Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1897-04-09
SOME CURIOUS PETS.
WILD ANIMALS AS WELL AS TAME
ONES MADE FAVORlTES.

Ancient and Modern Men of Note Have
Dotted on These singular Pets-sir Rich.
ard Burton's blouse That Jack Built"
In Damascus.
Nothing in human nature is perhaps
more peculiar than the practice of adopting
some representative of the animal world as
an intimate. 1t may be conjectured that
the first pets were those animals which had
already proved themselves useful in the
service of man, such as horses and dogs.
BY and by, ms other animals became do
mesticated, they were admitted to degree
of intimacy which, while not perhaps ex-
aotly that of the modern pet, was step in
that direction. The ancents as we'll as
ourselves are known to have lavished no
small amount of affection upon their IA
vorites. Did not Alexander grieve for the
loss of Bucephalus and endeavor to con-
sole him self with Peritas, the lion fighting
dog, which cost him something over $500
in Indiap And had not both horse and dog
cities named after themS Did not the dog
of Xanthippus swim beside his masters
galley to SalamisY The mares of Cimon,
with which he was thrice victorious at the
Olympic games, were buried beside his
own tomb. We all remember how 1.-THE
young mans dog accompanied the son OF
Tobit and the angel Raphael on their re-
markable journey
But the ancients had singular pets as
well. Pythagoras tanned an eagle SO far
that, by pronouncing certain words, he
could instantly check it in its flight and
make 1t return to the ground. Alcibiades
had dog of uncommon size and beauty,
which cost large sum of money, and yet
he had the animals handsome tail cut off
In order, as he said, to give the Athenians
something to talk about. Besides his dog
Alcibiades was fond of his fighting quails
and rewarded the restorer of "a lost bird by
giving him command of the fleet. Serto.
RUS, when In Lusitania, received present
of milk white hind, which became so at
tached to him as to come when called and
follow him about and learned to bear the
noise and hustle of the camp and the bat
tlefeld. Cardinal Wolsey, it will be recol
lected, was familiar with venerable carp
Cowper's only relief from melancholy was
to play with his pet hares Give owned
pet tortoise. Did not Mr.. Parnell on one
occasion interrupt an important conference
of the Irish parliamentary party while he
saw to the feeding of favorite retriever
Lesser known people have made pets OF
snakes, toads, hedgehogs and other ami
LulS llOb usually COnSlutTbu as uOnleSIlC.
1t is largely a question of environment
The dweller in cities is usually compelled
by the exigencies of space to restrict him
self to cats and dogs, and even the humble
occupant of a single room will be found
the possessor of linnet or canary. Birds,
indeed, from the small space they require,
are first favorites as city pets. Bears are
great favOrites on board ship, where they
get quite tame, and sailors have even been
known to pet an alligator in default of q
more agreeable animal A robin flew on
board the Victory in the heat of the battle
of the Nile and took up it's quarters in the
admirals stateroom, and accompanied
the ship to Naples the pet of all on board
Who does not remember the little dryas-
dust entomologist whom the autocrat of
the Breakfast Table called the Scarabee,
and who had nothing in the world to love
but large gray spider?
People who are compelled to reside for
any length of time abroad usually make
pets of the animals indigenous to the 10.
cality in which they live. How strange
was that abode at Damascus where the
late Lady Burton and her distinguished
husband resided In addition to the or
binary live stock, consisting of fowls and
goats, together with the horses and camels,
there were Persian cat, a lamb and
leopard The last named was trapped as
cub in the desert and presented by Holo
Pasha to Sir Richard Burton to show his
appreciation of the latter's conduct in
averting what might have been a danger.
GUS outbreak of fanaticism in Damascus.
Lady Burton was quite enthusiastic about
this, the most remarkable of her pets. He
never did the household any harm, but
frightened the other animals, especially
the cat, though he was in turn afraid OF
the bulldogs, but used to side with them
In their antipathy to a certain baker. He
used to play hide and seek with his mis-
tress, and, as she naively remarks, "When
he bit too hard, l used to box his ears,
when he was instantly good. He used
1 TO sleep in his mistress room, and when
he fell victim to poison administered by
the neighborng peasants who were afraid
of him, we are not surprised to hear his
death was the cause of much grief.
Another pet in this strange household
was "a Kurdish dog rs big as a St. Bor-
nard, and which looked like bear. His
name Kasrawan, was corrupted into Cuss
He was an inveterate fighter, but IA SPLEEN
did watchdog. Indeed, the Burton menage
was, as Sir Richard himself described it, a
sort of house that Jack built, for the
pigeons ate the seeds and DESTROYED the
flowers, the cat preyed upon the pigeons,
and was in turn worried by the dogs
while the leopard harried the goats to such
an extent that ono of them in sheer dis
gust went and committed suicide 10y
drowning, while the favorite's yells al.
most scared tho life out of the donkey and
camel. London Standard
Freezing Air.