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the rattlesnake. ‘ Peculiarities of this Ophi s < dian Terror. His Headless Tail is VVhen the Neck Strikes. Pin ched an article by Dr. S. Weir From Poison of Serpents,” Mitchell on “The * quote the following: lbe Century, we observe what happens when the .•Let us mischief. He throws rattlesnake means Jjiffiself int0 a spiral, and about one the , head, . third of his length, carrying rises from the coil and stands upright, The ttitude is fine and warlike, and ar a tist, who attempt to portray it always fail. He does not pursue, but waits. Little animals he scorns unless he is hungry, so that the mouse or toad he leaV es for days unnoticed in his cage. Larger or noisy creatures alarm him. Then bis head and neck are thrown far back, his mouth is open very wide, the fang' held firmly for erect, which and his ordinary with au abrupt swiftness, motions prepare one but little, he strikes once and is back on guard again, vigi lant and brave. The blow is a stab and is given by throwing the head forward while the half-coils below it are straightcued out to lengthen the neck and give power to the motions which drive the fangs into the opponent’s flesh; 81 the? enter, the temporal muscle closes the lower jaw on the part struck, and thus forces the sharp fang deeper in. It is a thrust aided by a bite. At this moment the poison duct is opened by the relaxation of the muscle which fuiroutids it, and the same muscle which shuts the jaw squeezes the gland, and drives its venom through the duct and hollow fnng into the bitten part. “In so complicated a series of acts there is often failure. The tooth strikes on tough skin and doubles back or fails to enter, or the serpent mis judges distance and falls short and may squirt the venom four or five feet in the air, doing no harm. I had a curious experience of this kind in which a snake eight feet six inches long threw a teaspoonfuPor more of poison athwart my forehead. It missed my eyes by an inch or two. I have 1m 1 many near escapes, but this was the grimmest of all. An inch lower would have cost me my sight and probably my life. “A snake will turn and strike from any posture, but the coil is the attitude always assumed when possible, The coil acts as an anchor and enables the animal to shake its fangs loose from the wound. A snake can rarely strike be }one! half his length. If both fangs enter, the hurt is doubly dangerous, be cause the dose of venom is doubled. At times a fang is left in the flesh, but this does not trouble the serpent’s powers as a poisoner, since numberless teeth lie ready to become firmly fixed in its place, and both fangs are never lo 3 t to gether. r ihe nervous mechanism which controls the act of striking seems to be tithe spinal cord, for if cut off we a cake’s head and then pinch its tail, the stump 0 f the neck returns and with f0me accurac y bits the hand of the perimentcr cx if he has the nerve to hold I ew men have. I have not. A Irishmaa who took care of my , , latory astonished “ l0In tins me by coolly sus S test. He did it by closing e Us and so shutting for - out a meat the too suggestive view of the >eei 7 ,0 stum m<3 p. averse Snakes to striking, have always and Ih m ^ “ahgnei ° a the whole much “% cool, quiet person moving lIo Wly and steadily handle gently may pick up and tnost venomous serpents, anc J. however, that tho vipers and lv!° M° !)PCrlleadi n are uu cprtain pets. Mr. 5 hil ’ sna b e keeper at tho : Phia ZooI °gical, handles his cr iavi'rr im punity; but ono day i° r °lT e fi some little moccasins „ a arril ul° r* ei ld ' d ° Wa hh sleeve while hc he k mamma in his hand, one of round. ^ and mado aa u " ly ispiI V P rcsent the snake staff is ♦ 0 handle “I snakes. saw one October, in Tangicrs, f hat I h a q p 0 desired u g to observe—a make C h miner. Most fere , of his snake 3 ""’iH-actcd unless; but ho refused, with Md of horror, to pormit th brown he :arc but 1 handled with , ®aw at that exhausted once they were been °f their venom by hnv "S daily teased into •undlo of ra tied biting on a r<:r too g» to a stick. They e tired to be dangerous. I have SCHLEY COUNTY NEWS. often seen snakes in this state. After three or four fruitless acts of instinctive use of their venom they give up, and seem to become ind.ffjrent to ap proaches and even to rough hand ling. ” Bristles for Brushes. The best bristles in tne world, except those which France supplies in limited quantity, come from the vast forests of Northern Russia, those of the Ukraine being superior to others of that country. In no part of the world are there such end.ess supplies of mast, berry, acorn and conal trees. Their area covers thousands or miles, which are unbroken forests of oak, larch beech, pine and other trees that bear and drop the ric est food for swine, which swarm in the woods in a half-wild state, guarded and looked after by swineherds as wil d as the hogs themselves. It is not there and in that state of savagery that the hogs give up their bristles to commerce, but from these great droves the swine are selected for the culture of the bristle crop, for the hogs that