The Lake Charles echo. [volume] (Lake Charles, Parish of Calcasieu, La.) 1876-1898, 1879-05-03
THE MoNKEY OF Slam.
F1is SIffII I'm DeesefinE Esnd Ge1ns aad HAis
Esy,sssou s.,, Ksobl,snr Orehszrssa.

F1is EIzffI I'm Des5efinE Bad Co1ns and ma
Il psssion s.sr EsobBlnE 0reharsss-
4 i" Monkeys" rays an Arabic provert
can talk perfectly well if they choose &C
4 ts do; but they are far too clever to lei
us into their secret. Well they know
that were they to speak, they would be
made to work SO they wisely hold their
tongues" III certain strange stories that
have recently reached our hemisphere
from the distant realm Of Siam be founded
TN fact, the incomplete man." BE some
German psychologists describe our res
peeted ancestor, whose fondnes forapptes
! is considered to have exercised consider
able influence upon tht destiny OF hu"
manity, is made TO work in many several
ways, despite his affected Ignorance
articulate language. His prudent silence
avails him naught in the domain of the
White Elephant; and there are--at least
we are assured SO by an old Austrian
resident at the Siamese court-few pro-
LESSONS which he may not he caught TO
practice with amazing skill and accr,rate
precision. He is trained to fsh for crabs
with his tail, az comical pursuit as cRn
be imagined, except, perhaps, Tor the wOr-
tiny and Intelligent ape engaged in it,
vino sometimes gets & bite from q
monster crab that he is totally unable to
land, and ialIs victim to the superior
weight of mis- Cancer FeroI, who drags
him into the water, browne and finally
devOuxs him. Tine Sismese ape is also
stated to be iB request among native
merchants as cashier In their counting
h0usea. Vast quantities OF base coin OBJ
tain circulation III SiG..l, and the faculty
uf discrimination between good money
and bad would appear 10 he possessed by
these gifted monkeys in such an extraor
binary degree of development THAT no
mere human being, however carefully
trained, can compete with Them. The
cashier ape meditatively puts into his
mouth each coin presented to him in
business payments, and tests it with
grave dellberation. III 1t be genuine, he
hands it over 10 his master If 1T be
counterfeit ne sets it down on the .eopn-
tsr bsiore him with solemn grimace of
displeasure. His method OF testing is
regarded in commercial lcircles as inial
libie; and, az matter of TACT, his decision
is uniformly accepted by all parties in \
tereated in tine transaction. But, though
a true and valuable servant to his own
particular MASTER, it seems that hismoral
character is mol neutrality-suspicious.
His deplosanle passionftr fruit makes him
tine terror OF Siamese market gardeners,
who find brute force inadequate TO res~
train him from visiting their ,orchards,
and therefore have recourse TO divers
and snndry atratagems, one of which 10
reported to DO as successful as 1t lis Ger
tainiy ingenious. "A specially ACTIVE and
entespEising ape is ,captnsed and caren
iuliy sawed up in the skin of 6 tiger-cat.
lie in then turned loose in the orchard of
his prediiection. and straightway clam
bers, as we'll as he may, incambered by
an unfamiliar garment, into the branch
es OF q .trnit tree among his unclothed
fellows. Scarcely do these latter set
eyes upon him, with all his feline ter
Tors thick upon him, when a dreadful
panic strikes them, and they scramble
away with piercing scseeches and agons
izing chatteripgs. Never more do they
retnrn 10 an orchard which they believe
to be infested by the dsadlisst enemy of
their raea. The startling intelligence is
rapidly disseminated throughout the
monkey society of the neighboshood and
the willy gardener enjoys an absolute i'm
munity from depreciation forever after
ward, for the very Thought of q tiger-cat
appais the aimian sonl, and doubtless the 4
tale of "tthe awful spparirion in Ting
ttse's orchard" is handed down in quad
Fnmanous families! from generation to
generation.