always affected by
any epidemic. During a period of influen
za. for instance, the doctor had at one
time 186 parrots on his hands for treat
ment. ...
Mr. Cross is entirely modern—which per
haps means scientific—in his treatment,
and has Just exploded many an old tradi
tion. Just as there was once a pathologi
cal law to Ihe effect that water must not
be given a fever patient, so in birddom,
there is still the statute that you must
tiot give water to a parrot of you wish
him to talk, and many a bird fancier even
to-day tells a hopeful purchaser not to al
low i>oor polly any water for three months.
This, Mr. Cross says is as absurd as it Is
cruel. Equally ridiculous ts the notion
that sa.t will kill a bird. Quite to the
contrary, Mr. Cross' treatment for indi
gestion is to place a cup of warm sail
water in the cage, wheie the little creature
can freely help himself: “The same rem
: edy that I would take myself,” said the
i doctor, “ in case of dyspepsia.”
| Mr. Cross has recently improved upon
! hi 9 original ciever method of setting brok-
Icn bones. Instead of a quill he now uses
gelatine tubes, such as arem anufactured
for capsules. Around the broken limb he
first binds a bit of antiseptic cotton and
over this slips a sufficient length of the
gelatine tube. When the limb Is set he
has only to place It in warm water for
awhile and the snug little cylinder dis
solves.
Although with good care parrots may
live to be 100 years old, they lead all bird
dom in the number and variety of their
diseases. The English nightingale is the
most delicate of all the little songsters,
6nd rarely lives more than six months or
a year in captivity. Delia T. Davis.
NO CHANGE IN KISS VERSES.
Candy Mottoes the Same Sow a*
Generation* Ago,
From the New York Sum
Two thousand reams of kiss mottoes,
or verses, 150,000 to a ream, are turned
out annually at the New York headquart-
ers for confectioners' wares. A large pro
portion of these mottoes are used in the
United States; the rest are distributed to
the four winds, some to New Zealand,
Canada, Cuba, South America, wherever
English or French or German is spoken,
for only in those tongues are the mottoes
printed. The kiss verse is entirely im
partial and no'respector of persons, for
the same little conceits that attend on Es
sex street functions, are a prompter to
Bowery sociability, and figure at Thank
giving and holiday parties away off in se
questered country homes are served - .p
in expensive bonbon holders at fashionable
luncheon and supper parlies given at Fifth
avenue assembly rooms and at private
dwellings. The one factory is the author
of them all.
“Who makes the kiss verses?” was ask
ed of the superintendent of these peculiar
sugary wares.
"I don’t know," was the reply. “They
have been on our plates for years. We
never change them. I think Adam had
something to do with the original man
uscript and perhaps Noah took care of
it along with other things that he tucked
into the ark. It’s possible that we will
get out a few new motto forms next year,
tut simply because our old plates are
wearing out from constant use. Kiss
verses arc the one thing in the trade that
need not keep up with the procession,
people buy them just the same whether i
they're old or not.
"When I first came into the business
twelve years ago, and noticed how musty \
and arehald the mottoes were, I suggested
to my uncle, who was then in charge, that 1
we have some new things written that !
would be more up to date, but he said there
was no need, that these would do as well.
My uncle was then quite an old man. and
had been superintendent here for years. He
had no more idea whi n the verses we were
using came from than 1 have now but he
thought they came from the other side
somewhere, and maybe had been a littse
tinkered up here in the house to make
them shorter and more serviceable. I’ve
had a notion two or three times of getting
some new ones written, some with hits on
wheeling or golf, and with, maybe, some
of the taking slang phrases that people
use now, but I never got round to it, and
I notice that the French and German mot
toes that come to us from abroad are no
more up to date than ours; are exactly the
same as when I was a boy, and, for that
matter, as were used when my father or
my grandfather was a boy. They an
swer just as well, and people read them
and laugh and joke over them at parties
just as they ever did. They are an im
portant part ‘of the candy business, at
least the motto papers and ornaments are.
