Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1880-09-10
Loading the Co

Loading the Co s.
| IRREGULARITIES IN HIS BEHAVIOR IN
| STRIKING CONTRAST TO THE
| ELEPHANT's.4
/ ssIn India,'' said gentleman who re-
Gently returned to this country after living
many years in the East, ''the camel is used
fully as much as the elephant as beast OF
burden. He is not SO powerful as the ele-
plant, but he can carry an enormous load
| on his back. He does not do so willingly,
however, and is by no means the patient,
docile servant that the elephant soon be-
comes under proper training. When l
first went to India as young man was
connected with mercantile firm in the
northwest provinces, and while there had
abundant opportunity of studying the
camel, for means of carriage in that part
of the country in those days was confined
to elephants, camels, bullocks and men.
Horses were not used as beasts Of burden,
Evere day camels and elephants were
driven up to our office door and loaded
with wine and beer cases for far-away GUS
| toners. The elephant would SO clumsily
down on his great knees and allow him.
self to be loaded without an indication OF
discomfort. I have no doubt that ne would
| have permitted himself to be loaded until
| he was crushed to the earth beneath the
weight of his load had his driver seen fit
| to pile on the boxes. But the camels re-
| ceiving their burdens was spectacle
| never to be forgotten. They never varied
| in their behavior, and every one that
ever saw loaded-and have seen thou
sands-acted in precisely the same man
ner.
The camel, when he is not eating or
drinking or being loaded, is invariably
chewing the cud. His long, crooked jaw
is in perpetual motion, and when he is told
to lie down to receive his burden he does
so without varying this ncessent mastica-
tory process. He awkwardly bends his
fore knees, drags his hind legs under him,
and comes to the ground with curious
kind of flop. All this time his long, mel
ancholy face shows not the slightest indica-
ton that he knows what he is lying down
for; and this unmistakable hypocrisy,
think, stamps the camel as an animal of q
very high order of intellect. But in few
seconds the expression on the camel's face
undergoes striking alteration. As he
sees the driver approaching him with a
box on his shoulder he seems at last to un-
derstand the indignity and torture to
which he is about to be submitted, and
! the establishment, virtuOus indignation
and dismay on the 1ll-used animals coun-
tenance ought certainly to make some i'm
preston on the stony heart of the driver.
They never have the slightest effect. The
man binds the first box on the wretched
animals back and goes away to get anoth-
er. The camel, wisely abandoning his eff
forts to move man to compassion, points
his nose upward and bowls his wrongs to
| the skies.
Never in circus, pantomime or show
have seen anything half so ludicrous as
the cancels appearance at that moment
His upper lip is curled back from the teeth
his under lip doubles up and drops down
as though he had no further use for it, his
great mouth opens SO wide that one can
see about half yard down his throat, and
out of the cavern thus revealed come Sc
ries Of the most astonishing bowls that
even startled the air-howls of such AFFECT
misery that it is difficult to avoid the con-
clusion that the cancels heart is breaking;
aud this impression is strengthened by the
tears that flow copiously down the wajling
animals elongated cheeks and drip from
the end of his nose In the utterance Of
each note of woe the camel seems to be ex
erting the utmost power Of his lungs, but
he is all the time holding large force in
reserve, and as the driver adds box after
box to the pile on his back howl more re-
sonant and heartrending than the last tes-
titles to each addition to the creatures
misery; and never, except when he is abso-
lutely engaged in trumpeting his agonies
into space, are the great Watery eyes of the
camel removed from the person of his per-
secutor; they follow him wherever he goes,
and express through their tears contempt,
indignation, establishment and dismay. I
think it must have been this extraordina-
ry habit on the part of the ship of the des-
ert' that gave rise to the expression: It's
the last straw that breaks the cancels
back But the Eastern driver has no fear
Of any such catastrophe, and piles up the
load until it reaches almost the proportions
of an elephants burden. Then, the cases
being bound fast with ropes, the camel is
told to rise, and the animal, feeling that
he has conscientiously done his whole duty
by entering his protest at every stage Of
the work, contentedly accepts the unavoid-
able result, stops his tears, suppresses his
cries, gets up on his feet, and, resuming
his occupation of chewing the cud, is
ready for the weeks march that usually
lies before him.
A NOBLE HABIT.-There are persons
whom you can always believe, because you
know they have the habit of telling the
truth. They do not s'color" story or en-
large bit of news in order to make il
sound fine or remarkable.
There are others who you hardly know
whether to believe or not, because they
''stretch' things so. A trifling incident
grows in size, but not in quality, by passing
mouths. They take small fact or slender
bit of news and paint it with high-colored
| afiectives. until it ia largely unreal and