The morning call., 1893-01-29

continued to the end the leader waves his
hand for silence and proceeds to pronounce
q benedlctIon.
Now this assertion is made in good faith
by naturalist, who seems to be as firmly
convinced of the truth Of what be writes as
he evidently desires the reader to be.
can fancy skeptcal reader inquiring
with gauZy smile whether these monkeys
take UP collection at the close OF the
service and il so to what fund 1t IS devoted.
must confess that / have never seen one
of these preaching monkeys, but the thlng
is not Impossible, TO the extent that these
animals are known 10 assemble In council
and lay plans for measures of less sacred
character than prayer and praise.
1t is notable circumstanc that the per-
sons who are most prone TO Ildlcule the
ideas of Darwin, that man has been evolved
out of an srboreal ape, are precisely those
who have never studied monkeys and their
ways.
As to the preaching capacity of the
monkey, it assumes that there is one talker
and host Of listeners which is the only
weak point in the story. For, as rule. the
monkey is far stronger as a taker than as
listener. Monkeys can talk; there IS no
earthly doubt about that
| would like some of the old pioneers
who remember the days of the Nicaragua
transit 10 give their experiences or night
with the "hOwlers." Probably every one
WHO mas tthNt4Gu III AfUtld III AHltllId
heard these yoeiterous little gentry. There
are all sorts of 'hOwleTs." The black. the
golden the ursine, the hairy, the gray
footed and especially the Ardauato II is
regularity OF all the hOwlers that once
in captivity they become mute as drum
with hole in it, But in the wild free state
these howlers can discount anything IN the
way of noise and yOciferation that men.
women and children are capable OF.
There used TO be in the old conviyial DAYS
of student life a windup to musical even
ngs called a cats chorus, tile essential
feature of which was that each performer
sang different song and all sang in a
different key at the same time.
That is about the mental effect produced
by The collection of troop OF bowling
monkeys when night has settled down on
the forests Of Central America. Each
bowler is as big as terrier dog, and each
one has voice easily audible at a distance
Of a mile. When about a hundred of these
howers get together aud lift Up their voices
in concert the fleet is simply terrific. aud a
nervous person viii be sure 10 pass a sleep
less night
The amusing part of the business, and
which seems 10 lend support to the IDEA of
the preaching monkeys, is that these howl
ers always seem TO yell and cry in concert
and under the direction Of u recognized or
cheStral leader
The notion of preaching monkeys pre-
formation, and right here | want TO tell a
little story which any one who has closely
studied the habits of monkeys can easily
verify.
| once had two macaques. these being
among The most intelligent Of the smaller
representatives Of the simian family. One
was a pattern of neatness and cleanliness.
She (for the reader will already have jumped
at this cOnclusiOn) was accustomed 10 search
herself twenty times day for fieas. and
nothing could exceed her solicitude IL any
thing sticky. dirty or or, asy touched her.
Her cage partner was of the opposite sex
and exceedingly sloveny in his habits.
On one occasion Samuel-this idehti-
cal he - was allowed OFT OF his
Gag and. with the felonious instinct Of his
race. made a deep dive with his paw or hand
into the molasses jar. He returned to his
cage and incidentally embraced his partner.
The effect was immediate ana ludicrous.
The indignant little lady-moukey looked
down for moment Mt the offender. angrily
rubbed the mOlasse5 marks left by her part
ner's hands, gave him severe bite,
scratched him and shook him for all she
was worth. and then gave him such a
tOngue-lashing as would have made Mrs.
Caudie green with envy.
Yes, think there may be such creatures
as preaching monkeys T. G. ID.