The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1872-07-12


he still lives, one will doubtless ask of
him. as an African Prince asked OF Du
Chaillu, after long looking vi AN
orang outang, Master, does he speak
English yet?'
There are instances of lions having
reached the age Of 70 years. Pompey,
who died in the tower of London, in
1860. was nearly an octogenarian. He
was forest.born. But Of the 3l9 whelps
that have been born during the last
thirty years. in Regents Park, full one
half have come into the world with
cleft palates and have died in infancy,
because they could not suck. The
keepers filed their nostrils with tow,
and tried various other devices, but it
did no good. They could get no sus.
tenauce, and perished in consequence.
The average age Of the lion is probably
about thirty years. There is this, how.
ever, to be raid about him: In the do
mesticated state he never has chance.
He PAGES backward and forward in the
nutshell of a cage. In Paris and Lon
don the bear has his pole, the deer his
paddock, and the otter his pool, where
each has liberty enough to preserve his
health, but the lion is stalled like an
OK, till he grows puffy and lethargic.
Of all the terrestrial mammalia, the
elephant seems to be the longest liver,
sometimes exceeding century. One
historical individual is reported to have
attained much greater age. When
Alexander the Great invaded the do.
minions of Porus, one of the Rajahs
of Upper India, he took a great ele.
plant from the conquered Prince,
named him Ajax, dedicated him to the
sun, and let him 60 with this inscrip-
ton, Alexander, the son of Jupiter,
hath dedicated Ajax to the sum-" The
animal is said to have been found with
the inscription $50 years afterward. 1t
need hardly be remarked, to prevent
full credence being given to this rela-
ton, that it rests upon the very dubi-
GUS authority Of ancient times. How.
ever, the elephant, beyond doubt, often
rounds the century and, if not the
king, is entitled to be considered the
patriarch of beasts.
The hare, rabbit, and squirrel, if they
escape the gun Of the sportsman, sell
dom outlive the seventh year. The av-
erage age of the fox is from twelve to
fifteen years of the cat about fifteen,
and Of the wolf from eighteen to TWEEN.
ty years. The horse, in domestic
state, does not often live longer than
twenty-five years, and the ass ranges to
about the same period. Old age pros
trated "Copenhagen,' the famous steed
of the Duke of Wellington, at the age
nf tr0 1.
is supposed to attain much greater
age and there is a case on record, we'll
authenticated, of a pony, imported into
Berkshire, England, from Shetland, in
1855, living till lS4S. Swine have been
known to live through thirty years, deer
eighteen, and camels fifty. though the
average ages of all these are much less.
The dog loses his sprighlliness in his
sixth or seventh year, and has evidently
passed the bounds of youth. Gray hairs
are here and there upon him at the
close of his eighth year, chiefly around
the eyes and at the corners of his mouth.
Such appearances become more con-
spicuous to the eleventh or twelfth year,
when actual decrepitude usually COM
mences, and increases so rapidly that
by the fourteenth year the animal is a
burden to himself and q nuisance to
others. But dogs have fingered to
twenty years. Hexior, a shaggy spaniel
OF German breed, of unusual life and
intelligence, was received at four years
old by lady in London, in 1854, and
did not die until Christmas day Of 1870.
1t was Hexior's good fortune to live in
a mansion full Of dogs and empty of
children. Her history could be woven
into story. From being the equal of
her canine associates, she became the |
preferred, and from that the associate
of her mistress. AS her years increased |
she grew to be queen of the household.
She had language for every need of
her life, and it was heard, understood,
and obeyed. No one of her associates
they were seven in number-ever en-
tered her luxurious kennel, or touched |
her dainty repast, or followed her to her |
her mistress, or passed the |
threshold in her company when she
went to take her daily airing. BY force |
of character she held her own to the last,
and in her dying hour, on pillow in a
boudoir, her eyes following her mistress
while life was was painting toward its
goal, subdued all frolic among the
usually noisy tribe, every member of |
which was present, and passed away
with the dignity of the patriarch Jacob,
when he gathered up his feet in his
bed and yielded up the ghost"
The average age of the sheep does |
not exceed ten years. To that period |
they live, breed, and thrive we'll. There
are instances, however, of much more
protracted age. Somervilles speaks Of
q Spanish ram that maintained his virile
power twenty-three years, and survived
two years longer and eve, in Denvon-
shire, yeaned pair Of lambs when q