The Opelousas courier., 1891-02-21

EetheT with their animalss One of the
prisoners produced d bundle. It was a
khotted bandanna, and when lie tinted
it q store Of silver coins was disclosed.
The magistrate thefedpon decided that
they must pay for the fist experience in
d free country the sum of S., and he di-
rected the policeman to see the men,
women, children and bears over the Har-
lem River, at which the officer made q
very wry face. Five dollars to these old
world Migrants sounded like a fine of
cruel proportions, and there were fearful
and excruciating lamentations before they
paid It,.
The Bear which these people exhibit
for bread is usually of the cinnamon va
riety, found in the Pyrenees or Vosges
Mountains. Not being essentially a car
nivorous animal-that is to say, feeding
on fruit, honey, vegetables and smaller
animals-he is easily managed, and if
taken young learns a few simple tricks,
such as climbing a pole at the word,
footing d measure to the strains of an ac-
cordeon, counting DIP to ten with d move
ment of his paw, marching with d stick
for a gun, caching a pole and making a
salaam. He is by no means an intellec-
tual animal, and it is only by a great ex-
penditure of patience and constant prod
ding with an iron shod staff that he &C
quires the tricks which so amuse the chill
dren. Old bears are not In demand for
show purposes. In their natural stats
they serve to guide the mountaineer to
the cave where their cubs are housed. 1t
becomes an easy affair to capture the lit
tie fellows after the big ones are trapped.
The cost of a cub is trifling to the French
Or italian stroller. A few dollars will
buy one in almost any town in the Medi-
s~erranean districts. In America the deal
srs make you pay dearly for the privilege
Of possessing a eiunamon bear. Out of
curiosity the writer asked d well known
Park Row dealer in wild animals what
The market price of d young cinnamon
bear was. HIt will cost you $780," he
,aid, 'tand you can't get one cheaper in
this country"
The common black bear of America
is sometimes carried around the country
by the French Canadians. They cross
The line in the spring and exhibit
through the New England and New
York country places, working their way
10 the factory towns, where they have
compatriots. In the wilderness the black
bear is almost as timid as q wild duck.
You may hear him breaking through
The brush in q numbering run as you APP
proach; and he will never face you un-
less he is come upon suddenly, Or Is
rendered desperate by hunger. The
dam, if her young are in the vicinity, is
apt to show her teeth to the intruder
she has fortystwo of them. In c~onine-
ment the American bear-like a true
lover of liberty-ofteu grows moi pse and
vicious. It does not prove so tfactable
as the brown bear of Europe. Not long
ago a sinewy French Canadian was earn
ing a pretty penny by giving wrestling
exhibitions with his bear, an unusually
big black one. Of course the bouts were
q farce. The animal had been trained to
stamp around ON his hind legs, take hold
of his master gingerly and do a back
ward fall at the right moment. Occa-
sionally the man would go down and
bruin would paw the earth around him,
the while emitting a grumbling growl.
One day jean had beaten the bear
savagely, or it had not had its fill of cab
bage and roots, and the pupil got his
instructor down and clawed and rended
him until he bled to death on the spot,
and the pumpkins gathered around
were too scared to interfere.
No one, of course, has ever attempted
to train and exhibit the grizzly, t'cow-
ard OF heroic size," though Bret Harte
has called him. One of them has been
known to carry the carcass of a steer
weighing 1000 pounds several miles to
his lair in the boulders. Wrestling
would be a sorry business with this
ster, and to teach him tricks even when
an infant would be fraught with too
much excitement for a daily pursuit.
Next to the bear the monkey is the
animal which man finds most useful as a
bread winner in a nomadic life. The
little ape, in greatest demand, comes
from Brazil. He has a most whimsical
casteof countenance, and is as harmless as
he Is ugly, He can soon be taught to
wear q scarlet unlform-in fact, BE is as
vain of personal adornment as a dude
and struts around in a featlered cap with
out the irresistible desire of most pet ami
mails to tear it from his head. Monkeys
are comparatively cheap. For from $50
to $50 you can buy at the regular depots
q diminutive ape whose hideousness is
perpetual study. At the waterside
in New York along South and