The representative. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1893-1901, 1895-04-17

Beautiful Coats Fr0m Very Savage
Little Fighters.


Here Is an ermine skin" said the mana
ger OF the fur store, exhibiting It to New
YORK Sun reporter as he spoke Including
the mounted head and a four inch tail,
the skin was about 10 inches long. Its fur
was now white except a jet black tip to
the tail. "The English call the creature
which once wore this skin a stoat. Like
the weasel, in winter he changes his red
dish brown coat to q white one, which,
blending with the color of the snow en-
ables him to avoid his enemies and to
steal upon his prey unobserved. He is
savage bloodthirsty little wretch that Is
out Tor blood every time, and he preys
upon every creature that he can overcome.
cartridges and rabbits are his chief food.
but squirrels and smaller birds are just
as acceptable when they come in his way.
He sometimes gets eaten up himself, when
his big cousins, the sable or the fisher,
fall in with him.
Here are some skins of the marten, an
other member of the weasel family. This
Is the pine marten with the brown skin
and yellow throat. The one with the blu
ish brown fur and white throat Is the stone
marten. They are destructive and SAN
culinary beasts larger. as you see. than
the stoat. but they have much the same
habits. This skin is of the fisher larger
still. rare and expensive fur, little
darker than sable. The fisher lives on the
land, but is a good swimmer.
I'm the way of the big water weasels
we have the first mink. Note in his skin
the brown, variable tnts and the white
patch on the chin. His fur is sometimes
fraudulently substituted for sable. In this
stuffed specimen you can see that his feet
are slightly webbed. Here is the king of
the weasels. the otter. Isn't his skin hand
some, with its close, dense fur and long
shining hair of rich brown tints intermix-
ed with whitish gray? He is a terrible
fighter, and can whip anything of his
weight, 1 believe. in the world. In Eng
land, where they hunt him with dogs, he
can give half dozen hounds all they want
to do before they kill him. and some of
them will carry marks of the fight for
good while at that. Both he and the mink
are very destructive, of fish and water
birds, and they are not averse to an over
land expedition now and then to the far
mers' poultry yards, where they often
make sad havoc.
f"There are certain features in common in
all the weasel family that 1 have named
All are bloodthirsty. fierce. 1.-THE. and enor-
mously strong. in proportion to their size.
They are cunning and hard to trap. and
in catching them no steel trap be sue
cessfully used, for when caught by leg
they will without hesitation gnaw the limb
off in order to escape. Deadfalls and open
traps which will kill them instantly or i'm
prison them are the only kinds used by the
hunters of these. animals. They are hard
to kill, and, when shot, are difficult 20
secure. taking either to the water or to
some obscure hole or Granny on land to
But times change and we change with
them" The progress Of art in Italy in the
Fifteenth century was marked by the grad
Gal disrobing of the human figure. That
which had been looked upon by one genera
ton shameful and debasing was con-
sidered by the others as admirable and ele-
waiting. The beginning of that century saw
the clumsy figures clothed from neck to
heels which were painted by Glotte's pu-
pills. and the beginning of the next the
marvellous and perfectly pure nudities of
Michael Angelo disporting themselves upon
the ceiling of the Sistne Chapel.
When the most beautiful forms of Gods
creation are no longer considered evil and
degrading, then there is the opportunity
for the growth of an art that can glorfy
Him and His works. And this country
seems at last to be approaching the state
where such thing is possible-St. Louis
Post Dispatch.