The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-08-05

solemnity BETTING the occasion. The
realm OF the aged ruler is the best In the
reptile house. II consists of Turtle
Lake which occupies the center of
the place. In the midst of it is
high gevser, which forms the kings
shower bath. That potentate, be-
tore he became the ruler of Turtle Lake
was commonly and familiarity known as
Mr.. Alligator Turtle. HIS subjects are
hve other alligator turtles, who. of course.
are princes of the royal family, seven
lizards and twenty-five Hoi Polloi, or
common, ordinary swapping turtle. King
Macrochelys never expected to see the
day when he could say, with pride. that
ne was two centuries old. He is rather
inclined to enbonpoint, ana weighs AS
pounds. He really is the largest tlrtle
IN any Zoo in the world The big Lon
don Zoo has only one of that species
and he is so far behind King Mac" that
ne really Is not to be mentioned in the
same class.
THE KINGS BIRTHDAY.
The celebration of the kings birthday
was very interesting. The mighty and
lat potentate sat on his royal throne be-
meath the imperial shower bath, and
listened to the words of congratulation
borne to him by his loyal subjects They
! told him what great and good king he
was, and hoped his highness would live
Tor another hundred years. After the
speech making, Miss Lizard danced a ser
pentine dance before the king, and all Of
the Hoi Polloi went over to Turtle Island
and played tag and other games. This
| was followed by banquet The king
distinguished himself. He ate six pounds
OF fish at one sitting. His subjects
laughed with glee when he swallowed a
| hsh weighing three pounds Then the
ruler of all the turtles became reminis-
cent a told CT Of al in
the Mississippi, that were charming
IN their way. The king was a very
foXey youth 100 or so years ago, before he
accepted the kingship. He used to be a
great fisherman. Every day he used to
capture as many fish as he could eat in q
very peculiar way. He has under his
lower jaw small veriform appendix 1t
looks exactly like IA worm. When he had
fish appetite he used to go out to nice
cool place in the river. throw his bead
back, open his mouth and let the worm
float around in a tempting way. The mo-
tion of the water made it wriggle like a
live worm. A fat little fish would spy it,
20 for it, and, snapl he was. food. This
is comparatively a recent discovery about
the kings species, and although England
claims to have found it out, Keeper John
Thompson could have given them points
on it years ago
There was a great many other things
of interest in the garden also. One very
| startling piece of news is that Billy"
| the seal, who lost his wife and baby
within a month, became tired of being
| widOwer and married "Mollie," another
| belle in the seal colony.
There was good deal of gossip in Ele-
| phant lodge because the elephants were
| informed that they had TO take bath or
| leave. They've been excused from this
! duty since Empress" had the rheuma-
| tism last summer, but the Coxey's army
| troubles made it necessary 10 risk it, and
make them wash The rhinoceros was
| the most envied inmate of the ZOO" He
| sat beneath a shower bath all day long,
| and didn't mind the heat bit
| Ohicia Record for the Morning News.
Local forecast for Savannah and vicinity
till midnight Aug &, 1894: threatening
weather with occasional rains, probably
| heavy; cooler winds becoming easterly and