We ship thousands of packages of those
in the gross and every paper has to have
a verse folded away in it.”
“Do we use many kiss verses now?" re
peated the manager of a big catering es
tablishment which makes a business of
having unique and entertaining devices.
“Oh, yes; just as many as ever. See those
cracker bonbons with the horses on them,
and crops and riding hats, got up especial
ly for horse show week. They go off with
a snap when puiled, and have a paper cap
or a tinsel favor Inside. Every one of them
has a verse in it. Meant for children's par
ties? By no means. They are used Just as
much for grown folks, although many of
our prettiest moito devices are got up for
that purpose. I have an order for a private
dinner to-morrow night, a dinner for men.
1' shall use those moito bonbons as a part
of the decorations, which will be the most
unique we have worked out this season.”
On certain of the motto papers not yet
irrevocably tucked away in these up-to
date bonbon devices the following senti
ment* are inscribed:
To chaff with a belle I like very well,
But to marry I'm not quite so hasty;
As well as unfurl both ringlet and curl
My wife must iearn to make pastry.
And this:
"I love" whene'er “thou lovest,” too,
“We love” then we'll say and prove,
And echoes shall repeat anew
The blissful tale of mutual love.
Two employes of the place, young girls
with slim, deft fingers and a knack for
fastening flowers and dainty trifles in
shape, are at work at the moment on some
carnation motto bonbons for use at an
elaborate pink function. This Is one verse
that Is to figure at the feast, hidden in ths
stem of a pink carnation:
Hark! Cupid calls, let us obey.
Enjoy life e’er it roils away.
Also this:
The kiss, dear maid, thy lip has left
Shall never part from mine,
Till happier hours restore the gift,
Untainted back to thine.
A tiny billet being folded away i n
azure silken envelope on which a bur of
music is inscribed, a set of bonbons mad*
for use at a musical function, reads thus;
Accept this little pledge of love,
And love’s request obey;
And ever kind and constant prove
From this auspicious day.
Other mottoes read:
Woman, dear woman, still the same
While iips are balm, and looks are flame
While man possesses heart or eyes, *
Woman’s kingdom never dies.
None but yourself shall e’er be mine
Resolve, dear girl, to make me thine.
One most obvious and reminiscent of f, jr
felts and fun-making games reads.
A certain girl—need I say who?
Would not refuse to marry you-
Now, Mr. Bashful, take the hint
Prove that your heart is not of flint.
“These are the tndentical rhymes used at
a supper party given to Washington or at
some of those notable gatherings that Oli
ver Cromwell frowned on," said the min
ager. “The kiss verse never changes Th*
German conceits are quaint and prettv
the French more subtle and delicate thin
the English; some few of the French ar
philosophical or pessimistic, but the m a .
Jority are all about love, pure and sm
Pie, and almost child-like in their simple
directness. Here's the title sheet of
French mottoes that is to be dipped u,
There'' 6 , Ul ° Se Vi ° let faVOr *><>., bon#
There are twenty-four mottoes repeated
over and over in regular succession on the
sheet, and only two out of the twenty
four are about anything else than love"
I presume the fact that love ami court!
ship are as old as the hills and never
changed is the reason why the imror,
ers and the American distributors of can
dy motto verses think one single sto, ir
article will answer the purpose. We hav,
no Spanish motto verses. That sort of
badinage in love matters is not approval
of in Spain or Portugal. I have been a'l
through those countries and I never saw
a kiss verse or motto used there, except
when they floated in to English or French
people Not that the Spanish are more
strait-laced, in fact, but, in their etiquette
ove matters are not to be alluded pi
n public any more than a Spanish girl
Is permitted to see a man friend othcr
tvTV!’ 3 ' 1 ,. !" the P resen< of a duenna.
To jest of love in Spain is branded bad
form. The English mottoes, many of
them reversions of Irish or Scotch rhymes
and sentiments, are the crudest we have*
and when the Americans have tacked on
or taken off something to make the verso
shorter or better it becomes balder or
cruder still. Some few are vulgar, but
most of them are sentimental with the
stiff-stilted sentiment of a past generation
that seems comically out of place with all
the up-to-date conveniences and improve
ments that are in use now.
