hitting the tongue of the wagon, where the former enters the ring of the yoke, thereby missing the oxen. The impact against the hard tongue killed the snake instantly. I thanked a divine Providence for our deliverance and drove on, little realizing the calamity I was soon to face. Suddenly, I looked down and saw that the tongue had swollen to an enormous size. Before I could scarcely realize what was happening, there was a terrific crash. Following the crash, the oxen dropped in their tracks, dead. The tongue had swollen to such an enormous size that it caused the great ring in the yoke to burst, striking both oxen, simultaneously.” Chaos reigned for a few minutes as Patrick reached this point in his story. There was a general desire by all present to find something to throw at the occupant of the “deacon’s seat.” Order was finally restored by the court and Patrick Sheeron was allowed to proceed once more:
My father had a small saw mill, where he did custom sawing, bringing in but a small pittance, as all of our neighbors were so poor. The poorest of these neighbors was the family of Bill Peachy. Bill Peachy had a great weakness
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for collecting curios and among other things, he managed to get a stick of black mahogany, which he had shaved down to the proper size for a hoe handle. Woe unto him who borrowed that hoe, for it was the pride of Bill’s heart. He had considerable ground to be hoed in his potato field, for being Irish, his family used potatoes for their principal food and required a large patch.
Though we lived two miles apart, my chum and I were constantly together. On this particular afternoon, some weeks after our oxen had been killed, we were chasing butterflies close to where my chum’s father was hoeing. The sun had tipped behind a grove of tall, black oaks, and filmy cobwebs were stretched from the numerous weeds and grasses that grew around the tilled fields.
Suddenly, our attention was arrested by a sharp command from Mr. Peachy to, “look out”. To our great amazement, we saw a large hoop snake rolling along with its tail in its mouth, between the hills of potatoes, heading straight for Mr. Peachy. From his position in the opposite row, he aimed a terrific blow at the snake, the reptile retaliated by releasing his tail and dashing his poisonous
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