The Bottineau pioneer. (Bottineau, N.D.) 1885-1895, 1892-02-20
INTEhEsT THE YOUNG.
SUBJECTS. BOTH USEFUL AND
Z" *#a INSTRUCTIVE,
A New Use for Monkeys--For Sale
VIVA a Chance--A Railway
ACCOMPLISHMENTS Or?
A New Use for Monkeys.

A New Use for Monkeys.
We do not often hear of MONKEYS
being useful. We hear them called
"odd," or "comical," Or "amusing,"
or "mischievous," as we'll as a great
many other things;but we do not hear
the monkey often alluded to, as "that
useful animal, the monkey!"
Perhaps one reason why people do
not think 1t necessary to make mon
keys useful in this country is, that
they are not very common. If mon
keys filled our trees and swarmed in
our woods, and had to be driven out
ofour streets, we might think it needful
to make them useful for some purpose
or other, so long as we had to endure
them. But, happily, monkeys multi
ply and thrive to that extent only in
hot countries. It costs something to
bring them here. They are usually
kept in museums and menagerles,
where people, go to look at them as Gu
riosities, in the same way they regard
the tigers, the lions and the bears in
the adjoining cages.
Sometimes they are bought for pets.
People think there must be a good
deal of fun to be got out of such a
queer animal. Well, they certainly
are comical creatures, but they are
noisy, troublesome pets, too; and
often their owners are more delighted
to get rid of them than they were at
first to obtain them. But the owners
generally consider themselves paid
for their money and trouble if the
monkey constantly amuses them.
That is what they got him for.
Now, the Siamese peopledon think
that way. They don't reflect how
amusing a monkey is. They find. out
what a monkey can do, and make
him useful by making him do it.
There are plenty OF monkeys in Siam.
They are Of all sizes, large and small;
and the large apes of S''m, we have
heard, are used by the Slamese mer-
chants as cashiers in their counting
rooms. Think of making apes useful
in such a way as that! To keep them
for cashiers in q counting-room!
We are not told that these apes are
expert at making change, or that they
are able to keep the merchants ledger
forhim. Siamese merchants probably
do not have complicated account
books; yet there must be some limit
to a monkeys power of mind-even
in Siam. I do not think the
Siamese merchants expect quite all
that Of their ape cashiers, although
they may be more wonderful creatures
than we in America have any idea OF.
No; the way apes are made useful, is
this:
In that far-off, dried-up, little
Oriental country, quite near China,
you know, there are large quantities
of counterfeit coin in circulation; and
the counterfeiters of Siam must be
most proficient, for we hear that it is
the hardest thing in the world to de-
tect the bad from the good money,
The merchants are often deceived, and
frequently swindled. The smartest
men they could employ were deceived,
too; for the bad money was such a
wonderful imitation that the
closest scrutiny often failed to find
the difference between a good and a
bad piece.
In this dilemma, some Siamese
merchants called to their help some
one who was always thought not SO
smart as q MANA monkey. And
these Charge apes. of Siam" proved
such q success at their new a~vocation
that the custom OF employing them
for the purpose OF detecting bad mon
ey has become universal. The ape
cashier of Siam holds his situation
without a rival. ' .. 4'saH~
He has a peculiar method of test
ing a coin. Every piece is handed to
him, and he picks up each bit OF money,
one at a time, and meditatively puts
it into his mouth, tasting it with
grave elaboration. If the coin is good
he declares the fact plainly. He
takes it from his mouth and carefully
places it in it's proper receptacle be-
side him. he has pronounced Judge
ment,, and every one is satisfied that
the judgement is correct. But, ii
the coin is bad, the cashier
makes known his verdict in an
equally unmistakable manner. He
thows it violently from his mouth to
the floor, shaking his head with as
much disgust as the merchant him.
self might feel at being imposed up,
on. With loud chattering and angry
gestures, he makes known his dis.
pleasure at being presented with a
bad piece of money. The merchant
himself could not express it better.
Now, how does q monkey. know
what q man cannot tell? All! that is
his secret. He never reveals it. Per.
haps he is afraid if he should make
known all the mysteries Of his PROBES
sion, his occupation might be gone,
and people would once prefer
men for cashiers in place Of the extra
ordinary apes employed by the mer
chants of Siam.-Eva Lovett Carson
in New York Independent.
For Sale