The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1881-07-28
Facts Concerning Iar Gould.


quite popular with showmen, q tail,
sun-ourned, baldheaded man, with pine
burs in his clothes and a stick of sassa-
fras in his mouth, approached and said:
BE you the wild animal man, mis-
terP'' !
The proprietor of the "Double Nam
moth Mastodon Aggregation" admitted
that such was the fact.
"Then,Y proceeded the party from
the mountains, aI think III get you to
make me an offer for a large-sized
healthy California lion I've got"
"Good specimen, ehP" asked the cir
Gus man.
"Goodp Well, I should say 50.
nose to the tip of his tail. Caught him
myself when cub. Just four years old
tomorrow"
"Hum-good appetizer" e
"AppetiteP Great Scott-appetitei
Well, / should smile-that's Just the
point-that's just why I'm parting with
Jay[I call him Jay Gould because he
takes everything in. If it wasn't for
his appetite and the queer little things it
makes him do wouldn't part with
Gould for q fortune"
"Savage, ehP"
swell, no; 1 don't know as should
call Jay savage, exactly-sorter nib
blsh, though, he may be- Has kinder
habit of gnawing up things, so to speak:
In fact, the eighbors-Il live up at Blad-
der's Peak-haye gotten to be so fussy
and particular of late that / can't so
much as unchain j. G.. for little fresh
air without their getting grumpy over
iti',
"There's no pleasing some people"
said the hippodromer.
"I should say not. Now, f'rinstance,
bout three months after Jay got
to be q as big as o boarding
house sofa, came home one day
from q picnic and found he had
eaten up Aunt Maria, who had been left
at hons to mind the house-leastwise
she was nowhere to be found; and as
Jay Gould seemed sorter bulgy-ike, and
kept coughing up hairpins and false
teeth for day or two, we kinder sus-
picioned the whole thing"
"Maternal auntp' inquired the show
man, thoughtfulfy.
ssExactly. :, My wife took on dread
fully at first, and wanted me to shoot
Jay right OFF. But 1 told her that he
probably suffered good deal as it was,
and that as most likely he'd catch rheu-
matism and the like from the remains,
we'd better call it square"
"And she didP"
"Wen, she kinder got reconciled after
awhile, especially as Jay seemed fond
of playing with the children. One morn
ing soon after that my wife's mother
whole family lived with me, you see
didn't come down to breakfast. As all
her false hair was hanging over chair
back, and Gould crawled out from under
the bed licking his chops, and with his
tongue q good deal coated-mother-in-
law was always taking things for the
liver complaint-we saw at once it was
another visitation of Providence, and
that the heavy hand of affiiction was
again upon u.s."
"Looked that way, didn't itP'
"Well, asyou may suppose, the old
lady-that's my wife-pranced around
good deal then, and got down the
breech-loader right away. But just then
arrived gold medal from the S. P. G.
A. Society, awarded on account of my
forbearance in the Aunt Maria business,
and so 1 got her oalmed down after
awhilen
"Pacifed her, ehP''
"Yes; I managed to arrange re-
prieye for Jay, somehow. You see, ]
was always awful fond of pets, and ten
der-hearted, and all that, you under
stand. / argued that the poor animal
didn't know that he was doing wrong
merciful man is merciful to his beast,
etc. That smoothed things over for an
other month";
"what happened thena" zA
"Well, one day 1 sent Johnny, our
youngest boy, down to the store for some
sugar, and he took Gould along for
company. Now, whether it was be-
cause Jay was fond of sugar or not,
don't know, but he came home alone,
and as soon as we noticed q. a.peculiar
kind of bulge on his ribs, about as bic
as Johnny, we concluded that the dread
archer had marked another Skidmore-
my name is .Skidmore-for his own.
The whole family took on like mad, and
Mrs. Skid was about to shove the pow
der keg under Jay Gould and touch i
off herself when / pointed out that /
wouldn't do to desecrate our offspring.
tomb in that way: So | Just had thu
burial service read over the lion and tieC
Grape around his neck for thirty days
How does that strike youP"
''After that you kept the anima
chainedan
"Well, no. The fact is set out {.
get.a chain several times, but one thin,
and another prevented, until one da,
last week I actually missed the old lad,
herself. looked around for her
couple of days, when somehow of a sud
den sorter intentioned where she was
I gave Gould about half a pound o
emetic right away, but all we could ge
out of him was a pair of high heele'
shoes and chest protector. 1t was to-
things in coffin, and had Jay led be
hind the hearse to the cemetery
Wanted to have as much of the corps
present as possible-don't you seei w
had the animal all decorated wit
flowers and things, as fine as you please
Folks said it was the touchingest thin
that ever took place in them parts,
and the bereaved husband sighe
heavily. ~
ssDon't wonder you want to sell th
beast" remarked the menagerie mar
after q pause.
aWell, sorter dc and sorter don't,
said Ma Skidmore, abstractedly
"There's so many memories and thing
clustering around j. G.--seems kinde
like parting with ones family buryin
lot, as it were. On the other hand
though, now the old lady is .gone,7
sorter feel as if the insect had-wel
had outlived his usefulness, so to speai
So suppose Just have this box haule
around to your show after the perform
ance this afternoon, and see if we can
strike q bargain"
"An right, :" said the manager, "I'I
going up Salt Lake way after awhil,
and perhaps can work him off for bi
money to some of the Mormon elders.
ssThere,s mint of coin in him as
family pet,n said the other, earnestl.
and after striking the circus proprietS
for q season deadhead, the widow,
shouldered his umbrella and drifted sa.
" down street.-Sdn Francisco Post.