Evening capital. (Annapolis, Md.) 1884-1910, 1890-11-25
LIONS FoR MS srEEDs
An Odd Middle Ages' Legend About the
King ~ EseastA

An Odd Middle Ages Legend About the
King ~ Iseast&
AT Niblo's. New York, during the COM
ing production of the great Roman spec
tacle -Ciaudius Nero three full grown
royal lions viii be hitched to a Roman
chariot and will be driven full tilt
around the stage during the arena scene.
This feat was first successfully per-
formed by the Roman emperor Hello
gabalns, who created a decided sensa-
tion as he took the air along the Appian
Way drawn by erstwhile fierce Numid-
ian lions
The first lion tanner " as llama, the Sar-
thagenian. He took cub and trained
it so that when full grown it followed
him around the streets of Carthage like
n big dog. His fellow citizens did not
look with favor on his act, but ON the
contrary considered it crime and BAN
ished him and his Ion from the city,
asserting that @the republic had to fear
the worst consequences from man who
had been able, to subdue so much
ferocity." They evidently anticipated
the latter dry proverb, A hungry lion
is true devil and fears nothing in the
world, for they wanted nothing to do
with man who could make a lion, even
a well fed one. obey him.
There was a curious legend in the
Middle Ages that lions whelp was
born dead and had only first aroused
to or received life at the expiration of
three days by the roar of its sire, or by
being breathed ON by him
Probably the mau in this city who
knows most about lions aud wild ami
mails in general is Mr. w. A. Conklin, of
He has spent years studying them and
their habits, and he is an authority on
them. Said he yesterday: There is no
animal that / know of that can not be
tanned by man, though some of them
are well nigh intractable. There have
been some very eminent lion tanners in
this country, notably Herr Dre.sbach and
Van Amburgh.
lit requires particular knack on tho
part of man to become tanner of ami
mails He has to have great patience
and great courage. In the case of lions
they are taken when cubs No one but
their keeper must ever feed them and
they must be shown over and over again
what they are to do. until at last they
get to understand what they are to do
and when to do it
Even then it takes full year to teach
them simple tricks, and by that time
they have grown to be large and power
full animals to handle. A lion attains
its full size in three years, though it
takes four to fully mature it They
usually live ten or twelve years. though
have heard of one perfectly accredited
case where one lived to be 80 years old;
but that was an exceptional case, the
same as we occasionally see among
horses
"A full grown lion is fed once day,
and then given about IA pounds of raw
meat We feed ours here in the garden
every afternoon about 2. 80 o'clock, and
they can tell when feeding time comes
as well as you can with your watch.
We feed them every day but Sunday.
We give them nothing to eat that day in
order that their stomachs and digestive
apparatus may have rest
kid or an antelope or any other prey sits
down and gorges itself. Then it goes
off to its den and sleeps until it digests
its meal and becomes hungry again,
when it starts out in search of another
meal. In captivity it is fed every week
day, but it knows perfectly when Sun
day comes and never expects any food
on that day. AS a proof of this you can
come here and hear them roar for their
food on week days, but they never do
this Sundays. They seem to know that
they won't get it and their systems re-
quire rest from food.
Speaking of the virulence of lion bites,
Mr.. Conklin was of the opinion that they
were due to the fact that lions were fed
on raw meat, and good deal of the
small fragments remained about the
teeth and jaws. where they partially
putrefed. This caused blood poisoning.
Sir. Conklin believes that the bad results
of good many dog bites were due to
the same causes If lions or dogs
teeth could be cleaned off with water
and brush after its meals there would
be no fear of poisoning from its bite. -
New York World