The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1881-03-30
The Monkey In It's Domestic IscIa-
fious

In India, where the monkeys live
among men, and are the playmates
OF their children, the Hindoos have
grown fond of them, and the four
handed folks participate in all their
simple household rites. In the early
morning, when the peasant goes out
TO yoke his oxen, ahd the COW wakes
up, and the dog stretches himself
and shakes off the dust in which he
slept last night, the monkey creeps
down from the peepul tree, only half
awake, and yawns and looks about
him, puts stEaw in his mouth and
scratches himself contemplatingly.
Then one by one the whole family
come slipping down the tree trunk,
and they all yawn and look about
and scratch. But they are sleepy
and peevish, and the youngsters get
cuffed for nothing, and begin to
think life dull. Yet the toilet has
to be performed, and whether they
like It or not, the young ones are
sternly pulled up, one by one, to their
mother to undergo the process The
scene, though repeated exactly eve
rs inorning, loses nothing OF its de-
lightful comicality, and the monkey
brats seem to be in the Joke of tax
ing in mamma. But mamma was
young herself not very long ago, and
treats each ludicrcns affectation OF
Suffering with the proioundest un-
concern, and rs she dismisses one
"cleansed" youngster with a cuff,
stretches out her hand for the next
ones tail or leg in the most business
Ike and serious manner possible.
The youngsters know their turns
quite well. As each feels the mo-
ment arrive it throws itself ON its
stomach, as If sovcrwhelmed with
apprehension, the Others meanwhile
sitting Their satisfaction at the way
So and so is doing it, and the in
slant the maternal paw is extended
to grasp the tail, the subject of the
next experiment utters Il piercing
Shrek, and throwing its arms for
ward in the dust, allows itself to be
dragged along limp and helpless
carcass, winking all the time, no
doubt, at its brothers and sisters at
the way it is imposing on the old
lady,
But the old lady viii stand no
nonsense, and turning the child
right side up, proceeds to put tito
rights, takes the kinks out of its tail
and the knots out OF its fur, pokes
her fingers into its ears and looks at
each OF its toes, the irrepTessibie
brat All tie time wearing on It's face
an absurd expression OF hopeless
and iaeurable grief, those who have
already been oieansed looking on
with delight at the screaming farce,
ana those who are waiting wearing
4 becoming aspect of enormous
gravity.
The old lady, however, has her
Joke, which is to cuff each yo ngster
before she lets it go, and nimble as
her oilsPrings are, she generally, to
her credit be it said, manages to
"ietch them one on the ear" before
they are out Of reach. The father,
meanwhile, sits graycly With his
back to all these domestic matters.
waiting ior breakfast. Presently the
mats before the hut doors are pash-
ed down, and the women, with
brass vessels in their hands, come
out, and while they scour pots with
dust, exchange, between songs, the
compliments o. the morning.
The monkeys .by this time have
come closer to the preparation for
food, and sit solemnly, household
By household, watching every move
ment. Hindoos do NOT hurry them
selves in anything they do, but the
monkey has great deal of patience,
and in the end, when the crowd has
stolen a little, and the dog has his
morsel, and the children are all sat
istied, the fragments Of the meal
are thrown cut on the ground for
the "blunder orgue," the monkey
people, and it is soon discussed, the
mother feeding the paby before she
herself eats.