The Idaho world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1864-1918, 1871-04-27
IDAHO WORLD.
MONKEY AND MAN.
I think it was A. Pope that said:
"Know myself; presume not God to scan:
n,.a ,,r,ra,. atiidv of mankind ta man"

Alexander. which accounts for his be
ING designated A. Pope instead Of a
Pope, and happily frees the subscriber
from any suspicion Of irreyerence. This
is another illustration Of the advantage
of a big capital. Only let man be
in. a position to use that, and if he is
moderately smart it will keep him free
from suspicion of any sort.
But there was considerable differ
ence between Mr.. Pope's idea about the
study of man and those of the person
named Darwin, who devotes himself to
the pleasant work Of showing that
eyerybody's grandmother was mon
key OF possibly Goldfish.
A glance at part of Mr.. Darwin's last
book has opened to my minds eye an
enormous field for speculation, and |
have almost made a lunatic of myself
trying to work it. II us>
You see, Darwin is not quite sure
that our grandmother acas monkey.
1.-The felt no doubt on the subject, but
was absolutely clear in his head about
it, then of course the whole thing would
be- settled. But he isn't clear. He
leaves the matter unsettled, and that's
how it comes that my mind has been
fearfully tortured in trying to find out
what sort of thing the old lady actu-
ally was, and whether we are really of
animal or vegetable origin. f
Any number of hypothesis comeiup
when | am thinking about it, and both
ers me so much that | tear my hair and
stamp around and run desperate risk
ofbeing ordered out Of the house by my
landlady,, who can't be got to take any
more interest in this important subject
than if it We're an unconscious clam. 1t
is astonishing how Indifferent some
persons can be to things that absorb the
whole intellectual machinery of others.
At the breakfast table the other day
l brought the subject forward, Il had
been sitting up for three nights, trying
to figure something out of it, and nat
urally it was uppermost in my heart,
and. the, introduction of it came near
bringing on GOODNESS. | got it under
consideration in a quiet ingenious sort
of way by saying to Mr. Bulfnch:
Twas any one OF your ancestors a
calf?"s 49, r4t- -
'7Bul6nch is generally a harmless kind
of person, with a tendency to idiocy,
but on that occasion he showed spirit
He aimed about half pound of hash
at me, and the consequence was pic
turesque looking map on the wall be-
hind where | sat. 1t was evident that
he did. pot see the drift of my question,
so I said: gr,rF |
"Sir, your conduct is unpardonable;'
/ am making Investigations in regard
to the origin of the species, and it was
solely in the interest of science that |
asked the question. | now repeat it,
sir, and | beg you to inform me if you
know whether any one of your ances-
tors was calf"
Then he did get mad. l never saw
anything like it. He got up and shook
out his hair, and pranced around the
table, and it took four boarders to hold
him until he cooled off. 1t was no use
trying to get any information out of
him, SO | turned to another boarder,
Mr.. Woffles.
.ts"Wofflrs," l said. sit strikes me that
you must be of vegetable origin; that
hair of yours is what they call carroty;
your noseis turnup, and | have heard
some speak of you as a beet Don't
you think, now, there might have been
some cabbage heads in the original
branch of your family~
1t was interesting to observe Woffles
while | was making these observations.
1t seemed as though some one had put
a hot frying-pan under him, he squirmed
and moved around so, and made such
hideous- faces. When got through he
just gave one wild glare at me, and
made dash for the water pitcher, and
asI thought he was threatened with
apoplexy or something of that sort, l !
grabbed the pitcher first, and let him
have the contents over his head. They
took him up stairs in truly shocking
condition. -. ..............
Old Turbot was the subject of my
next effort to get at some facts in eth
nology. He is queer looking chap,
Iurbot is, rather eccentric, and with a