The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1885-06-20
MONKEYS,
Some Short Stories Illustrating Their Pro-
pensity for, and DeIightin, Mischief.

pensity for, and DeIighttn, Mischief.
A monkeys chief delight is in mis-
chief, and it does seem as if a spice of
cruelty in the mischief makes it have a
greater relish for Jocko. Captivity
makes most animals lose their spirits,
but the monkey, unless he is sick, is al
ways ready to play some prank
Nothing seems to give a monkey
quite as much pleasure as copying after
his human master and many are the
funny stories told in consequence
Sometimes poor Jocko's fun turns out
badly for himself, but as a rule he NAV
be trusted to come off free from harm
The monkey that stole his MASTER
razor and tried to shave himself was
unlucky enough to slice Off a piece of
his cheek. That was bad, certainly,
but it is doubtful if he suffered any more
than the monkey that saw his master
battle his forehead with cologne for
headache, and tried to initiate him. In
stead of cologne, however, the poor
fellow got hold of a bottle of am
monia, and stopped that on his head.
All! how he did chatter and dance
about when the singing stuff reached
his eyes and nose! You may be sure
that monkey never touched a bottle
again.
Joeko has such a serious air when he
is planning his mischief that unless one
is always on the lookout he will ac-
complish it. A story is told of a mon
key that took the greatest delight in
watching the nurse wash his master S
baby. The family was divided as to
whether he enjoyed Miss Mabel's
shrieks or the performance as a whole.
One day the question was settled.
The family was at dinner downstairs,
when there came a terrible wall from
Kittie, and another and another, till one
of the boys jumped up and ran to the
nursery, where the noise came from.
There was Master Jocko copying, as
well as he could, the actions of nurse
with little Mabel. Only Jocko's baby
was poor kittie, who was wailing, spit
ting and scratching with all her might
No doubt Jocko looked upon the re-
Sistance as quite in order. for Mabel
never could be washed without many
protests.
Those people were fortunate in that
the monkey did not insist upon trying
his experiments with the real baby in
stead of the kitten, as once did happen
In this case the monkey, which was q
large one, snatched the baby from its
cradle, and, when pursued, climbed to
the house-top, and there, to the anguish
OF the baby's parents, handled and
played with the little thing with great
gee. 1t was only after great trouble
that the baby was rescued.
We are used to seeing monkeys kept
only as pets or as curiosities; but in
Africa or Asia they are sometimes
trained to serve their masters in many
ways. They are so given to mischief,
however, that they can never be very
trusty servants.
An example of this is shown in the
story told of baboOn which had been
left in charge of the kitchen while his
master went off for awhile. On the
stove was a pot in which q chicken was
being boiled. The baboon sat very
quietly for some time, but at last his
curiosity got the better of him and he
lifted the lid from the pot
Well, you can guess the rest. The
chicken smelled good, so he smelled
again; then he took little taste: then
he took another taste; and behold!
when Sir Balloon had finished tasting
there were only some bones left.
When he had eaten the chicken up it
seemed to occur to the baboon that his
master might be angry when he looked
into the empty pot. What to do to
avoid the certain punishment that was
in store for him was the greedy fellow S
great concern now. He sat in the
doorway looking very much cast down,
when suddenly a bright idea seemed to
strike him, and he hurried quickly but
stealthily to a field, not far away, where
a number of crows We're feeding. He
drew as near to the birds as he could
without frightening them, and then,
hiding his head, remained as motion
less as log of wood. In little while
the incautiouS crows approached so
close to him that he was able by a
q@ick movement to capture one of
them. In second he had wruno the
crows neck and was on his way home
again. Once there, and seeing no sion
OF his master, he triumphantly tossed
his crow, all unplucked, into the pot,
and then sat down, quite satisfied that
his theft would never be discovered.
No doubt it was always a mystery to
that baboon how his master discovered
that the crow in the pot was not the
chicken he had left tlere.-J0hn Il.
CoryeH, IN HYper'S Young People.