Aunt Jo’s Scrap-Bag Vol. 1

and lazy, pretty and plain ones,--but I liked the great boa best.

When I came to his cage, I didn't see anything but the branch of a tree,
such as I had seen in other cages, for the snakes to wind up and down.
'Where is he, I wonder? I hope he hasn't got out,' I said to myself,
thinking of a story I read once of a person in a menagerie, who turned
suddenly and saw a great boa gliding towards him. As I stood wondering
if the big worm could be under the little flat blanket before me, the
branch began to move all at once, and with a start, I saw a limb swing
down to stare at me with the boa's glittering eyes. He was so exactly
the colour of the bare bough, and lay so still, I had not seen him till
he came to take a look at me. A very villainous-looking reptile he was,
and I felt grateful that I didn't live in a country where such
unpleasant neighbours might pop in upon you unexpectedly. He was kind
enough to take a promenade and show me his size, which seemed immense,
as he stretched himself, and then knotted his rough grayish body into a
great loop, with the fiery-eyed head in the middle. He was not one of
the largest kind, but I was quite satisfied, and left him to his dinner