The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1886-01-09
PRESERVED PETS.
A New York Taxidermist's Shop That
Looks Like Bird Foundry.
Over basement window in Houston
Street is the sign:
NATURALIST AND TAXIDERMIST.
PETS STUFFED AND PRESERVED.

NATURALIST AND TAXIDERMfST.
PETS STUFFED AND PRESERVED.
In the window, huddled higgledy-
piggledy, are few sticky looking bot
ties, bunch of feathers and tall,
pinched up kind of bird that seems to
have got into strait-jacket and stuck
there. To inquire into the interesting
process of stuffing and preserving pets
reporter descended into the taxider-
mist's lair. There he found man as
sticky looking as the bottles in the win
dow, with noble expanse of brow that
had long shaken off the capillary yoke
and now presented an unruffled sur
face from the rim of the spectacles to
the nape of the neck. There were not
a great many specimens of the opera
tors art on exhibition, but such as were
looked rather moldy and uncomfort-
able, as though they were disconnected
at being caught in odd pastures and
did not know how to get out of them.
"You stuff and preserve pets?" in
quired the reporter.
seem to possess much vocal ability, and
what he had he did not want to use.
"What kind of pets?''
The other looked about at the sticky
Tspet1morrs AMIR snrug,gsJli L ;~--l qJddffdeTs
Manifestly all creation expressed
| by the movement.
''You have no large animals?" This
with glance at the pathological ex-
hibits.
30, yes, said the taxidermist, now be-
coming as fluent as he had been taciturn;
"big as horses. Not long ago | helped
to reserve and mount on platform a
horse that was gentleman's favorite.
He had ridden him all through the
| West, and Heaven knows where else.
Even in death he wanted to have the
noble creatures company. And he has
him, very likely in his bedroom or
study, or somewhere"
SIS such work common"
''No, not common, drawled out the
taxidermist' ''but occasional 1t all
depends on peoples fancies. Now,
not every one cares about having the
skin of dog or horse about him, no
matter how much he liked it. It's too
much like starting cemetery in the
house. But some people do take such
notions-lucky for meas you know
some like to have their kindred buried
under their very noses"
''Is your work confined to stuf1ing
and preparing defunct pets?"
fortunately it is not. If itwere I'd
have up hill work. But | have the an
nouncement painted on my sign. 1t
helps business, if not for me, for some
one else"
"Howp"
"Why, it puts the notion in the heads
| of people who see it. 1t is only neces-
sary in this world to mention thing as
! proper and people will take to it, Now,
! when some folks see that sign they'll
conclude that I'm kept busy preserving
/ pets, and if they have any that chance
to die the idea of keeping the part of
them that admits of preservation will
occur to them"
/ nI,r1ry l0oe11Tso Effected h55y +AA.
signP''
ga good many have. Since [ have
been here [ have had all sorts of curl
GUS things to turn into post norton
ornaments. hear mostly from ladies.
There are some old women who have
had parrots and cats and the like about
them for years, and if harm comes to
the creatures they often think of keep
ing the remains. Then there are
sportsmen who have notable game they
want to keep. These aren't pets, OF
course. And they have favorite dogs,
too, that they like to have preserved.
Stuffed dogs are quite common now
adays. The skins of nearly all that
make any sort of a name for themselves
are kept by their owners. Fanciers
often have notable specimens of various
breeds preserved"
''Are your services often employed in
behalf of other than domestic animals?''
"Of course. Strange beasts and birds
give the taxidermist most of his work.
The museums and menageries have a
lot of that kind of business to give away
And then there are private people who
have the oldest kind of pets. Not long
ago | prepared and mounted lot of
snakes gentleman had brought home
from South America. He was real fond
of them, learned. Ihave had raccoons
and foxes and squirrels and even mice
to put in shape. No end of birds are
stuffed and used as ornaments, and en-
thusiastic sportsmen will bring bear s
skin or a deer's head miles to be pre-
pared and used as trophy of the
chase. Sometimes / have got an order
for an ornamental group and have had
to hunt about myself for animals to
compose it-hunt about town, | mean,
for | am no hand to do execution.
The reporter looked at a bird the man
was handling. 1t seemed a ruffled and,
like all else around, a sticky thing.
1-AAttt f eteesfatt lleek-A handsome. - he haz=
| arded.
mo" said the taxidermist, "a glue
pot fell and spattered it,
The reporter looked at all the other
creatures in their rigid, uneasy pos
lures. They all had the same look and
feeling.
Mister" he said, as he went out.
"Well, what is itP''
Didn't that glue pot fall in bird
foundryP"
1t certainly looked like it.-N. Y.
Herald.
] A Disguised Grave-Digger.