Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1886-12-03
An English I.ion.Tamer's Talk

,.Do YOU mean to say, Mr.. Atherton,"
asked reporter of the lion tameL, "that
If were to bring you tomorrow man
eating tiger just fresh brought over from
an Indian jungle, that you would
undertake to train it to leap through
hoops and over whips, and to kiss you'
and all the rest of it, in two months?'
"In two months from the time that
the animal was delivered 10 me would
be able to put it through the performance
which YOU say. There is nothing which
You cannot do with animals if they have
got intellect and you have got patience
"But is it not frightfully dangerousT
dangerous? Yes. if you have not got
nerve. and do not know how to handle
an animal; but if you have nerve and
keep your eye OH his, and go the right
way about it, you never need fear any
thing. | would not hesitate TO enter the
room i'm which the widest animal ever
brought TO this country was ut large.
have again and again entered cage IN
which a lion or a tiger has been UNI
chained which had never been broken
i'm before. A wild animal that has not
vet been broken for the show business
never flies at you. When you enter the
cage it will show its teeth and growl
and perhaps strike at you with its claws
but if you keep your eye upon 1t and
take care that it does not attack you
from behind you are safe. No doubt IL
will claw YOU. as these cheetahs clawed
me many times but here is wrinkle II
YOU ever happen to be tete-a-tete with
"A cheetah or any animal of the cat trioe.
When YOU are clawed, and you feel the
animals hooked talons enter your flesh
don't jump back, but go forward. Ii you
iump back the claws will tear away the
flesh; whereas if you go forward the
animals claws only make IL prick.
"How do you eXplai nthe fact that these
frrocious caruivora do not spring at you
in room us they would spring ut you
in Il jungle?"
well, in the first case, most wild AMI
mails are bred in captivity, and as much
accustomed to the sight of Il man rs d
dog or cat. But take the case OF Il
wild tiger trapped in Il jungle. Well,
the tiger is ferocious chiefly when the
tiger is hungry. Ii man has gotta full
grown tiger and sends il home from In
dia, he is not such fool as to allow the
tiger to go fasting all the way. The
tiger is a marketable commodity, which
will fetch $50 pounds sterling in the
market. If you have got $50 pounds
sterling i'm an animal, you take care II
does not wantits dinner. On the con-
trary, you will give it as much as it Will
eat, in order to improve its condition so
that il will fetch better price. The
consequence is by the time the tiger has
arrived i'm London from Calcutta he has
got fat and lazy. He gets his meals
regular. and has no disposition to make
IA meal off: you; hence you can approach
him, and if you are patient and study
him and humor him and be firm with
HIM and never take your eyes off him or
let your back be turned, you can do
what you like with him. Animals are
all alike; there is no animal so ferociouS
but can be overcome with kindness and
patience"
How is it that every now and then
YOU hear of a lion-tamer being killed"
Drink, sir" said Mr.. Aiherton;
.'drmk. The performer gets glass TOO
much some day; enters The cage; fai's
TO see that the floor is wet and slippery;
he makes false step and is down on his
back before he knows where he is. The
lion or tiger, as the case may be, is on
his chest; and then goodbye. AS long
as YOU are erect, have your senses about
you, and keep your nerve, you may do
anything with the beast; but if once
your nerve is shaken, your eye unsteady
and YOU slip, the game is up."-fa"
Mall Gazette.