winters milder. The rattlesnake is a dangerous reptile, and its bite
causes death, unless the wound be burnt or cut out. The Indians apply
different sorts of herbs to the wound. They have several plants, known by
the names of rattlesnake root, rattlesnake weed, and snake root. It is a
good thing that the rattlesnake gives warning of its approach before it
strikes the traveller with its deadly fangs. Some people think that the
rattle is a sign of fear, and that it would not wound people, if it were
not afraid they were coming near to hurt it. I will tell you a story, Lady
Mary, about a brave little boy. He went out nutting one day with another
boy about his own age; and while they were in the grove gathering nuts, a
large black snake, that was in a low tree, dropped down and suddenly
coiled itself round the throat of his companion. The child's screams were
dreadful; his eyes were starting from his head with pain and terror. The
other, regardless of the danger, opened a clasp-knife that he had in his
pocket, and seizing the snake near the head, cut it apart, and so saved
his friend's life, who was well-nigh strangled by the tight folds of the
reptile, which was one of a very venomous species, the bite of which
generally proves fatal."

"What a brave little fellow!" said Lady Mary. "You do not think it was
cruel, nurse, to kill the snake?" she added, looking up in Mrs. Frazer's
face.

"No, Lady Mary, for he did it to save a fellow-creature from a painful
death; and we are taught by God's word that the soul of man is precious in
the sight of his Creator. We should be cruel were we wantonly to inflict
pain upon the least of God's creatures; but to kill them in self-defence,
or for necessary food, is not cruel; for when God made Adam, He gave him
dominion, or power, over the beasts of the field and the fowls of the air,
and every creeping thing. It was an act of great courage and humanity in