Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1890-02-14
LOOKING AT THE ANIMALS,
THE SMITHSONIAN 200" AND THE
CROWDS THAT VISIT IT.

tuition. There seems in some way to be SYM
pathy existing between the human being and
the animals in the cages, sympathy which
is not felt for the speeches. curiosities that
ELL the museums, and doubtless as many people
visit the little ZOO i'll a day as stroll through
the big museums close by. From 9 o'clock,
the opening hour, until the crowd surges
through the building, stopping before the cage
in which colony OF squirrels prance, looking
with wonder and establishment on the large
jaguar as he takes up his unceasng tramp
around his large cage, and paying their re-
spects to the many other strange creatures.
Many prominent people from all over the
country are represented by gifts at the gar
den, and the little white painted signs tackled
to the cages bear some great names -Four
golden eagles in cage outside the building
are from Tate Springs, Tenn. The glorious
bird of freedom, which Americans are SO
proud of, does not appear to the best advan
tage in cage, and he sits all day on his perch
as if brooding over his wrongs and Matching
schemes for vengeance on his captors. There
is suppressed fury in his eye and now and
then he grows restless. There is great fut
tering of wings, piercing shrek and a des-
perate attempt to make some impression on
the iron bars with his beak. But the trans
port of rage does not last a great while, and
soon he resumes his perch and the air of res
ignation which so i'll becomes him.
The raccoons attract great deal of atten-
ton, especially from visitors from the north,
who have heard and read so much about the
pleasures of coon hunting, and they stand be-
fore the cages and wonder where all the fun
of the thing comes in, for from the prosaic
light of cage the coon is certainly not very
gamey. There are a number of varieties and
they are all SO fat that the eye of the colored
citizen from the country glistens as he looks
and his lips come together convulsively as he
thinks of by-gone feasts and in memory eats
them over again. The 'coons have grown very
tame and nothing pleases them better than to
have some one scratch their heads with pen
Gil. There they lie supinely, astraddle of a
limb, and sleep for hours, now and then open
ing their eyes to blink lazily at the stranger
In cage near by is a pair of porcupines, and
as a Star reporter passed along he heard a
colored man remark:
Else hearn tell OBJ desc hyar modern koons,
but don't b'leeve dat dem tings is fit to eat
you hyar me. De dogs I'D fine it mighty hard
wuk gittin' way wild dem warmints, sure :"
The old colored man was right, as many
dog who has tried it knows to his sorrow The
QulllS TlSo I'LL dllu Ddu luCk W UuG
dog who gets mouthful of them.
AN OWL FROM THE JAIL
One of the most interesting specimens on
exhibition is monkey faced owl, born aid
bred at the district jail. Truly he is genuine
Jail bird. He first saw the light of night in
the caves of the big old building, but was ar
rested for disturbing the quiet of the
establishment, and now ekes out miserable
existence in a cage His face is almost an
exact counterpart of monkeys; so much
so, in fact, that were the rest Of his body
covered it would be difficult to distinguish
the difference. The bird has cage all tc
himself, and is the only one of the kind on
exhibition. He sits all day quiet and un-
blinking, but at night, SO the reporter was
informed, he has high old time, and makes
the building resound with his piercing shrieks
The collection Of birds is not very ex-
tensive one and is made up for the most part
of native birds. Outside domestic fowls are
in abundance, and in the various cages inside
are some gorgeous plumaged birds of the
south, including parrots, paroquets and
macaws. There is a very fine macaw. The
collection of carrier and other pigeons is fine.
Keeper Weeden let gentleman from Phila-
delphia have one of the birds for breeding
purposes the other day, and one evening last
week he heard futtering of wings outside,
and going to see the cause he found that his
bird had escaped and returned home again.
The collection of buffaloes at the ZOO has in
creased to a half dozen magnificent speci,
mems of the great American animal which is
fast becoming extinct. The first of the herd
was given to the museum by Col. E. G.
Blackford of New York city, who has from
IL q
ton of the gardens. The others are recent
additions. The herd presents fine appear
ance and artists are frequently making
studies of them.
Buffalo Bill is represented by splendid
specimen of the American elk, which has a
stall in the large Enclosure south of the main
building. In an adjoining cage is a mild eyed
mule deer from Colorado. The only remind
er of the vicious mule about this little animal
is its immense ears, over which it has not
much control.
One of the few cages marked dangerous
is that occupied by a jaguar from Texas. 1t
is strange what strong fascination this ami
NAL has for the average crowd. Some of the
visitors who crowd about the cages marked
dangerous are exceedingly reckless and are
constantly putting themselves in danger Of
garden has been singularly free from serious
mishaps. One can easily lean over the rail
running along in front of the cages, and
many foolish people put their fingers be-
tween the bars. Some day pair of cruel
jaws will snap together and some one will go
/ through life minus a couple of fingers.
At the bears cage there is always large
crowd, for the half dozen varieties are
among the most popular exhibits They are
all in the same cage, which has back yard,
and are as playful as kittens, sometimes roll,
ing and tumbling over each other in their
play; but this is not always the case, as
Keeper Weeden can tell. They get in bad
humor now and then, and those who are &C
quainted with their antics give them wide
berth. The entire party were in just this
humor the other day when Keeper Weeden
went into the cage to give them their break
fast. He generally carries a slender club
with him and playfully taps them on the
nose just to let them know that he has it with
him. He tapped once too often this particu
lar morning, and one of he bears rebelled
He was a cub, young and hot blooded, and
didn't know any better. He was not used to
being tapped on the nose, which is a tender
spot with young bea S. and he protested by
trying to hug his keeper. They had hand
to-hand fight for some minutes, but luckily
the other bears did not join in. They all re-
treated to the yard, leaving their companion
to fight his battle alone. The keeper called
loudly for help, which was forthcoming in
the person of his assistant. Together they
succeeded in subduing the unruly beast, but
thsr were glad enough when they got a
chance to get out of the den, and now when
they go in o sharp lookout is kept.-Wash
ington Star.
Literary Confusion.
As an illustration of the ludicrous results
produced by billstickers pasting one bill over
another, Mr.. c. Spurgeon, son of the Rev.
G. H. Sturgeon, mentioned in letter that
on one occasiod in London, when he and an
other gentleman were announced to preach
special sermons, he was astonished to read
the following announcement: "e10 Reward.
Lost-Two Fat Heifers. Mr.. J. j. Knight
and Mr.. c. Sturgeon" Another read as fol-
lows: "Pigs fattened in six weeks on The
Englishman, edited by DR.. Kenealy. Price
3D. weekly, and kills feas, beetles, insects and