Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 27, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 July 1894 — It Was Mathematical. [ARTICLE]

It Was Mathematical.

Said a well-known recounter of snake stories the other day, by way of a wind-up to several: “I can’t call any more to mind just at present. My wife knows a lot of snake stories, but I’ve forgoten ’em. By the way, though, I’ve got a regular living curiosity down at my place. One day my eldest boy whs sitting on a stool in the back yard, doing his sums, and he couldn’t get ’em right. He felt something against his face, and there was a little snake curled up on his shoulder and looking at the slate. In four minutes h’e had done all the sums. We’ve tamed him, so he keeps iall our accounts, and he is the quickest head at figures you ever saw. He’ll run up a column eight feet long in three seconds. I wouldn’t take a prize cow for him." “What kind of a snake Is he?" inquired the listener curiously. “The neighbors call him an adder.” “Oh, yes, ” said the other, a little disconcerted. “I’ve heard of the species.”—Chicago Times.