are to furnish it are treated and cared for with that end in view. They are brought from the northern wilds and pastured near the great tallow factories of Russia. They are fed at ccr tain seasons on the refuse of the tallow factories, which in a short time puts them in fine conditon. The bris tle crop is gathered in the summer time, after the hogs have been fed for months on the tallow refuse, are enormously fat, and in the desired condition for pluck ing—for Russian bristles are not the yield of deal hogs, but are ‘live,’ the same as our own geese feathers are. The swine are driven into icclcsures until they are packed in like sardines in a box. They plunge and kick and Squeal in their close quarters until they are heated to a feverish condition of blood.. That, together with tho state of fatness they are iu, secins to loosen the roots of the bristles and the bristle pluckers pull them out more easily than a woman can pick the feathers from a goose. Appar ently the pulliDg out of the bristles is attended with no pain what ever to the hog. When tho hogs are all plucked they are turned loose and are at liberty to run at large iu their pastures until they grow a new crop of the material for which they arc kept and the time arrives for tallow-fatteu ing them again for their next plucking. Bristles from Russian hogs can always be distinguished by a tuft of soft wool at the roots, from a thick substance of that kind that underlies the roots of the bristles iu the hog’s skin. This is sup posed to be a provision of nature for protecting the animals from the vigor ous weather that prevails in Northern Russia, their natural habitat. The Value of Soapstone. One of the valuable minerals of this country of which the output is largely increasing is talc or soapstone, It i3 used for dressing skins, leather gloves and similar purposes, but its greatest use is as an adulterant. For tliiB it is pe culiarly fitted on account of its lightness, being employed as a filler chiefly in the manufacture of soap paper and rubber, and to a certain extent as a lubricant with other substances, It is also u*ed for making slate pencil, crayons, stoves, ovens, iime-kiin linings and hearths, and also, being acid proaf, for sizing rollers in cotton factories. In Alabama it is used for headstones, The Ameri can aboriginei used it for culinary arti cle, and the Chinese for the carving of their idols. Its lightness and its fibrous character admit of its almost entire in corporation (90 per cent.) with paper stock, while clay and other materials which it replaces are only available to the extent of thirty or forty per cent. It is known to commerce by such names as pulp, mineral pulp, agalite asbestine pulp and others of the same character. Hard to Suit. Mr. Gesso (at window)—Hello! here come Mr. and Mrs. Goby, They’re coming here, I suppose? Mrs. Gesso—They arc! What an idea, to call at this time of the day. Why, I Mr. Gesso—They’ve gone by. Mrs. Gesso—They have? Well, that’s very strange. I should think Mrs. Goby might be friendly enough to call when she’s passing right by the door.— Puck. Mother (reading)—A machine has been invented that will fling a man l.>00 feet in the air. Pretty daughter—Hor rors! Don’t let pa hear of it. A DANGEROUS DROP. Men Who Jump From Balloons With a Parachute. An American Aeronaut’s Ad ventures in Holland. Professor Young, an American aero naut, who has been giving exhibitions abroad—.ascending to a great height from a balloon and then jumping out and floating rapidly to earth by means of a parachute—said in an interview with a New York Suu representative at Cincinnati: “In America the hot-air ship is prac tically the only one known; on the other side everybody, with the <xception of Williams aid myself, u^es the gas bag. On that account we commanded higher prices than the others and made money out of the venture, We con tracted with a dramatic and variety agency, with headquarters in London and branches in every city in Europe for twenty-one ascensions in May, June and July, to bo paid for at the rate of $5000 for each seven ascensions, or $15,000 for the season, the ascensions in May to be in the provinces and Hol land, while during June and July we were to remain in London and show only at the Alexandra Palace. “The Hollander does not take kindly to an exciting exhibition like ours. He wants a pleasure that ho can sit down to, and which will not interfere with his quiet content. The first ascension 1 mado there was at a summer garden on the borders of the Hague. It was with the greatest d ; fficulty that I could get enough boys to take sufficient interest in the matter to help us to hold the balloon down while it was being inflat ed. In every other city the thing was such a novelty that we had to keep the overwilling helpers away with clubs; but at the Hague they all sat about lit tle tables, with mug3 of beer at their elbows, the -women knitting, the men smoking long pipes. And even when everything was ready, and taking my place at the mouth of the parachute, 1 yelled out the Dutch for ‘Let go, every body !’ and was jerked into the air at a mile a minute rate, nobody got up to run after me. Not a pulse in the party apparently, made an extra beat, The people looked after me calmly, and as soon as a tree hid me from their view they went on with their talk and their knitting. It was the coolest reception I ever received. It broke me all up. For a little while I was the maddest man in Holland; but only for a little while. When I came down I found eao who was a good deal madder, and who convinced me that the Hollander can get excited when he thinks it is worth while to do so. “The country under me, from a height of 2,000 feet, looked hollowed out like a ditch, the dikes forming the brim or edge, and, as the whole coun try is thickly settled, I chose the broad est stretch of unoccupied land that I could see in my path to fall upon. Un luckily it was a vegetable garden, and the owner—a short, stocky little Dutchman, with the waist of his trou sers coming up to his armpits—was waiting for me to come down. He made frantic motions for me to go away and to land in a canal on the bor ders of his place, or at least that was what I judged he wanted from his mo tions; but I came straight down, almost on top of him, all the same, landing squarely on my feet in a celery patch. The pull of the parachute, before it dropped, dragged me through tho field for several hundred feet, my boots ploughing up the soft ground and crushing the celery. When the ma. ch'ne came down finally it flattened out about fifty square yards of growing vegetables and broke tho Dutch man’s heart. He stood perfectly still for three or four minutes, while I sat down on the parachute frame to catch my breath, with his hands clasped be fore him, an expression of the most hopeless misery on his face. Then he gradually recovered, and for twenty minutes he alternately swore at me and cursed his fate in a stream of Dutch, which was only made intelligible by his actions. At the end of that time Henry Becker, the local agent of Ware – Son, camo to the scene and quieted matters down by promising to pay all tho dam ages. Four hundred guilders (about $160) was the owner’s first estimato of his loss, hut when Becker suggested that the better plan would be to count the injured celery stalks and pay for them at the rate of a stiver (two cents) apiece he instantly acquiesced, as the market price at that time was only half as much. There were 193 stalks injur ed, and when the Dutchman found that his whole damage did not amoun* to more than $4 he was ashamed of his anger and set up a lunch of Rhine wine and a kind of sweet cake with caraway seeds iu it. “The next place where I ascended in Holland was at Amsterdam, and I was so greatly incensed at the phlegm of the natives that I did not take my usual precaution to look about and get my bearings just before entering a cl ud, and the result was that I found mysell completely lost I had noticed upon going up that the current of air was car rying me toward the Zuyder Zae, but I had no idea as to whether it had shifted or not when I entered the cloud. There was nothing to be seen above, below or around me but fog. I did not want to cut loose until I was entirely clear of t>e city, and I did not care to be carried out to sea. In clear weather, or even in the clouds, when one has taken proper precautions it is possible to choose the landing pldce; but when at last I pulled the cord and sent the knife through the rope which fastened me to the balloon I had not the remotest idea as to what was under me. As it happened, the shifting wind had carried me back al most to the starting place, and I camo down on a pile of lumber in a lumber yard in Amsterdam. The parachute pulled me with it over the edge of the lumber pile and whipped me against the side of the next heap, but in two or three days I had entirely recovered from the bruises.” Robbing a Pelican. While they were stopping to overhaul a huge pile of seaweed th:ir attention was attracted by the comical, asthmatic cries for food from some young pelicans from their nests of driftsvood in the mangrove trees. The old birds were hard at work diving for fish in the la goon. The boys watched one, which was quite near them, with considerable curiosity. It would flutter an instant over its prey, then plunge down, and with open, dip-net bill resting on the water would adjust the catch in the ca pacious pouch beneath. In one of these expeditions a gull, with trained and eager eye, hovering near, settled down on Papa Pelican’s broad head, and as the fish was tossed about so as to drop into the pelican's pouc(i the thievish gull would adroitly snap it up and sail away with a derisive “ha, ha!” while the pelican, as if accustomed to this sort of pocket piekiug, simply flapped heav ily up again to renew its search for food. But the gull, as the boys speedily saw, had laughed all too soon. For down upon it from the neighboring shore swooped strong winged fish hawk. With a shrill cry of alarm the gull darted now this way now that, in zig zag lines, striving with all his power to escape. Fear and fatigue prevailing,h® let his choice stolen morsel slip from his grasp. Then the hawk, with a lower swoop, clutched the