Union County courier. [volume] (Elk Point, Union County, D.T. [S.D.]) 187?-1913, 1896-08-06
TIRE CAMEL
Net - Patient or Useful ~ Tradftio-
Would Have Us Believe.

NV ~ = 0SlGuS oA SoC1WA ~ 4T0OYvfAN
Would Have Us Believe.
Our correspondent with the Soudan
expedition sends the following refec.
tons on the camel:
The camel, be 1t at once said, IL an
overrated beast. There Is a great deal
Of him, but he IL not for his size nearly
20 strong as the useful, u~npreteutious
donkey. Then. too, his anatomy il 20
strangely conceived. His legs are at.
tached to his great unwieldy carcass
with seemingly so little consideration
for the Uses to which merely viewed
as legs) he might be expected to put
them. And his neck and tail are 40
obviously disproportionate to the rest
Of him, and both so useless, that the
camel Is somehow Incomplete. or, ow.
ing to some mistake, was never fin.
ished of at all.
Even the qualities he possesses tend
to strengthen In this bewildering
suspicion. For instance, he can kick
himself violently In the-let us say the
front of the back-with his foreleg. He
does 1t constantly. Time and again
have I devoted long hours (fruitlessly.
I must admit to an attempt to win tho
confidence. OF my favorite camel-my
favorite because he is less cruel to me
than the others. l have wooed him
with the soft notes of my kourbash.
I have tempted him with the thorniest
of Mimosa branches, I have pulled to-
bacco smoke into his supercilious nos
trils. And then, just as l have fancied
l saw the light Of sympathy dawning
in his long dashed eye, he has risen all
of one movement to his feet, grinned at
ME in a frightful manner, disclosing
a forest Of green and broken teeth
and gazing at me full, with more vim
dictive contempt than l have ever
marked in any human eye, has kicked
himself violently in the stomach aud
lay down again, as who should say,
"Now, go away and don't bother, like
a good boy"
Then he can gnaw his own tail-hls
absurd useless little rag Of a tail that
isn't ever worth biting. But Is that
an object worth living for? Or again
AS HhS " ot S"tC, NA StoiItuSuS, vi
which. vain beast. he Is so Unfortunately
proud las though he had anything to
do with it, that he Is constantly fetch.
ing up one of them to show you and
blows it out from his great ugly throat
in a horrid, glitterins, transparent
bulb. for you to admire. A more nau.
seating practice could hardly be con.
ceived, but the low brute will do it.
One accomplishment, indeed, l can
give him credit for. He can kick a fly
from the top Of his head with his hind
toe. Now this, in the age we live in,
might, We're he a luckier beast. have
served him in good s.ead. But as
things are. l fear he will make nothing
Of 1t. His shape is fatally against him,
and he will neve become fashionable
as a step dancer.
But with all his faults, defects and
disabilities the camel has, so far as
this country is concerned, not yet been
superseded by any more practical in
vention, and despite the fact that his
temper is bad, his appetite vast and sor-
did, his capacity for prolonged exist
ence without water a giddy fiction, his
carrping capabilities mean and his loco
motive powers exasperatingly meager,
yet he Is all we have and on him we
must largely depend throughout this
Dongola expedition. DIR. Conan Doyle,
who Is one Of u party, believes, after
q week or so Of acquaintance with him,
that he has discovered In his riding
camel great delicacy Of sentiment and
much dignity Of demeanor. But then.
DIR. Conan Doyle is a man Of so wide a
charity that he actually believes in and
even admires-well, no, l will! not say
who it is. Let everyone guess for him
self. But If that person, why not the
camel? Why not, indeed? Perhaps l
may have some day something pleasant
to say about my camels. Time must
decide. Is 1t a long-lived beast, I won.
der?-London News.