Middletown transcript., 1881-08-05
Correspondence Of the Transcript
The geological Excursion.

Ii lllb OlSty ilIl DG6It lllittlt 10 Ofl6f lt
could not have been finer than Tuesday
was, for the excursion to the Geological
Garden from Middletown; so wishing
to meet my old friends, | packed my
basket with eatables, took the train at
Ridge avenue, and was there in less
than seven minutes. After wandering
around for some time, looking at the
various animals, in company with my
two children, we strOlled down towards
the station in hopes of seeing the
Middlet0WneTS alight from some of the
trains. We had taken possession of
comfortable bench, and the air being so
pure and fresh, and the roar of the sea-
lions so monOtonOus, | liked to have for
gotten where | was, when a loaded
train stopped and the conductor shouted
" Geological Garden - There they
were, sure enough, for who should l
see spring gracefully from the cow
catcher but my old friend Tom E. H.,
who had ridden all the way up on that
place so as to be able to grab up any
obstruction which might be on the
track. We were soon surrounded by a
merry crowd burdened with all kinds
Of baskets, suggestive Of all manner Of
delicious cooking, for which Delaware
and Maryland folks are famous. The
grounds were soon dotted with the
sight-seers, and very little escaped their
notice. Just a head Of me I spied a
gentleman with lovely white suit,
who looked too sweet for anything,
when who should it be but Mr.. J. NJ.
c., but in each of his pockets, l
noticed bottle, marked ''Mumm's
champagne, y though they might have
contained soda water OF milk, for you
can never tell the contents Of anything
by its label, for | have seen men marked
" Senator" who did not know the Con-
stitution from Mother Shipton's proph-
ecy, and others marked Cdr. 2 that did
not know whether a person ought to
have one trachea or two. After Il
while we came to noisy group around
the little donkies, and pushing rapidly
to the front, as newspaper people gen
orally do, the cause was soon found to
be race on these same dOnkies by two
ladies, Mrs. r. e. S. and Mrs. VIM.
K. Their prospective friends were
betting heavily, and Mr.. Garrett Ellis
held the stakes. At the word go they
started at a galop, and were soon lost
to view, but in few minutes reap
peared, with Mrs. S. in the lead but
Just before reaching the stand Mrs.
K. jobbed a hair pin in the donkey's
neck and he plunged forward, and won
the race and the stakes. Mrs. X. gen
erously offered to treat the crowd, and
in consequence burst up the soda fOun-
tain man, who lost all his soda water,
but had a pocket full of money. We
all rushed over to see the monkies, and
soon filled that small place. The old
monkey Frank Murphy, named after
the great temperance man, was i'll
particularly bad humOr, and cut up a
good many tricks, which SO engrossed
attention that the ladies crowded too
near, when in a giffy a little monkey
had snatched beautiful long blue os-
trich plume from Mrs. Albert P's
Paris hat and had gone to the top Of
the cage She wept bitterly, and her
husband consoled her with saying,
told you, Mollie, to wear your old one" "
That's just like the men. When we
went out Of the monkey house, vocal
music struck the ear, and hurrying to-
wards the place from which the strains
came, we came upon a remarkable
group, Mr.. Samuel p, Mrs. Mamie
p, and the sea-liOns were enjoying
quartette in good style, though Sam
had to have a spur fastened to each
wrist to keep the lions from sliding
away from him, and was dressed in a
submarine armor to keep dry. Sam
remarked that he twas dry outside
and inside We told him that the
garden was dry place. While listen
ing to the charming singing, Mr..
Alfred G. 9. ambled by pushing a baby
coach containing pretty twins, as L
thought. | did not like to ask him
whether they were his, or borrowed !
ones, but found out afterwards it was
a newly patented coach which he had
just built, and that it contained all the !
latest improvements, includinga feather
fan always in motion, which kept the |
flies off the dear little noses of the Oc-
cupants, who on closer inspection, l !
found to he Miss Clara Barnes and |
Miss Hannah Mary Leatherbelry. The
time to feed the baboOn having drawn |
near, We took our way over near the
monkey house, and very soon the keeper |
and Mr.. BaboOn put i'll an appearance, |
the latter dressed in a red white and |
blue coat. He is very large, strong and |
vicious, but is being tanned to sit up |
and eat at a table like folks do. He
will occasionally mount the table and
insist on drinking out of the spout Of
the coffee pot, but he will overcome
this after awhile, and will be able to
stuff and cram and pick his teeth as
as the general run of epi-
cures do after hotel dinner. noticed
Mr.. Tom f. II. trying to take the mfea-
sure of the length of his legs with Il
view Of presenting him with a pair OF
MiddletoWn-built trOwserS, but he took
his measure as WOOdSmen take the
height Of a tree, by the length Of the
shadow he cast on the grass. The
monkey show being over, the next was
to see the elephants take bath. Well,
that was sight The three monsters
plunged, and swan, and sn0rted, and
seemed to enjoy it famOusly, and while
it was going on noticed the Rev. MI.
NJ. trying to bargain for the largest
Jlle Will lllt Keeper W LINZ ~ " Mlu-
iletoWn to give to the boy who got his
lessons best in the Sunday school; but
ne failed for want Of Il strong string to
get him home with, and a puddle large
enough in MiddletoWn to bathe him in.
Over in the elephant house we saw DR..
Mex. calculating how long mustard
plaster it would take for the giraffe'S
neck, in case the giraffe needed one,
md he was the officiating physician, and
larry Petherbridge was near by Won
lering how strong a fly blister would
laye to be to make an impression on
he rhinoceros hide. Over i'll front OF
he ostrich cage Phil Riley was telling
us wife that they were turtle doves, {
lut she insisted they were cranes Ill
here, she knew by the length OF their t
egs. But the time drew near to leave
md they all boarded the train, with
hree cheers for the geological and the ,
lust then a man and cart
anne along with park guard shovel.
ng up the chicken bones, hulls OF
Maryland biscuits, and ham skins,
Which filled the cart and run over my
oes, and | woke up to find it all
l. ~