falling fi-h and bore it away to the nearest rock. — St. Nicholas. Oldest Organ iu the United States. The oldest organ in the United States is said to be in St. John’s church, Portsmouth, N. H. It was imported by Thomas Brattle in 1713 an I presented to the society worshipping at King’s chapel by him. There was such a preju dice existing against setting it up that the cases containing its parts remained unopened for seven months, after which time the organ was in use until 1756, when it was sold to St. Paul’s church, Ncwburyport. In 1836, St. John’s church, Portsmouth, N. H., became tho owner, paying $450 for the instrument. A new case was provided, the old pipos and wind chest being found in perfect order. There the organ is today, doing service in tho vestry, where the veteran is regarded with the tenderest solici tude. Snakes Joined Like the Siamese Twins. A. J. Rancw, of Telfair County, Ga., was in McRae recently, and said that while plowing in hi® field a few days ago he unearthed a pair of twin snakes about six or eight inches long and of a greenish color, Their bodies were grown together for about an inch near the center. They had two separate and dis tinct heads and tails, and when touched would lick out their tongues and show fight. He kept them until they died. The Shape of the Skull. Is a man stupid, or brilliant cr wis^ Surpassingly able or dull; It all depends on his cranial bumps. Depends on the shape of his skull; And there are some things that some men cannot do, Let them struggle and try till tboy’ro dead, Unless they can build a big L on their hrain And alter the shape of their head. Then do not attempt those impossible feats, And struggle until you are gray, On tasks for which you were never de-igned For your skull isn’t shaped ths right way. Shape the shape of your life by the shape of your skull; Build your life to the mould of your brain; Run your cars on the track that was built for your use. Unless you would wreck the whole train. A church is not used for a storehouse, a shed Is not used for a home or hotel; By the shape of the house, as by shape of the head. Its various uses we tell. Then don’t try to fight against nature’s design, You’ll find it hard work and small pay. Don’t squander your strength on impossible feats When your skull isn’t shaped the right way, For the world is filled up with irrational men Who struggle and try to attain The cloud-bannored pdaks of impossible heights, Without the right bulge of the brain. For the plastic skull of the man is shaped By a f ate that is greater than he, And he must judge by the shape of his head The trend of his destiny. Then judge by the fit of your cranium case, Don’t squander vour powers, I pray, In reaching for unattainable things When your skull isn’t shaped the right way. — S. W. Foss, in Yankee Blade. HUMOROUS. Calling a halt—“Hi, there, y’.ucrip pie!" The road to ruin leads through the wicket gate. Berry pickers get what they can and can what they get • A circular saw—the maxim that trav els round the world. You cannot always tell the amount of gas in a poem by its meter. Curious—That a fast youth goes the pace still faster when checked the most. Why had a poor singer bettor sing to an organ than a piano accompaniment? Because or the frequent stops. Dairyman’s Son—A mouse has fallen into the milk. His Mother—Did you take it out? Boy—No; I have thrown the cat in. The naan' who is in the habit of try ing to get to tho bottom of things should beware of falling overboard in mid-ocean. When we go to the circus the sights to see Many a thing will a mystery be; But with this question w * often cope, How can a man bo steady on a tight rope? Teacher—Sammie, how many bones are there in the human body—your fa ther’s, for instance? Sammie—One; he’s the ossified man at the museum. Rejoice, O young man, in the days of rhy youth, but remember that, big as he is, the whale does not blow much until he reaches the top. Young Lady—“That parrot you sold me last week doesn’t talk at all.” Dealer—“Yes’m; you said you wanted one that wouldn't be a nuisance to the neighbors.” “Why are you so agitated?” inquired the glass of the palm leaf fan, which was in a great flutter. “Because I have teason to believe that you are about to get drunk.” “You do not sing as much as you used to, Mr. Tompkins?” said a young lady. “No.’ 1 “What is the matter?” “I fear I have lost my voice.” “Then let us hope nobody will find it.” Ella—“Where will you pass the sum mer 1 Are you going into the country!” Bella—“I don’t know, Tin sure. Papa said something about going into insol vency, and if he says so 1 suppose we shall have to go there.” I am sorry to give you pain, Mr. Fer guson, she said to the kneeling youth, hut your score is a goose egg this time. Not much, Miss Kajones, he replied,, haughtily as he rose up and took his hat; you can’t prevent me from scoring a home run. A musician brought to despair by the poor playing of a lady in a room above his own meets her one day in the hall with her three-year-old child and say® in a most friendly manner: “Your little one there plays quite well for her agel I hear her practice every dayl”