The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1889-09-27
NATURAL HISTORY NOTES.
SeHly.Acquired Facts Concerning Three
QueFrly-Made ANIMALS.
THE GIRAFFE.

Nature made curious mistake in
regard to the giraffe. She gave him
such an extra length OF neck that he is
obliged to feed on the foliage of trees
and let the rich grass under his fee:
strictly alone. She made him pretty.
but awkward. She gave him bcauti-
full limbs, but he runs with a wobble.
He is practically defenseless, and ye.
he is boosted up in the air where every
thing can see him. There is some off.
set, however, in the fact that the
giraffe is of affectionate disposition.
His confidence is easily secured, and
when once he puts his trust in you you
can feed him cayenne pepper in piece
of apple and he will lay it on to some
one else. The giraffe lives to the age
of thirty-five, if not sooner disposed of
by accident, and he is then resigned to
have his skin made into rug for
somebody's pug dog to sleep
on. There is legend among
the natives OF Africa that the
giraffe never sleeps, but that he spends
his hours of darkness in weeping over
the sins of the world. This is prob
ably the reason why the world ISN'T
far more wicked than it is, and every
body should be willing to pay an extra
ten cents to see the giraffe with the
circus.
THE RHINOCEROS.
The idea in bringing out the rhinoc'
eros was to get something that nc
other country could beat for ugliness
While there are several brands of tn e
beast, all put up in different packages
with different labels, all amount to the
same thing when you cut the string
| and unite the bundle. Whilo the
giraffe is two stories high with hip
roof. the rhinoceros stopped short at
the basement and has never been fin.
ished up. Toreward him for not being
quite as homely as the hippopotamus,
| he was given a hide so thick that a
grape-shot would only tickle him,
and as an offset for not hav-
ing q mouth as large as ar
| alligator he was given q temper as
hot as wild cats and hornets boileG
down together. The rhinoceroS was
not expected to cut any thing of q
dash in this world. He was given tc
understand that if he took care of his
| appetite and made it unpleasant for
every living thing which came within
a mile of him. nothing further would be
expected Of him. So far as man has her
able to discover the beast never cracks
a smile nor makes joke, and nothing
ever steps on his coat-tails and get
away alive, The legend in regard tc
him is that he puts in the hours be.
tween daylight and sunrise grieving
because he wasn't made q turtle-dove
but legends are not to be depended on
THE SEA HORSE.
The sea horse is so called because
he hasn't the least resemblance to a
horse and because he is never seen in
the sea, The name given him by some
smart Alec who felt awfully funny that
day. Some years later another smart
Alec changed the name to sea COW,
but that doesn't hit any closer.
They are found in rivers and
lagoons instead OF the sea-
and they resemble cows as much
as stuffed woodchuck does a live
lion. The principal occupation OF a
sea-horse-cow, as we are obliged to
call h.n, is promenading around on
the muddy bottoms of muddy rivers.
satisfying his hunger on the best the
land affords and making the neighbour
hood highly uncomfortable for African
gentlemen out fishing in their canoes.
He has no ambition beyond that, and
if undisturbed would let the world
wag along and mind his own business.
Naturalists claim that he is very docilo
and atfectionate when in captivity. and
the day may come when he will re-
place the poodle dog as a pet. His
span of life is supposed to be sixty
years, but that doubtless depends q
great deal on the cara he takes OF him
self. If the newly-dlscovered elixir OF
life works as is hoped for, the sea-
horse-cow's days may be extended
over hundred years.-Detroit Free
Press.
FOUR UNIQUE DESIGNS.