Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1869-06-23
A Flea Entertainment.

"A 1ptt entertainments
In London young Englishman is con
Quoting an exhibition of very curious
character. He is the proprietor of STUD
of performing feas; or, to use the words
Of his own announcements, of f'traineC
Aptertus insects, the only specimens of the
Articulata in the world ever taught to per-
form" Tie London Daily News says
1--WE went to the sight, fearing that oul
sense of refinement would be shocked, but
found, upon entering the room, a tastefully
decorated apartment, and several ladies
with their children admiring the household
foes which q wholesome sense OF
duty teaches them generally to
crush Mr.. buckingham, the exhibitor,
has toiled hard and long to bring his exhi-
bition to its present successful condition.
Like the everlasting cookeIy-book hare, the
fieas have had first to be caught, then
shipped hither from Russia Belgium and
France, or elsewhere, and afterwards sub
iected to a training in which severity and
tenderness are pretty equally proportloned.
Without going so far as the exhibitor, who
believes the little wretches he protects have
| intellects. and says he has seen their brains,
we must confess our astonlshment at the
novel figure they are made to cut, although
in an age like this one ought not to be
amazed at sucn trife as the spread of ed
ucation among feas The insects in Re
gent street draw carriages, act as tug to 8
man-of-war, fire off gun, perform on the
tight-rope, draw Il bucket out of an lmag
mary well, leap and swing, and execute
other ey0lutions upon white, smootI
table.
These things, however. are not done by
the fieas as by other beings. The volunta
ry system is quiet ignored, and the won
| der Of the exhibition is rather marvellous
delicacy of the machinery than the genius
of the performers. Mr. Kitchingman, afte1
/ years of patient, has perfected set Of Lii
| liputian articles. designed and made by his
own hands, that are of themselves of the
rarest kind, and the visitor will soon per
ceiye that they are most ingeniously made
for feas, and not the feas for them. TAX,
ing the raw, untutored flea between his fin
ger and thumb, with touch that few coul6
command, the proprietor fastens by pc
culiar moose fine hair round the insects
trunk, leaving the two ends standing al
inch or SO above the back, like a couple OF
overgrown feelers These hair-ends are
fastened to the apparatus, generally by in
sertion in the split of tiny straw, and this
this difficult operation having been done
without injury to wind or limb, the har-
nassed captive is attached to the particular
service for which its talents fit it.
ssThe Russian and Belgian feas are ia
vorite pupils, but the English breed, after
much starving and training, become the
toughest and best. We observed one Oh
Saturday, however, fretting In the collar
very painfully, and drawing his ivory cal
with hop, skip, and jump, instead of the
steady, easy trot which the Russian or Bel
gian affected Perhaps it was too much tc
expect right minded flea to be doclle I'm
der the circumstances in the presence o.
rudy children and blonde ladies. One OF
two of the performers were pointed out as
the inheritors of green old age; they had
lived nine months, and were now, III the
course of Dature, nearing the day of thell
death. Three or four months-nay, weeks
however, are considered hard age for 6
a flea to live.
ssATr Kitchingman, with touching alice
ton, allows his feas to live out of himself,
which is nothing but fair, seeing that he
lives out of them. Every day, when some
thing attempted and something done has
earned them nights repose, he feeds his
flock upon the back of his hand, puts each
individual between two blankets, ano
the whole layer into box, where they
slumber secure, out of harms way, ano
ought to be able to rise in the morning with
clear consciences towards all mainland
The unframed reserve stock 1.-TWO or three
hundred) are kept in stoppered bottle
full of fl lnnel wool. The exhibitor gives
his visitors much information upon this
|, go,