Omaha daily bee., 1883-03-23
ar PLAY.
The Fepr They Fsit at n Doll-Bsby
and Their Sub,equont VAN
dalisYn.
philadelphia Press.

Philadelphia Press.
The keeper of the chimpanzees ct
the Geological garden plscsd n doll
baby In their cage the other day. The
funny little men are very fond Of new
playthingS, aro very curions about
strange objects, aud are generally
rather timid In approaching anything
that has o semblance If the terrible In
its makeup, The dol was placed on
the floor Of the cago leaning agsinst
the wall. 1t was clothed In u red
dress, that attracted the attention #
the chimpanzees In a moment, Al
irst they stood at a respectful distance
aud ''hoo.hooed" at 1t to show that
they had not fallen In love With it 81
first sight. Then they began to stamp
on the floor to scare 1t away.
Finding this III avsili-g, the big ono
dsahed up TO Within a foot or two If
the passive baby, stamping and chat
tering, but, finding that the strange
thing did not bulge, she iuconti.
nentiy turned tail aud fod The H.
tie ono was not to be outdone, al
though che was evidently greatly
in foac Of ii. So sho to-k her
blanket and held II up before her
while she approached; but she did no,
go far. After a little the big n 60,
up courage enough to get quite near,
40 that picking up a long etrsw she
could tickle the pewcome under. nor
chin. The doll never stirrrG. The
erd of the straw was examined ano
smelt of by the two animals, aud, moth
lug specially harmful being found,
they ventured to touch 1t, This
was too great a test of courage, spo
both scampered to the top Of their
cage. They could not be induced to
60 back for soma time, bat, after
awhile, curiosity got toe butter OF
fear, and they returned TO the in.
sp,ction, which was mostly confined
to sitting In front of 1t and making
faces at it.
Tom Manley, the keeper, lied the
figure to a swinging rope. He hsd
hardly left when they dashed to tn,
top of the cage, and, perch,ng on q
beam, hogan to pull up the rope
They then shook the rope violently,
aud actually laughed to see the antic.
that the red.robed Individual cut ~
In Its performance on the slack rope
It fiusily slipped out from the knot
and fell to the floor, causing anothe,
stampede. By that time however
they had got somewhat familiar witt
the stranger, snd the big one dragged
It. by the hem of its garment to the be-
In whioh they sleep. They placed 1t In
side and executed u war dance on tn
top Toe little one stopped hel
noisy sister with a cuff and drew on
the unfortunate. Thei, sitting on tn
floor, she held 1t In nor arms As il i
had been q real baby Of Ter own
After making evident fun of this soft
heartedness, the other pulled the dol
away and deliberately Eat upon it
head, striking the body with the palm
If her hands. While she was endeav
oring to regain the plaything the dres
did not Ing remain intact. Ate
this they hauled the body about tn
cage, up the tree md onto the cross
beam, and then threw Il to the ground
One piece o. the dress they used
make o necktie, and another ws
turned into a head. dress, which one ,
them adorned herself with befor
the mirror In the corner Of the Gag,
The ohimpanzees are doing remari
ably well, and have now oeen keE
here for eight months, longer tina
these animals have ever been kept
this country before. They r fod Q
milk, sweet potatoes, home mao
bread, some boiled chicken, occasion
ally, and once in a while an orang'
} Their keeper believes In giving the,
a good supply of rich food that can
easily digrsted. A few days more wi
get them through the cold weathe
and when the summer comes they ca
be easily cared for. The temperate,
is now kept at elghty.two degrees, :