The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1891-06-12

The Russian humorist Pushl1in tells
a pretty story about widow who had
survived four husbands, and was going
TO ratify the prellminaries of fifth al
lance with Grim Tartar.
do you know that your admirer
carries six pistols and bandits lnife?'
inquiredsan anxious friend
Yes, have seen them" said the
woman, calmly, "but, judging from ex-
perience, do not believe that there is
any such thing as an untama BILE
creature"
Geological experts incline to similar
opinion. The most perfect embodiment
of reckless fury is a trap-caught leopard
during his first weeks experience of
prison life. He will rush to and fro
with persistency worthy of better
success; his eyes glare defiance at every
visitor; every now and then he will at
tack the iron bars of his cage with alb
solute disregard of consequences, or roll
about the floor, biting his own paws in
his frenzy of despair. Yet in Hindu
stan, near relative of that four-footed
demon, the cheetah, or hunting leopard,
has been so perfectly domesticated that
he can be trusted to run at large and
return from night expedition to share
the proceeds of his enterprise with his
trainer.
Wolves terrorized our pastoral fore
fathers in way that has made the
name of the canis lupus a synonym of
fierce hostility, yet that adversary of
stoclk-raising mankind is more than
probably the ancestor of the faithful
shepherd dog. On n stock farm near
Zacatecas, in northern Mexico, saw a
tame wolf that seemed to get along on
the best terms with his canine relatives,
and in the morning was always on
hand to greet his master with rOmps
and caresses, and if kicked away would
cringe in a manner suggesting the dep
rCcatory mancuvers of Il fawning SPAN
iel. He could not be trained to find his
way home from an extensive hunting
trip, but was often left to guard the
farm-yard poultry, and, to the best of
his owners knowledge, had never be-
trayed his trust.
The Aztec peasants of Herman Cortez'
time used to domesticate the coyote, or
jackal-like prairie wolf; and in the up
land districts of southern Poland tame
specimens of the common gray wolf
could be seen in almost every larger
village, till the frequency of hydropho-
bia panics induced the authorities to
discourage tho popularity of the per-
ilous pets, whose conduct, from moral
point of view, seems to have been I'M
,eXceptionable.
Foxes, too, can be trained to restrain
their predatory instincts; and Ten
nessee neighbor of mine raised litter
OF foX-whelps with his puppies, and in
duced them to stay about the house by
treating them to an occasional dish
of their favoritc dclicacy-frcsh milk
sweetened with sorghum trcacle. Young
bears can dispense with such premiums.
After few weeks pctting they will
stick to farmhouse with the tenacity
sof loyalist otficeholders and never leave
the premises after dark. A half-grown
specimen on a Georgia highland farm
would now and then take a stroll in
huckleberry time and stray few hun
dred yards beyond the clearing of his
protector, but any unusual noise, q
shout or the distant report of firearms
was sufficient to send him back racing
to the shelter of the old homestead.
Like a cat, he seemed indeed to con-
centrate his affection upon the dwell
ing-house, rather than on its propri-
etors and could never be coaxcd to fol-
low the family more than half a mile
from headquarters, unless they con-
trive to counteract his Inconsistencies
by liberal slices of pumpkin pie.
Bruins little cousin, the plantigrade
raccoon, is far more capable of person
al attachments. His propensity for
gadding is hard to control, but even out
in the woods he will emerge from his
hiding-place at the call of his master,
and trot home with him like a dutiful
dog. At the approach of a stranger,
'coony' often bristles up with every
. symptom of hostile intent, as if trying
to do his best in the way of seconding
the functions of the mastiff.
The pet monkeys of the East Indian
country towns manifest similar dis
position in an even more demonstra-
tive fashion. Ten or twelve of them
will congregate on the roof of a Hindu
farmhouse, waiting for lunch or util-
izing the palm-lcaf thatch for a rain
shelter, but. on the whole, pay for
their board and lodging by making a
watchdog wholly superfluous. AT the
first glimpse OF a suspicious bipcd they
will, give the alarm by a chorus of
coughing barks, and often actually at