Cheyenne transporter. [volume] (Darlington, Indian Terr.) 1879-1886, 1885-08-15
BULLFROGS VS.. CANARIES.
Some Reasons Why the Former Are Prefer
able as Pets.

can not DC equdleu Dy tHaU popular
nuisance. To my mind the canary is
the simple embodiment of tiddlededee,
and his recommendation as a pet are
vastly inferior to those of the feather
less but contemplative batrachian. A
canary costs great deal to keep:
One Queen Anne cottage cage Of wire. so on
Hook aud wire jumper to hang samc..... 25
One and half pounds seed per month";. 30
cutie DOne 10 WDet OIL On............... 10
Sandpaper carpet changed daily, per-.
Here IS a capital Of S4.s5 sunk. in
cluding the price of bird, unless some
friend in burst of malignant gener-
osity gives it to you, in which case
you will find 1t is q female and won't
sing, or else has the mango or some
other complaint equally disagreeable.
There is nothing in the world so false
as the friend who gives you canary,
for unless you can subsequently in
duce some imbecile acquaintance to
take it off your hands you are in for
at least four years of hemp seed and
misery. When civilization has grown
little older, believe the gross i'm
position still practiced by even reput-
able church members will be classed
in the penal code as an offense second
only to burglary and mayhem. Well,
you start in, therefore on your happy
possession of a 81. 50 male bird IN a So
cage, with 25-cent jumper and 10
cent bathtub, and find yourself hand
cutfed to running expense of IS cents
a month. At the end of year you
are out of pocket $13.S5 in cash, not
counting the doctor bills incident to
the wear and tear of your nervous sys-
tenn. At this time, when you are
thoroughly reckless, some malevo-
lent lady acquaintance suggests the
propriety of you providing your
ai1iction with mate, and
offers you the female bird necessary to
the cOnsummation of her tiendish de-
sign. Your sense of danger being
now blunted you fall into the .rap,
humbly accept this second curse, and
enter into a pernicious and demoral-
izing course of bird housekeeping,
from which, except by a general con-
tiagration or convulsion of nature,
you can never hope to emerge. AT the
end of the second year you find your
home the permanent residence of an
epidemic of canaries, occupying six
teen cages, and multiplying faster
than maggots. Of course you can
now crafty the bitterness of your
heart by making unlimited Christmas
presents secretly of female birds to
those whom you inwardly hate, but as
the remainder of your stock multiplies
faster than your enemies this hellish
subterfuge really affords you but little
relief.
Now, look at the bullfrog question.
Even in the depth of winter and on
Fourth avenue you can get bullfrog,
warranted sound in every particular.
for 20 cents. Here in Catskill YOU
can slop around marsh and get them
for nothing. The gift of n bullfrog has
no hidden deception, female being
equal to a male as q marketable COM
modify, and as they are all practically
celibates in captivity you can make
your family calculations to a nicely.
A bullfrog requires neither hempseed
nor cutie. He has too much self-re-
spect to sit on a rerch twlddling his
perpetual dinner, and his only require
ment in the way of furniture is n flat
flesi and bury himself IN deep phil
osophy.
1 have four bullfrogs in tin tank,
and Maj. Spreckle is boss of the gang.
The major has a mottled-green coat,
white vest trimmed with freckles,
brown shorts, splay stockings, and a
bad eye; and whenever there is a
weakness in the fly market the other
frogs have to gohungry until he is so
full he can't move. Tommy isn't big
enough to thrash the major, but he
wallops the two troglodyte frogs if
nanfuroL in tho naun Whinh cnnmo 70