the little boy, who perilled his own life to save that of his helpless
comrade, especially as he was not naturally a child of much courage, and
was very much afraid of snakes; but love for his friend overcame all
thought of his own personal danger. [Footnote: A fact related to me by an
old gentleman from the State of Vermont, as an instance of impulsive
feeling overcoming natural timidity.]

"The large garter-snake, that which you saw, my dear lady, is
comparatively harmless. It lives on toads and frogs, and robs the nests of
young birds, and the eggs also. Its long forked tongue enables it to catch
insects of different kinds; it will even eat fish, and for that purpose
frequents the water as well as the black snake.

"I heard a gentleman once relate a circumstance to my father that
surprised me a good deal. He was fishing one day in a river near his own
house, but, being tired, seated himself on a log or fallen tree, where his
basket of fish also stood; when a large garter-snake came up the log, and
took a small fish out of his basket, which it speedily swallowed. The
gentleman, seeing the snake so bold as not to mind his presence, took a
small rock-bass by the tail, and half in joke held it towards him, when,
to his great surprise, the snake glided towards him, took the fish out of
his hand, and sliding away with its prize to a hole beneath the log, began
by slow degrees to swallow it, stretching its mouth and the skin of its
neck to a great extent; till, after a long while, it was fairly gorged,
and then slid down its hole, leaving its neck and head only to be seen."

"I should have been so frightened, nurse, if I had been the gentleman,
when the snake came to take the fish," said Lady Mary.

"The gentleman was well aware of the nature of the reptile, and knew that