AN GAOḊAL.
58
An incident which has caused a great deal of gossip
and aroused considerble interest among the residents
of the Thirteenth and Fourteenth Wards happened
in D. Beckman's store, at 151 Grand street, on St.
Patrick's day. About four months ago Mr. Beek¬
man purchased a boa constrictor measuring eleven
feet and placed it in a case. The reptile was much
admired by patrons and the owner was very proud
of it. Men around town and promenaders on Grand
street had often seen the serpent in the store win¬
dow and regarded it as a fine specimen of its species.
A clerk in the store, Patrick Moran, did not take
very kindly to the reptile, and often referred with
pride to the fact that serpents could not exist on
Irish soil since the time of their extirpation by St.
Patrick, He was firm in his conviction that if a
serpent was placed on Irish soil it would expire
and attributed the supposed virtue of the soil in
expelling the reptiles to the presence of the sham¬
rock. He secretly determined to get a shamrock
imported directly from Ireland for St. Patrick's
Day and placing it on the serpent. He accordingly
wrote to his relatives in Roscrea, Whitepark town¬
ship, near Nenagh, County Tipperary, over a month
ago with a request that they should send him a
shamrock. He recieved a bunch Monday, and on
St. Patrick's morning he obtained permission from
Mr. Beckman to place a small portion of the triple
leaved sprig upon the boa constrictor. The sham¬
rock was placed upon the serpent's body, and a
few minutes later, the clerk asserts, it turned a¬
round uneasily in the case, and the sprig fell off
its back. Patrick positively asserts that the rep¬
tile then put its mouth towards the shamrock, but
instantly drew its head back, coiled up its body
and straightened itself out. Moran thought the
movements of the serpent significant, and tri¬
umphantly exclaimed, "There's something amiss
with it; it dare not put its mouth near the sprig.
Mr. Beckman merely laughed. The serpent
continued its contortions, and it is certain that a
couple of hours later in the day it perished. Pat¬
rick was jubilant and triumphantly proclaimed
the virtue of the shamrock. The death of the big
serpent, occurring at the time it did, caused Mr
Beeekman to now believe as firmly as his clerk
that the shamrock as such, or as a product of I¬
rish soil, is possessed of certain properties fatal to
snakes. The dead reptile is now in a bag in the
store, and has been viewed by hundreds of people,
ncluding two Eagle reporters. — Brooklyn Eagle.
We copy the following items from the Brooklyn
Eagle, —
The echos of the St. Patrick's day parade still re¬
verberate around the municipality, and many amus¬
ing stories are told concerning the happenings of
the day, but the story which povokes the heartiest
laughter is that told of Mayor Whitney and Corpora¬
tion Counsel Jenks. His Honor, the Mayor re¬
viewed a parade of the Ancient Order of Hibernians
for the first time yesterday. As the first of the line
passed the City Hall the Mayor turned to Corpora¬
tion Counsel Jenks, who was standing beside him,
and said:
"These gentlemen in carriages are an imposing set
of men. Who are they, Mr. Jenks?"
"They are the wholesale liquor dealers," said the
Corporation Counsel.
"And who are these gentlemen following on horse¬
back" asked his Honor. "They have a very mar¬
tial bearing".
"They are the retail liquor dealers," responded
Mr. Jenks.
"And the men now approaching?"
"They" said Mr Jenks looking along the line as
if to be sure of the accuracy of his answer, they are
the consumers."
It is hardly necessary to add that this was said in
jest and not by way of description of what was one
of the finest processions ever seen in Brooklyn.
The great trouble is that the appearance of these
little fighters (the sparrows) in one’s neighborhood
is the means of driving away the more desirable song
birds, and something should be done to lessen this
evil. — Utica Observer.
Is that a fact? Did you ever see a sparrow in
the act of driving away desirable songsters? Long
Island sparrows dwell in perfect amity with other
birds. They are the Irishmen of the feather race —
what they most enjoy is a row among themselves.
Mr Jenks had the manliness to indignantly disa¬
vow the insulting remarks attributed to him, but
the "Sparrows" were availed of in a later issue to
give the "Irish" another "lick." But we have the
consolation to know that the snake is never so
innocuous when it hisses.
A puzzle for Young Folks.
Two little girls got 60 orangee — 30 each — for
sale every day from their father, a fruiterer. for
pocket money. The elder little girl sold her oranges
2 for a cent; the younger one sold hers 3 for a
cent — the older girl realizing 15 cents, and the
younger 10 cents, making 25 cents between them.
It happened one day that the younger little girl
took sick, and, to do a sisterly turn, the elder one
undertook to sell her sister's oranges along with her
own. She took all the oranges in her little basket
but instead of selling them 2 for a cent and 3 for
cent, she sold them all at 5 for 2 cents; but when
she came home to pay her little sick sister her
money, she found that she had only 24 cents for
the 60 oranges instead of 25 cents. How was the
cent lost?
(We have asked the question of "How was the
cent lost" of a large number of persons without a
reply, Now, we think the readers of the Gael the
most intelligent of our countrymen, and we hope
that as many as are able to find where the pen¬
ny went will drop us a postal to that effect, All
of those whom we have vainly interrogated are of
more than the average intelligence, so that we will
be in a position to make an estimate for future re¬
ference. Ed)
