Democratic Sentinel, Volume 22, Number 24, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 June 1898 — Australian Pluck. [ARTICLE]

Australian Pluck.

Life on the frontiers of civilization is favorable to the development of patient endurance of what cannot be helped, and that is about what Is meant by the good old word pluck. A good example of this quality is cited by the author of “A Colonial Tramp.” All Australian l>oys are taught the necessity of guarding against snakebites, and the method of treating them. Two little fellows, 6 and 8 years old, had gone into the bush to play. The smaller one, chasing a rabbit into a hole, pushed in his hand and brought it back quickly with the head of a most venomous snake attached to one of the fingers. “Quick, Charley!’ he cried, putting down his hand on a stump. “Chop off my finger—the snake has bitten it.”, Charley,-without hesitation, lifted his ax and chopped off not only the damaged finger but two others as well. Then the boys ran into town, over a mile distant, to a chemist, who plunged the bleeding stumps Into the strongest ammonia and afterward dressed the hand. Think of that, my stanch young fellow, and then try the effect of ammonia on a little scratch.