The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1880-11-24
CONTEMPLATING PIGS.
How q New York State Doctor is Making
His Fortune.
Animals Trained to DO Tricks-rslling the
Number of Days in the Year by
Means of Cards.
philadelphia TimeS.l

philadelphia TimeSl
DR.. Knox was young prachcing ply
stefan, of Putnam County, New York. He
had gig and sulky and a couple of horses,
and pretty good practice, but not upon
these did his heart turn fondly in his leisure
moments when no hasty messengers were at
his door-bell and sort of truce existed be-
tween him and his hated rival, otherwise
the pale horse, otherwise the fell destroyer,
otherwise the great leveler From a boy he
had been fond of animals. Ever since the
rod of an irate schoolmaster scored
a vindication of pedagogical author
ity on his body after spending the
whole of valuable afternoon tracking up
woodchuck which he brought back triumph
antly IN his hat-ever since that occasion
the Doctor has had passionate fondness for
all sorts of animals, not excepting the va
grant dog or lean cat of familiar memory
As time passed and the Doctor neared his
majority glad visions of pleasure iioated be-
fore his mind. He could have as many
cats and dogs and other animals as he
wanted, and he would be at liberty to spend
much time over them as he pleased. This
golden idol of his dreams came at last. The
Doctor became twenty-one, and havlnggrad-
uated in medicine he established himself in
practice in the town of Patterson, Putnam
County. Now at once, in his intervals of
leisure as aforesaid, his hands found plenty
to do. He began to collect little private
menagerie of his own. He got bear and a
monkey and an eagle and an alligator and a
fox and a young wolf and wildcat and
half dozen different breeds of dogs, all of
which he hept in his barn and had man to
attend them.
FORTUNE IN DISGUISE.
One glad day fate whispered in the Doc
tors ear TO go to q neighboring farmers
place and buy litter of pigs The Doctor
obeyed The pigs were about two weeks old.
He put them in a pen. fed them on corn
and in his leisure hours watched their
growth. Days passed away and the pigs
seemed to thrive in the bright sunshine and
clear air, and the Doctor almost fancied he
could see the transition taking place by
which the pigs were progressing from that
earlier and more inoffensive period to that
Ishmaelitsh stage of existence in which
they are known by the harsher and more
suggestive name, and when the vocab-
ulary OF the mother tongue is not suf-
ficient for the owners of corn-iieldS
who suffer from their depredations
Four weeks passed and the growth of the
pigs seemed marvellous except in two cases.
The Doctors watchful eyes discerned two
small pigs who seemed not to be getting any
fatter. The Doctor ordered an extra supply
of corn. Still the two pigs languished. The
Doctor watched them and noticed that they
had very bright eyes and larger brains than
the others. Besides. they seemed more
nervously active, slept very little, and when
they were sleeping they lay with their eyes
only half closed, as though they were think
inp ab0ut something
"Bill," said the Doctor to mis- hired man,
take those two pigs out and put them in a
box by themselves"
"There is no box said Bill, excerpt the
monkey cage"
'Well, the monkeys dead" said the
Doctor, "and he won't want his cage any
more"
"All right" said Bill. Then Bill went to
work and put the two pigs in the monkey
cage. The next day the loquacious old
farmer came along and stopped to inspect
the Doctors menagerie.
What have you here, Doc%' he asked,
seeing the pigs.
"Oh," said the Doctor. "those are two i'm
ported pigs just from China. / got them
day before yesterday direct"
'Ye don't say so" said the farmer, bend
ing down and looking at them with renewed
interest. by George they're beauties.
never saw sech intelligent-lookin' animals
in my life. If it's a fair question, what did
they cost?'
The Doctor named a fabulous sum, and
the farmer believed every word of it and
went into the town and spread the news. In
a few hours forty or fifty persons came to
see Knox's imported pigs. The admiration
was general and the unanimous verdict was
that they exceeded anything ever seen.
What are you going to do with 'em?'
they asked the Doctor
TRAIN EN-" said that propagation of
health, briefly.
'How?' said the crowd.
"Wait awhile and see," said the Doctor.
Thenceforth on every occasion when the
arduous cares of his profession were not
pressing the Doctor devoted himself to train
ing the pigs One he called Horace Gree
ley and the other Annie Hindle, after a
well-known variety actress. The training
progressed by easy stages At first their les
sons were confined to picking up handker-
chiefs. The Doctors plan was straightfor-
ward and simple. First he would take a
handful of corn. Then he would have a
little whip. Then he would make the pigs
look at him. Next he would give them a
grain or two of corn. AS soon as the
pigs would eat the corn they would want
more But the Doctor would throw down
his handkerchief and give them to under
stand that they could not have any more
until they picked it up and gave it TO him.
This gradually they learned to do regularly.
Then by the same means he taught them to
play euchre. The fame of the pigs spread
throughout Putnam County. Old euchre
players who had never been beaten jour
neyed to Patterson to run tilt with the
two pigs In every instance the o. e. P.'s
were vanquished. Then the Doctor handed
over his practice temporarily to a rising
young Esculapian brother, and hired a
batch of negro Ministries and juggler or
two and went about to the State and Coun-
ty Fairs, exhibiting his pigs in tent and
conducting the minstrel and juggling bust
ness in connection Herewith.
STRIKING PHILADELPHIA
The Fair season being over, the Doctor was
next engaged by the variety theater people.
He had his pigs all last week at Minors
Theater, in New York. On Monday they
| opened a weeks engagement at the Nation
al, in Philadelphia. An expectant crowd
sat in the parquet and galleries reading a
particular note at the head of the regular
| programme, to the effect that 1.-The perform
ance will commence with DR.. Knox and his
original Putnam County educated and per-
| forming pigs"
When o'clock came the curtain rose and
revealed on the back part of the stage a
wooden box cage, with two compartments.
In one was Annie Hindle and in the other
Horace Greeley. Horace was jumping
through hoop, couple of weeks
limb, but the pig is not able to perform
without danger of injuring it again. The
performance at present depends on Annie
4 Hindla Tho r,,oroapf tho rfo;,, rooa he