Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1884-04-25
Man and His Ancestors.

Monkeys are certainly, there is no deny
ing it, very ike men, and what is worse,
men are still more like monkeys. Many
worthy people, who have a high respect for
what they choose the dignity Of human
nature, are much distressed by this simili-
tude, approaching in many cases to absolute
identity; and some Of them have written
books of considerable cru 1ition and ingenuity
to prove that man is not a monkey; nay,
not 50 much as even al ape; but compels
us 10 confess that their speculatious have
been far from carrying conviction TO our
minds. All such inquiries from Aristotle to
Darwin, principally insist on two great
leading dlslinCtiOns-spc and reason
But it 5 obvious to the meancSt capacity
that monkeys have both spet Oh and reason.
They haNea language of their owr, which,
though not - capacious as The Greek, is
much more so than the Iloteutottish and
us for reason, no man of "A really philusOph.
teal grhiIus ever saw IA monkey crack hut
without puc,ving that the cresture
possesses that endowment, or faculty, in NJ
small perfection. Their speech indeed, is
said not to be articuatc; but it is auhbly
more 81 than the Gaelic. The words nm
questlOnabiy do run into each other in a way
That to our ears renders it rather unintel-
glblc; but it is contrary to all the rule OF
sound phllosOphizing to confuse the obIusc-
ness of our own senses with the want of any
faculty in others and they have JUS a
good u right to maintain, and to complain of,
our 1nartculatc mode of speaking as we
have of theirs; indeed, much mOre-fur
monkeys speak the same, or nearly the same,
ali L..
whereas men, ever since the tower of Babel
have kept cha tcring, muttering, hun.mibg
and having in divers ways and sundry
manners, 50 that one nation is unable to
comprehend what another would be at, and
the earth groans IN vain with vOcabulurius
and dictionaries
That monkeys aud meh are one and the
same animal we shall no! take upon our
selves to assert, Tor the truth is we, for one
or two, know nothing whatever about the
matter; all we mean to say is that nobody
has yet proved that they are not and fur
Their, that whatever may be the case with
men, monkeys have reason and speech
The monkey has not had justice done him,
VIC repeat, and insist upon it, for what
right have you to judge whole people from
a few isolated individuals and from a few
isolated individuals, too, running up poles
with chain around their waist, twenty
times the length of their own tail, or grin
grinnng in ones or tWOs through the bars Of
a cage in meuag rric? Ills eyes are rec
with perpetual weeping. aud his smile i!
| sirdUniC in CapeC'Sr Ills fur is mOldy ant
NANCY, and lie Is manifestly ashamed af biz
tail, prchcnslc no mOre-and OF his paws
very hands, as you may say" miscrabl,
matches to his miserable feet. To know
him rs he l., you must 60 to Senegal or i
that lie too far off for a trip during the sum
mer vacation, 70 the rock Of Gebri, nov
called Gibraltar, aud So. him ut his gambOl
among the cliffs. Sailor nor slater woul.
have a chance with him there, standing o:
bis head On a ledge Of six inches, fv
hundred feet abo7e the Level Of the sea
without ever 50 much RS tumblug down o
hanging at the same height from busl
by the tail, to dry, or air, or sun hin self, a
if he We're flower or fruit. There he is
moukey, indeed; but you catch HIM young
clap pair 0f brceches on him and an ole
jacket, and oblgc him to dance a sarsbanC
CT the stones Of the street, or perch upon tn
shoulder Of Lruin, equally out of his natura
element, which is cave among the woods
Here he is not the ape or the monkey
Now if Wc were to catch you young, gOO
subscriber or contributor, yourself, aud pm
you in a cage TO Crlck nuts aud pull uT
faces, although you might, from c0ntlnue
practice, d. both 10 p,ritctGn, at shilln
Il head Tor grown-up ladies' aud gcntlcme
and siXpeuCc ;or chlldrcn and servants, An
even at Il lover rate after The collection La
been some weeks in town, would you NJ
think it exec iugly hard to be Judged Of i
that one Of your pr dcaments, not oaly in
dlydually bat uationsliy-tha is, not onl
rs Bon Uoprrs, your own name, but az job
Bull, the nuulo Of The people of which 70
are nn iucnccrated specimen: Ion woul
keep l. ct->auily crying cut agnirst his wi
angry yo,ifcratIon, - n most un"arrautab
and unjust at. Au' ~ Doubt were q
,uraug-ou'ang To STE y3u in such Il situate
he would not only lurm II most mean opni,
= OF YOU -, an Individual, but g away sit
tha most false impr. ss'rn %! VI whole hi
: uul.u race -B Ol5 lhiis.