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Show 38 THE GOLDEN IlOUR. t . windows the motions being made of various up-s airs ' . across streets. A man was appointed clha\~r~an otn talc- . . · ciety - 1e ue1ng a 10 count of his high position In so ' . atti.c W.ln dO\V 0 r a !('O UI, _ S tory house ' - and presen. tly a d f . tl e dormitory of an adJacent motion proceede 1om l . cottage, that t 1l e rna 1e residents who had .f ire-artns should take t 11 em an d bO 'O forth to pursne tlns . enemy of the comrnonweal tl1 of Somerville. The. n1ot1o. n \Vas put to the van.o us w·n I dows by the cha1nna.n m the att. . .· d rrhe men buckled on their arrnor' 1c, and carne · . and went 1.r o,r t1 "liTl en they got toward the outskirts 1. n 1 . . of the village, they saw his royal anacondaslnp snoozing • .r • When the n1onster saw them, he 1n a 1ence corner. crawled off, and hid himself under a barn. " The heroes returned to their homes, fin hed \vith victory - Veni, vidi, vici, in every eye ; they had pursued tl:e foe, and he had fled before tholn ignon1iniously, the very Floyd of anacondas. 'Unbar your doors, ye noble matrons of Somerville,' they cried ; ' the victory of your sons is complete.' But one timi.d lady asked whore the anaconda was. ' Under ~fr. Stnith's barn,' was the reply. Then this lady inquired ni.ode tly, ' But may not a snake that is under a barn co1ne out fro1n under a barn ? ' ' Sure enough ! ' ' Sure enough ! ' echoed fro1n window after window ; and the lustre of victory was gone. The more it \vas thought of, the more it appeared that the anaconda was even more fonnidable concealed under the barn than in the middle of the street. The young men watched around the FIGHTING THE DEVIL WITH FIRE. 39 barn till nightfall; the snake did not budge. They repaired, heavy-hearted, to their homes. Alas! there was little rest in Somerville that night. J\Jl were sure they heard the snake trying their window-panes ; each was sure it vvas lying over the roof of his or her house. The morning came on aching eyes. None wjshed to go out of the door, sure that the snake was waiting to drop straight do·wu from roof or tree on their heads. "Day succeeded day, and that snake, snugly dispo ed under the barn, kept the whole village vanquit5hed. People began to desert Somerville : expiring leases in that fated village were not renewed. So1nerville began to lose its reputation as a desirable place of residence. Real estate began to suffer. People went not. thr~ngh, but around that village: cars did not stop at 1t ticket-office. 1.,he students at Ca1nbridgc used. to take 1norning walks tou;ard Somerville : now, their walks were in a precisely opposite direction. In short, there was a prospect that the whole population would soon have to be taken into the Lunatic Asylum of that devoted village. " At this juncture, a gentleman returned from a journey to his home there, and, hearing the trouble, killed a pig and placed it a rod from the barn ; then he took his gun and got on top of the barn. With the ancient instinct of such devils to rush into svvine, the snake soon made for the slaughtered animal. Tlten tltis man killed tlte snake. |
