Ellsworth American. [volume] (Ellsworth, Me.) 1855-current, 1879-04-10

Working Monkeys.

II j. one of the curiOu, tuInSs in nature
that the animals nearest 20 man In the ord
er ut development are OF little or NJ use To
him iudustIlAiIy. There has never been
iinc when strong races Of nrn have NOT
compelled their weaker brother, To work
FOR them But, barring the sho Hman and
the organ grinder, the meautst OF men
have not 9een able TO ,ublugAte or iusjave
their simian relatives. An anc rnt Arabic
proverb accounts for the freedom Of apes
by the tact that they shfewdly refuse to
taIA: "wrll they know that we're they 10
speak they would be made 10 work; 50
they wisely hold their tongues"
The ptoyerbitl prudence oi the monkey
appears to tail Ia u measure, however. 10
the land OF the white elephant. An Aus
trian resident al the Court Of Siam report,
that 10 TIA, country the monkey l. trained
TO tish for crabs with his tail as comical "A
pursuit as can well b" imagined. except,
perhaps, Tor the worthy and Intelligent ape
engaged In Ii, Who sometimes GET bite
from a monster crab that he is totally IN
able 10 land. aud falls Victim to the >upe-
rIor weight Of hl> Cancer FeroX, who drag>
hun into the water. browns, and finally
dcvours him. The Siamese ape j. also
stated 70 be 10 great request among native
merchants as a cashier 10 their counting
houses. Vast quantities OF base coin OBJ
tain circulation 20 Siam, and the faculty Of
discrimination between good money aud
bad would appear 70 be possessed by these
gifted moHkrys In such an extraordinary
degree of development that TO Ihere hu-
mau being, however carefully trained. can
compete with them. The cashier ape ned
itatively puts into his mouth each coin pre-
sented 70 him in business payments. aud
tests II with grave drhberation. Ii II be
genuine he hands II over to hl> master. II
it be counterfeit. he sets IL down on the
counter before him with a solemn grimace
oil displea>urr. til, method OF testing 1,
regarded IN commercial circle, iufa-
1.-THE; and, as IA matter OF fact, his decision
is uniformly accepted by all parties inter
e,ted in the transaction. But, though a
true aud invaluable servant to his own
particular master. it seems that his moral
character II not altogether irreproacha able.
His depiorabe passion Tor fruit repdeTs
him the terror of Slamese market garden
ers. who find brute foT,r inadequate to re-
strain hun IRON vlsitiug their orchards.
and therefore have Iecoui - To divers AID
suDdry stratageufs, one of which j. re
ported 10 be as successful as il Is certainly
ingenious. A specially active aud enter
prsing ape is captured and carefully sewed
up in the skin OF tiger Cat. He is then
Lufutu house. III tue OICudEu uf his pItuiI-
| ectiou, and straightway chambers, as well
as he may. incumbered ny au unfamiliar
garment. into the branches OF fruit tree
among his unclothed fellows. Scarcely do
these latter set eyes upon him with all his
feline terrors thick upon him, when
dreadful panic strike. them. and they
scramble away with piercing screeches
and agonized gatherings. Never more
do they return to an orchard which they
| believe to be infested by the Geadiest enc
| my OF their race. Tie startling intelligence
| is rapidly disseminated throughout the
monkey society OF the neighbOrhood aud
the willy gardener enjoys an absolute i'm
muuity from depreciation forever after
ward. for the very Thought of 4 tiger cat
appals the slmian soul, and doubtless the
tale Of the awful appartion in Ting-tse's
| orchard" i, handed down in quadrumanous
families from generation TO generation.