Moral evils are kept out not by a thorn fence, but by holy ideals and
loving activities. These are quite as effective for character as this
Arizona device for excluding rattlesnakes:
Did you ever hear of a rattlesnake fence--not one made of
rattlesnakes, of course not, but one made of prickly thorns to
protect one from the rattlers and keep them away? That is what
the Arizona campers build, and the only way to keep these deadly
poisoners away is by building one of these fences of oktea, a
shrub covered with thorns which grows on the desert.
As the tents have no doors and are not set much above the
ground, it would appear easy for Mr. Rattler to effect an
entrance. Imagine the sensation of crawling into bed some cold
night to strike against the clammy skin of a snake, and this
is just where Mr. Snake likes to snuggle, in among the warm
blankets.
To avoid this men who work in the mines have found that a snake
will not go near this oktea, and they have built closely knit
fences around their tents, with little gates to go in and out,
and beyond this the rattler will not penetrate. It was first the
Indians of the desert who discovered this deadly shrub, and they
got the secret from birds and animals, which, to protect their
young, travel sometimes many miles back and forth, bringing
the thorns with which to cover their little nests. Gophers and
other small animals there cover their nests in this manner.--Los
Angeles _Times_.
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