So, you see, the wonder isn't how they
can bend themselves every which way, but how they can keep from
doubling up like a foot-rule.
And another thing. Every day they rub themselves all over with
snake-oil. Snakes are all limber and supple, and it stands to
reason that if you take and try out their oil, which is their
express essence, and then rub that into your skin, it will make
you supple and limber, too. I should think garter-snakes would do
all right, if you could catch enough of them, but they 're so
awfully scarce. Fishworms won't do. I tried 'em. There's no
grease in 'em at all. They just dry up.
And I suppose you know the reason why they stay on the horse's
back. They have rosin on their feet. Did you ever stand up on a
horse's back? I did. It was out to grandpap's, on old Tib. . . .
No, not very long. I didn't have any rosin on my feet. I was
going to put some on, but my Uncle Jimmy said: "Hay! What you
got there?" I told him. "Well," he says, "you jist mosey right
into the house and put that back in the fiddle-box where you got
it. Go on, now. And if I catch you foolin' with my things again,
I'll . . . . Well, I don't know what I will do to you." So I put
it back. Anyhow, I don't think rosin would have helped me stay on
a second longer, because old Tib, with an intelligence you wouldn't
have suspected in her, walked under the wagon-shed and calmly
scraped me off her back.
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