Cooper's Clarksburg register. [volume] (Clarksburg, Va. [W. Va.]) 1851-1861, 1856-07-11

II
matter to me, for it afterward cost me q
considerable sum before / could square
with the old Flathead for the worthless
dug.out. etS ae,ia i'ia ere 2f7- -
THE LOVES OF THE Icons. G.,
Let us first. sketch the. history of; the
lions life. beginning with his marriage
which takes place towards the end OF
January. He has first to seek wife
but as the males are far more abundant
than the females, who are oftengcut off in
infancy. it is not rare to linda young la
! dy pestered by three or four gallants,
who quarrel with the accetbity, Of jealous
lovers. II one Of themsd does not succeed
in disabling or driving away the others,
Madam. impatient and dissatisfied. leads
them into the presence OF an old lion.
whose roar she appreciates at distance.
The lovers fly at Him with the temerity
of youth and evaporation. The o!d fel-
low receives them with calm assurance.
breaks the neck of the first with his ter
rible jaws, smashes the leg of the second.
tears out the eyes Of the third. No soon
er is the day won. and the field clear. than
the lion tosses his maue in the air and
roars. and then crouches by the side OF
the lady. who, as a reward for,his cour-
age. licks his wounds caressingly. When
two adult lions are the rivals, tue encoun-
ter is more serious. S'f[
An Arab. perchedaon tree one night.
saw a lioness followed. by tawny lion
with full>grown name she lay down at
the foot OF the tree; the lion stopped on
his path and seemed to listen, The Arab
then heard The distant growing OF lion,
which was iustandysreplied by the iioness
under the tree. This made her husband
roar .furiously. The distant lion, was
heard approaching. and as he came near.
er the lioness roared' louder, which seem.
ed to oagitate her husband, for he march,
ed towards hersas if-tu force her to be si-
lent. and then sprapg back to his old post.
roaring defiance at his distant rival. This
continued for about an hour, when black
lion m lde his appearance on the plain
The lioness arose as if TO go towards Fin,
but her husband guessing her intention,
bounded towards his rival. The two
crouched and sprang towards each other,
rolling on the grass in the embrace Of
death. Their bones cracked, their flesh
was torn, their cries of rage and excruti
atiug agony rent the air, and sail this time
the lloness ,crouched and wagged her tail
slowly in sign of satisfaction. When the
combat ended, and both warriors stretch.
ed on the plain, she arose, snelt them,
and satisfied herself that,th were dead,
and trotted CT, quite regardless of the
complimentary epithet which the indig>
napt Arab shouted after her. This, Ger
rard tell US is the conjugal affection Of my
lady. whereas The lion never quits his
wife unless forced, and is quite pattern
Of coujugal attentions. =
Our lion. then. is married, let US say.
He is the slave of his wife, It is she
who always takes precedence when she
stops he stops. On arriving at dour
(the collection of tents-what is called a
village" J for their supper. she lies down
while he leaps into the enclosure and
brings to her the booty. He watches
her while she eats. taking care that no
one shall disturb her; and not. until her
appetiteis satisfied does he begin his meal
When she feels that she Is about to be-
como a mother. i. e., towards the middle
of December, they seek an isolated rayine,
and there, without the aid of chloroform
VI AI' AOSOShI ouO PlUSSuIS ueI lOTu VIII
one, two. aud sometimes three puppies,
generally one male and one female. II
the reader has ever seen and handled a
puppy lion. he will understand the moth
er and father. She never quits them for
an instant, aud he only quits them TO bring
home supper. When they are three
months old their weaving commenees.-
The mother accustoms them gradually To
it. by absenting herself for longer and
longer periods. and bringing them pieces
of mutton carefully skinned. The
father. whose habitual demeanor IS grave,
becomes fstigued by the4friyolous sports
Of his children. and for the sake of iran
guilty removes his lodgings 10 a distance.
within reach, however, TO render assis-
tance il required: = - r
At the age Of four or Eve months their
children follow theirmother 10 the bor-
der of The forest. where the father brings
to them their supper. At SIX months old
they accompany their father on all noe
turnsl expeditions. From eight to twelve
months they learn to attack sheep. goats.
and even bulls but they are so awkward
thaf they usually wound ten for one they
kill Il is.not till they are, two years old
that they can kill bull or horse with one
bite. While their education Is thus in
progress they are ten times moro ruinous
TO Arabs, since the family does not con.
tent itself with killing theacattle repaired
for is own consumption, but kills that the
children may learn how TIA kill. At three