"All our finest and most delicate in
casing of motto bonbons is done in Eu
rope,” added the manager. "The distinc
tive novelties that we plan for any uni
que occasion are lone here; but the bulk
of the fancy designing and ornament ia
done where accurate, painstaking labor
can be had cheaper than we can get it.
All the silver dusting of those butterfly
wings and the intricate tracery of eilk
and embroidery-floss rosetting used on the
motto cases takes too much time for is
to do it with profit. The best labor hera
is high priced, so we still turn to Eu
rope for things of this sort, and maybe that
is why the verses in the motto'bonbons
yet come from the same source that lias
supplied them to us for centuries. Only
one department of motto labels is done
by original design now, and that is the
inscriptions on the ribbon scrolls drav.u
across the inside lid of fancy bonbon
holders. Terse translations from old lov
ing-cup toasts and salutations are used
for these, and each season as the bon
bon holder grows more important these lit
tle messages come more into use. As
much as $25 or S3O is no uncommon price
for a fancy case or box tilled with four
or five pounds of candy, and somewhere
about It will lie an inscription made so as
to be appropriate, whatever use the bog
be put to.
“As to the motto, candles themselves,
they are never more elaborate or
more exquisitely put up and ornamented
than now. Every device in nature—sea
shells, flowers, grains and ai) sorts of in
sects and vegetable devices—is imitated,
and the kiss verse is in the center of each,
the same old kiss verse, never mind how
new in design the cover that hides it.
Everybody, from the humblest to the
highest, smiles when you ask about kiss
verses—the white-capped candy-maker,
busy about his starch—lined moulds, ths
girl basket and box packer in the big
factory, the candy sellers, dnd even ths
stoical order laker and immaculate cashier
in the smart shops, who look as if any
thing less automatic than a prim assent
or dissent to a question asked in business
hours need neve-r be expected of them.
Perhaps it is the naive gullelessness and
unblushing sillynese of the kiss verse that
makes it such a universal expansionist,
but certain it is that anybody starting out
to track a kis verse to its origin by way
of the people who handle kiss verse leaves
a trail of smiling astonishment behind.
“As it was in the beginning, is now
and ever shall be,” is instinct in the kis#
verse, unless, as that one man who starts
them all out in New York has threatened,
the old-type plates shall lie changed next
year, or some other and remoter year,
and new ideas and phrases set up. 1™
the meantime the little kindergarten pu
pil gives a kiss verse to her grandfather,
and he is tickled at the joke, the ol<l
bachelor statesman hands one gravely
over to the budding debutante, an iden
tical copy of the one he might have hand
ed her mother or aunt two decades ago,
and the grandmother gets some moito bon
bons to take with her to the nursery an 1
pop off with the play caps that the tod
dlers love. Few people read the old time
servers in earnest, maybe, but it would
seem strange, indeed, to undo one of tlia
compactly twisted and puckered up su
gar comfits and not find a narrow littl#
paper within, hinting of love and court
ship and sentiment. Kiss verses, like in#
cream, are a common bond, linking all
•ages and kinds anil conditions of people
in holiday humor, a source of unbending
which does the old folks good and give*
Ihe young ones something to remember.
—Mrs. Harriet R. Stafford of Cottas*
City, Maw., owns the flag which
from the masthead of toe Bonhommia
Richard in Paul Jones' fight with the
Serapis. Mrs. Stafford’s husbahd is a di
rect descendant of James B. Stafford,
Jones’ lieutenant, who saved the flag af
ter the fight.
—Senator Murphy of New York, hn#
about determined to retire from politics
at the close of his term. Mrs. Murphy ha#
long desired to make a trip around tha
world, and she and the senator will pro’s
ubly start next spring. Mr. Murphy 1#
years ol<l, is a man of culture and educa
tion and has a fortune of something
$1,000,00.