MATTIE AND ORA COMER ON SNAKES

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This file was contributed for use in the OHGenWeb Ross County by: Ralph Cokonougher

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I remember my father telling me that Mattie and Ora Comer had a friendly running battle about snakes. Ora, a farmer, liked non-poisonous snakes. Mattie hated and feared them. The snakes were great rat and mice exterminators, so Ora made a habit of catching the non-poisonous snakes and turning them loose, not only in his corncribs, but also in the attic of his two-story stone house. He knew Mattie didn't like snakes so he never told her when he put one in the attic. As sure as water flows downhill, the snakes would eventually find their way to the lower floors, and a very upset Mattie would soon find herself staring into the face of a big, old, scary blacksnake, or some other ratsnake. Down would go the hoe or broom handle and soon the body of a dead snake would go flying out the back door. From what my father told me, after Ora would get home from work and receive a piece of Mattie's mind, he sometimes wondered if the dead snake was the lucky one. Still he never ceased putting snakes in the attic, and Mattie never ceased killing them on sight.

I, myself, experienced Ora's love of snakes one summer when I was a teenage boy working for him, helping him put in the summer's hay crop. While in the hay field, I saw a large blacksnake. It appeared to be about 10 feet long, and looked very fearsome to me. I picked up a stick, and in my youthful ignorance, I killed the snake. I was proud of my accomplishment, until my father explained to me how Ora felt about snakes, and that Ora had went out of his way that very day to especially avoid killing that particular snake with the tractor and haybailer. I felt really bad about what I had done, especially when I saw how bad Ora felt about the death of the snake. It seemed to me as if he was fighting back tears. Still, Ora never said a harsh word to me about the snake, and he was a friend until the end of his days. And I never looked at snakes the same way ever again.

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The obituaries for Martha and Ora Comer are posted in the obituaries section. Martha's nickname was "Mattie". She and her husband, Ora, lived most of their lives on Wisecup Hill, Buckskin Township, Ross County, next door to the Cokonougher farm.