American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1876-01-22
A knowing Ape.

A knowing Ape.
AN English journal, Land and Water,
prints the following: Some years ago,
board Her Majesty's ship Belleroplion an
ape, which belonged to the Captain. Like
all the rest of his tribe, he was very fond
of mischief, and therefore was kept
chained by the waist to kennel in
which he resided. This he used to drag
about with him on the main-deck, where
he was kept, always taking care to hold
the chain in one hand to keep the strain
off his belt. He was very fond of sitting
before the galley fire warming himself,
sometimes much to the inconvenience OF
the cooks, who, however, were on very
good terms with him in general. He
saved them a good deal of trouble at last,
for one day, finding the galley quite clear,
JACKIE tried his hand at cooking, and very
nearly succeeded in producing a dish of
boiled monkey. A kettle was fixing away
mcrrily, and, of course, Jacko began to
examine it with his hand, and the
water over himself. He was ON the sick
list for some time afterward, and lost a
good deal of hair and some skin. He
could not bear the sight of a kettle after
that, and the cooks found it out, so when
Jacko got in the way they used to show
him kettle full or empty)-this was
quite enough to start him off for an hour
or so. He nearly came to grief once with
another experiment One cold night he
found the oven door open, and though the
fire was out the oven was warm. Oh, hoI
thought JackO, here are snug quarters, at
all events, so in he walked unperceived,
and was soon comfortably asleep. By
and by the cook came and lighted the fire,
and not knowing there was a stranger on
the premises he shut the oven door When
the fire grew brisk most extraordinary
noise came from the oven when the door
was opened by the sentry-who thought
his sable majesty was in it-out jumped
Jacko, grinning and chattering at ire
mcndous rate, no doubt feeling unpleas-
antly hot. He never tried that sleeping
apartment again. After u time he hit
upon another and safer way of keeping
himself warm at night. He discovered
that by standing on the top rail of the
sheep-pens he could reach the fowl-coops,
which were hung to the beams above
them. Up he went and watched till a
fowl put its head out between the bars
JackO at once made a grab and pulled the
unfortunate fowl out by the neck. Finding
the fowl was warm, he dragged his kennel
back to his place before the fire, taking
his game with him, and there he slept all
night with the bird in his arms like a
baby. Next morning when the fire was
lighted out he came with his living
blanket. He allowed the fowl to walk
about, but the moment it showed signs of
going out of reach of his arm he pulled
it back again and gave it fresh start !;
and so on till the fowl was returned to the
coop. After that Jacko often took fowl
to bed with him, and, strange to say, he
never did them any harm, though the
Ofh ai Tlron i, tI,<
could not have been pleasant for the vic
tim. The officers used to smoke near the
galley, and Jacko was very fond of get
ting inside our monkey-jackets in cold
weather. HE was very fond of smoking,
too, but we could not teach him to draw
the smoke. We used to put the stem of
the pipe in his mouth and blow down the
bowl, and he would smack his lips over
the smoke. l am sorry to say he now
and then got drunk when the grog
was being served out. He was very
amusing when in that state, but 1
think the poor fellow had bad headache
afterward. On the whole, he was a good.
tempered animal, but he had a great dis
like to the boys, who no doubt had given
him a sly blow now and then. Byway of
revenge Jacko used to look out under the
ladder when the boys were bringing down
their hammocks in the evening, and sud
denly pOunce upon one OF the hammOcks.
The unlucky owner, knowing that Jacko
could bite, as a rule would drop the ham,
mock, and there upon Jacko would sit upon
it and grin and chatter and jump till he was
tired, when he would give up possession
without further trouble OF Course, now
and then he got loose, and then there was
a grand hunt. One day he disappeared
for some time and no one knew where he
was, as he kept quite quiet, which was not
usually the case. At last one of the clerks
went into the Office, which was under the
poop, and no sooner did he open the door
than he saw Master JACKIE going out of the
window which he had left open, and by
which he had got in. He had been max
ing up the ships books in his own fash
ion. The ink was splashed about all over
the place, and Jacko himself was nearly
as black as an Ethiopian serenader. He
did not go empty handed, however, for he
took the articles of war in his hand, and,
of course, he took to the rigging. Boys,
catch monkeyp was the boatswain's
mates pipe; but before he was captured
the articles of war were torn to shreds
Fortunately for the discipline OF the ship,
there were other copies on board. 1 be-
lieve poor Jacko was at last killed in the
attack on Sebastopol; but / left the ship,
SO cannot be sure about his end.