The weekly messenger. [volume] (St. Martinsville [i.e. St. Martinville] La.) 1886-1948, 1891-05-09
THE MASTER OF LIONS.
MEN WHO MAKE A BUSINESS OF
TANNING THE FOREST KING.

The interest which has been aroused
recently by the exhibitions of lion tam
ing by the Partisan, Edouard Darling,
who was here recently, calls to mind
many interesting stories of the brave men
and women who practice this peculiar
profession.
The usual lion-taming exhibition con-
sists in the trainer entering the cage
where the animals are and placing his
back against one side Of it. Never fol-
an instant does he allow one Of the beasts
to get back Of him, but, keeping his eye
upon them, quickly and peremptorily he
orders them about and makes them do
their tricks. He does not stay among
them long, and when he leaves the cage
he backs up to the door and jumps out
quick as q flash. Usually as ne shuts the
door some one of the animals makes a
dart at him. The whole thing is a
wonderful demonstration of desperate
courage, and it frequently ends in
tragedy.
1t is doubtful if the modern world has
ever SCCu 81 Oh SAAAOAeiOh
as Monsieur Darling's. His lions are
really, to all appearance, tanned. He
walks among them as though they were
80 many cats, and the magnificent blood
hound that follows him seems to be Us
proud of his masters pets as he is him
self. The five fine lions do the bidding
of their master as though they were we'll
trained horses. His back is turned to-
ward them constantly. He seems to
have no fear, nor do they manifest any
refractoriness. Ordinary lion tanners
wrestle with the wild beasts for few
moments and then leave them, but these
lions are not wild. One thing, however,
must be remarked-the lions are not
full-grown, face that is manifested by
the shortness of their names. When they
are older it is probable tina: they will de-
velop greater degree of ferocity.
Grimalkin reposing in fluffy ball
upon the library rug, basking in the fire.
light, soft, gentle and pleasant to stroke,
is merely little lion, or more correctly,
the king of beasts is nothing but . big
cat. Pussy, the wild cat, the panther,
the leopard, the jaguar, the tiger, the
lion-there you have the whole line.
They are all fierce, they are all selfish,
they never like human beings, and at
heart they are all arrant towards.
The leopard is not so bad, and the IA
nous Sal, owned by an Englishman in
India and subsequently presented by
him to the Duchess of York, used to
perform a hundred tricks and was appar-
emily affectionate and playful. The two
chief characteristics of this tame leopard
that have come down to us are his fond
ness for lavender water and the pleasure
he used to take in looking out of the
window at the people in the streets.
Whether or not in his heart he wished to
devour them nobody knows, for he died
before his ferceness had ever dem
,Onstrated itself. He appeared more like
Q dog than a cat.
Returning to lions we find great diff
ference of opinion in regard to their no.
bility of nature. AS they are seen in
captivity-and most people have no de-
sire to see them in any other state-they
are splendid looking fellows, but those
who have seen them wild say that only
when he is at bay does lion look ma
jestic. He carries his head low down
toward the ground ordinarily and his
movements are stealthy and his actions
are mean. The'great African explorer,
Livingstone, had sovereign contempt
for lions, and pronounced them neither
ferocious nor courageous and thought
their roar no better than the shrek OF
an ostrich, but in this latter assertion he
is entirely alone, as all lion hunters are
united in pronouncing the lions roar a.
the most awe-inspiring sound on earth.
A few years ago there was q noted lion
king in St. Petersburg whose wife always
assisted in his exhibisions, going into the
cage with him and performing the famil-
lar feat of putting her hesd in lions
mouth. This maa was an American and
his fame in Russia was great. He has
been lost sight of recently, but the last
heard of him was that his wife, losing
her self control for an instant and show
ing a momentary terror, had been killed
by one of the lions. Horrible a it may
be, 1t il, nevertheless, q fact that this was
the second wife that the lion king had
lost in this way.
It is not unusual to find woman as
lion tanners, and, indeed, they have even
mastered the royal Bengal tiger, which
is unquestionably more ferocious brute
than the lion. There are probably read
ers of the Star who recall how in the
year 1852 the lion queen at Wombell's
menagerie in England, while exhibiting
before several hundreds of people the
tricks of large tiger, struck the animal
with her whip because Of its REFRACTORY
meas, whereupon it sprang upon her and