Marshall County Republican. (Plymouth, Ind.) 1856-1878, 1872-07-11

keepers HlleQ IuelE uOStIllS VIII Wv,
and tried various other devices, but it
did no good. They could get no sus-
tenance, and persisted in consequence.
The average age of the lion is probably
about thirty years. There is this, how
ever, to be said about him: In the do
mesticated state he never has chance.
He PAGES backward and forward in the
nutshell of 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 a 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 great ele-
plant from the conquered Prince,
named him Ajax, dedicated him to the
SUP, and let him go 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
of twenty-seven. But the wild horse
is supposed to attain much greater
age; and there is a case on record, well
authenticated, of a pony, imported into
Berkshire, England, from Shetland, in
1856, 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 sprightliness 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 a nuisance to
others. But dogs have fingered to
twenty years. Hexior, shaggy spaniel
OF German breed, of unusual life and
intelligence, was received at four years
old by a 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
intimacies with 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 a 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 well. There
are instances, however, of much more
protracted age. Somervilles speaks OF
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
shearling produced two pairs annually
for seventeen years, and single lamb
for each of three years more. In Scot
land the guide-sheep-old wethers
who are kept on purpose to lead the
focks across the mountains and through
the unfrequented wilds-average full
twenty years of life.
Cows and oxen generally reach the
age of II, without diminution of thei
powers. Rings around their horns tel
: the number of their days. At four year
old ring is formed at the roots of tn
horns, and every succeeding year an
other is added. Thus, by adding tire
to the number of rings upon the horns
{ the age of the animal is arrived at.
Among the feathered creation tn
eagle and raven, the swan and parrot
are each centenarians. An eagle KEEP
, in Vienna died after confinement 9
, one hundred and fourteen years, and O
/ an ancient oak in Selborne, still know
as the craven tree" the same pair {
a ravens are believed to have fixed thei
. residence for series of more than ninet
\ years. Swans upon the River Thames
o about whose age there can be no mi
). take, since they are annually nicked b
;. the Winters Company, under who's
\ keeping they have been for five cer
!. | turtles, have been known to survive Is
I years and more. The melody of tn
: dying swan is entirely mythica
:. Upon approach of death the bird quit
J. the water, sits down upon the bank
J. laws its head upon the ground, expand