Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1892-06-17
YAWCOB, THE MONKEY.
What Tender Care He Receives from His
Watchfu1 Mother.

Watchfu1 Mother.
never went to Central park in sum-
mer or autumn without expecting to see
that dear child. Here he comes"
would say to myself" getting trundled
along in his baby carriage; and since
the sun is SO warm, how thoughtful of
his nurse to put up the sunshade, SO
that his complexion may not be
spoiled!''
was disappointed every time. He
never did make an appearance Then
/ reasoned it out to myself:
He must be a year old now, and the
idea of his permitting himself to be
tucked up in a baby carriage is absurd
Why, not one nurse. nor stem of them,
could keep him in a perambulator. The
first thing you knew he would be wrig-
Cling out and riding on top of the hood,
or hanging down under the axle, and
before you could say Jack Robinson,
he would be climbing tree and turn.
ing summersaults, and going through
horizontal bar tricks on the uppermost
branch; and the nurses would be troop.
ing around the tree, shrieking and cry,
ing and wringing their hands, and the
policemen would come tearing in, and
there would be such hubbub and con,
fusion as never was seen or heard OF
before in Centralupark."
1t was year ago that / paid my frst
visit to Mrs. Jenny Macaque and to
Yawcob. When l paid my respects
then to the baby monkey, it really was
ceremonious affair. 1t was not
everybody who was invited, for Yaw
cob was only three days old at that
time. You had to go in on tiptoe, anG
were requested to make just as little
noise as possible, and to be careful to
shut the door, and not to be familiar
nor cluck, nor chirrup, nor whistle, mol
say, "Pooty itsy sing" nor as much as
blow q kiss to the baby. Being SO
small and feeble, Yawcobs mother re-
sented anyone approaching her nurs
ling, for she would get in rage if you
even winked at her.
Mrs. Jenny and the child still occupy
the same apartment in that fashionable
fat commonly known as the monkey
house of the geological department o.
Central park, New York.
Yawcob ayear ago had body barely
five inches long, but his tail would
measure fully an inch more than his
body. To-day the baby monkey is q
foot long, and as to his tail, it has
grown quite out of proportion to his
size. Mrs. Macaque is just as affec
Tomato as ever to her baby, but her re-
spect for the rest of the world has not
increased.
Just now there is a man who thinks
that monkeys have some kind of g
talk, and he is trying to find it all out
He does not believe that ordinary mon
keys ever did talk any thing like those
polished and cultivated monkeys in the
Arab Nights. In order to study
| their chatter, Mr.. Garner takes down
on a photographic machine the sounds
real monkeys make when they ask fol
banana, or milk, or their dinner, OF
| for a napkin-ring, or Il finger bowl
| the last to play with, of course. Now
if Mr.. Garner could only interpret
Yawcob,s mother atalk, | think this
| would be what she keeps saying most
of the time:
'Oh, the horrid man! What is he here
for, anyway? Tell him to go away and
nap Yawcob. I know you. You are
| an organ-grinder And you, children!
you are organ-grinders, too. You can't
| fool me. There is that other man, who
| seems TO be kind enough, giving me
banana and apple. l don't mind
him SO very much, because he is
our keeper. do not put too much trust
even in him. He may be wanting to
GO tomorrow into the organ-grinding
business, and the first chance he gets
he will carry off my dear Yawcob. |
know that all men, women, children,
and nurses, live for no other purpose
than to steal monkeys and exhibit
them"
For all the fuss Mrs Macaque makes
over him Yawcob seems happy. If he
longs for palm trees and cocoanuts, he
does not show it. He likes to play by
himself with a little piece of wood,
and pretends to lose it, so as to find it
again. He is very spry, and occasion
ally, when his mother will join in with
him, the two have a regular game of
hide and-seek. The minute, however,
you want to see which of the two, Yaw.
cob or his mother, is in or out, Mrs.
Macaque puts on airs, and becomes ter
ribly dignifed. She despises intrusion.
Yawcob is by no means timid and he
looks as if he wanted to pick up friends,
but his mother will not entertain the
idea of his making any stray acquaint-
ance; she is that exclusive.
When l was close to the cage, admir-
Ing the little monkey-for it is among
the rarest of all things for monkey tc
have been born and to have grown up
in confnement-I said to him: ''Yaw-
cob, when are you going to put on
long trousers?"
You see, 1 was mixing up things
again. Mrs Jenny at once resented
any allusion to her sons future get-up.
She picked up Yawcob, though he hung
with one toe and his tail to the perch,
and carried him off bodily, turning her
back directly on me. Yawcoo was,
however, curious, for he poked his
head over his mothers shoulder, and he
positively winked at me, and he looked
so trustful and amiable that at least 1
can entertain the idea that he did not
believe l ever had anything to do with
the grinding of hand-organs. Barnett
Phillips, in Harper's Young People.