Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1889-01-30
PARTING WITH THE FAMILY PET.
Some Pathetic Facts Concerning an
Aminble and Domcsticated
Mountain Lion.

burrs in his clothes and stick of saSSa-
Tras in his mouth. approached and said:
BE you the wild-animal man, mis-
terI'
The proprietor of the circus admitted
that such was the fact.
Then" proceeded the man from the
mountains, 81 think I'll get you to
make me an offer for large-sized Cali
fornia lion I've got"
Good specimen, ehF" asked the cir
Gus man.
Good? Well, 1 should say so.
Measures eleven feet from the tip of his
nose to the tip Of his tail. Caught him
myself when cub. Just 4 years old
tomorrow"
'sHum-good appetizer"
Appetite? Great Scott-appetiteI
Well, 1 should smile-that's just the
point-that's just why 1 am parting
with jay call him Jay Gould because
he takes everything in. II it wasn't
for his appetite and the queer little
things it makes him do, wouldn't
part wits Gould for a fortune"
''Savage, eh?"
"Well, no; l don't know rs l should
call Jay savage exactly-sorter nibblish,
though, he may be. Has a kinder
habit of gnawing up things, so to speak
In fact the neIghbors-I live i'll Blad-
der's Peak-have gotten to be so fussy
and particular of late that L can't so
much as unchain j. G.. for little fresh
air without their getting grumpy about
it."
There's no pleasing some people"
said the hippOdromer.
81 should say not. Now, f'rinstance,
bout three months after Jay got to be
rs big az Ooarding-hOuse sofa l came
home one day from picnic and found
he had eaten up Aunt Maria, who had
been leIt at home TO mind the house
leastwise she was nowhere to be found;
and as jay Gould seemed sorter bulgy-
like and kept coughing up hairpins and
false teeth for day or two, we kinder
suspicioned the whole thing"
Maternal aunt?" inquired the show
man, thoughtfully.
Exactly. My wife took on dread
fully at first, and wanted me to shoot
Jay right of. But L told her that he
had probably suffered good deal as it
was, and that rs most likely he'd catch
rheumatism and things from the re-
mains, we'd better call it square?"
"And did she2''
''Well, she kinder got reconciled
after a while, especially as Jay seemed
fond of playing with the children. One
morning soon after that my wife's
mother-whole family lived with me,
you see-didn't come down to break
fast. As all her false hair was hang
ing over 4 chairback, and Gould crawl
Ell out from under the bed licking I::S
chops, and with his tongue a good deal
cOated-mOther-in-la was always TAX
i-g things for the liver complaint-we
saw at once it was another visitation of
Providence, and that the heavy hand of
afliction was again upon us
Looked that way, didn't it?'
''Wel, as you may suppose, the old
lady-that's my wife-pranced around
a good deal then and got down the
breech-loader right away. But just
then arrived gold medal from the ).
Z. c. a. Society, awarded on account
of my fOreOearance in the Aunt Maria
business, and so l got her calmed down
after awhile" "
''Pacified her, eh?''
Eyes; managed to arrange a re,
prive for Jay somehow. You see,
was always awful fond of pets, and
tender-hearted, and all that you under
stand. argued that the poor animal
didn't know thar ne was doing wrong
merciful man is merciful TO hIs beast,
etc. That sm0othed things over for an
other month";
what happened thenEn
"Well, one day l sent Johnnie, oaI
youngest boy, down to the store for
some sugar, and he took Gould along
for company. Now, whether il was be-
cause Jay was fond of sugar or not,
don't know, but he came home alone,
and soon we noticed n peculiar bulge in
his ribs about as big as Johnny, and we
concluded that the dread archer had
marked another Skidmore-my name i
Skidmore-for his own. The whole
family took on like mad, and Mrs. Skid,
was about TO shove the powder keg
under Jay Gould and touch 1t off her.
self when pointed out that It wouldn't
do TO deSecTlte our offSpring'S tomb in
that way. SO Just had the burial ser
vice read over the lion and tied Grape
around his neck for thirty DAYS. How
does that strike youT''
After that you kept the animal
chained2''
"Well, no. The fact is set out to
get chain several times, but one thing
and another prevented, until one day
last week l actually missed the old lady
herself. l looked around for her Il
couple of days, when somehow, Of a
sudden, 1 sorter intentioned where she
was. 1 gave Gould about a hair n
pound OF emetic right away, but all we
could get out of him was Il pair of high
heeled shoes and 4 chest protector. 1t
was too late-too late. We put the
shoes and things IN a coffin and had Jay
led behind the hearSe to the cemetery.
Wanted TO have rs much of the corpse
present as pOssible-don't you see? We
had the animal all decorated with llow-
ers and things, rs fine rs you please
Folks said 1t was the touchingest thing
that ever took place in them parts;''
and the bereaved husband sighed
heavily.
''Don't wonder you want TO sell the
beast. D" remarked the menagerIe man,
after pause.
"Well, L sorter do and sorter don't, "
said Mr.. Skidmore, abstractedly.
There's so many memories and things
clustering around J. G:-Seems kinder
like parting with ones family burying-
lot, rs it were. On the other hand
though, now that the old lady Is gone,
| sorter feel rs if the old insect had
well, had outlIved his usefulness, so to
speak. So, suppose l Just have this
box hauled around to your show, after
the performance this afternoon, and see
if we can't strike bargain"
"AII right. - said the manager. 'l'm
going up Salt Lake way after awhile,
and perhaps L can work him off for
big money to some of the Mormon
Elders.''
There's mint OF money in him as
Il family pet, - said the other, earnestly,
and after striking the circus proprietor
for n season dead-ir.sd the widower
shouldered his umbrellas and drifted sad
ly down street.
Crucibles have heretofore been ex-