TOO MANY SNAKE BITES.

Thames Star, Volume X, Issue 3425, 13 December 1879, Page 4

TOO MANY SNAKE BITES.

During the haying season, says iho Detroit Free Press, an honest old farmer" out on the; Gratriot road employed three young men from the city to help cut and store his timothy. None of them liked work half as well as whisky, and a conspiracy was the result. About noon one day one of the trio fell down in the field, shouting and kicking, and the other two ran to the farmer > with wild eyes and called out that their companion had been bitten by a rattlesnake, and must have whisky. The farmer rushed to tho house and brought out a quart, and the three harvesters got a big drink all round on the sly, while the "bitten" one had a lay-off of half a day- The next forenoon a second one was bitten, and again the farmer rushed for his bottle. It was a nice little job for the boys, and on the third day the third one put in his claim for a bite, and yelled for the whisky bottle. The farmer took the matter very coolly this time, and after making particular inquiries as to the size of the snake, location of the bit©, the sensation, and so forth, he slowly continued:— _

"Day before yesterday James was bitten and drank a quart of good whisky. Yesterday John was bitten and drank a quart more. I'o-day you've got a bite, and the best thine you can do is to smell their breaths and lay ia the shade while the rest of us eat dinner."

The man got well in ten minutes, and not another rattlesnake was seen during the season.