The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1897-02-19
GEOLOGICAL GARDENS.
General Baker Goes to Visit Them
with the Children and tells Them
All About 1t.
GLENDALE, Ohio, Feb. I, 1898.

full grown and Of mature mind, should
read this letter. In fact, all such are
strictly enjoined from it's perusal. 1t
is for the lovely children of Blue
Earth county. 1t is especially ad,
dressed to each and every one of them
My son, James Henry, and three OF
his young cousins, and myself, went
to the Geological gardens the other
day and had a. jolly good time. The
GEOLOGICAL garden, in Cincinnati, Is
Justly pronounced one Of the best in
the United States. We entered
through the ponderous gates, into an
enclosure of about forty acres, with
stately buildings, fine walks, drives and
beautiful trees. After depositiDg
our tickets in the great rotary wheel,
the first notable objects to- catch our
attention, was large family of Elks.
the mooSe-deer. There was July a
dozen or more. They had antlers
which were superb, and branched like
a tree. 1t seemed to us that they
were entirely too big and too branchy
for use or comfort. L have seen many
elks on the plains of the far west, but
never with such autlerS as these car
ried. was informed that these noble
elks came from the farm of the late
Charles DeGraff, near GAINESVILLE. We
next encountered small herd OF
butfaloeS, in about an acre field.
There were thirteen of them, an un-
lucky number | learned that the
herd came from North Dakota, from a
a Mr.. Dalrymple, the brother of the
big wheat farmer of that name. They
had tired, weary look, and seemed
to act and feel as though they knew
they were about the last of their race,
/ have seen, on these same North
Dakota prairieS, what Pierce Battin-
eau, our good old Half-breed guide,
said, was herd of ten thousand.
The big buffalo bull l once saw
chase one of our officers on his pony,
didn't look much like these SpiritleSs
animals we saw here. The race Of
buffaloes on the American continent,
is we'll nigh extinct, and the good,
comfortable buffalo overcOats and lap
robes 60 out with them.
We next came to an aviary of birds,
of the species that have bright plum
age. Such chattering of parrots and
paroquets, l never before heard.
Every one, of the hundred, or more,
seemed to be talking and chattering
at once. 1t was like public meeting
where every body had the floor, and
no order prevailed. l think they we've
discussing the 'silver question:" and
quite as lucidly as it was frequently
discussed last summer. There were
whole flocks of little birds, with the
brightest feathers in the world. 1t
looked as though we might have STEP
ped into some piece of woods in trOpi-
Cal Brazil,
Next we entered very large circu-
lar building, where there were lions,
tigers, hyenas, leopards, with their
bright spots, two black panthers, lynx,
and a number of other like savage
beasts. When we opened the door
and entered that vast amphitheatre,
filled with wild beasts, the children
opened their eyes wide, and fairly held
their. breath with establishment.
After we had gotten fairly in, and
took a sweeping survey of this terrible
must be sA in Africa p Ana we s did feel eel
just that way. There were fully a
dozen lions and lionesses. But what
surprised US more than anything else,
was the two baby lions, which were
out of their cages, and playing around
in the open court, like two half-grOwn
St. Bernard dogs. They would weigh,
pounds each. They came up to us and
4 nj fn MI mi n % oh IN
This alarmed the children, but their
keepers came up and boxed the ears of
the baby lions, and they went off cry
other like pair of kittens at play
About this time one of the big lions
opened it's mighty jaws, and roared so
PRESS office, over into farthest West
youngsters thoroughly, and had to
further delay. The baby lions fol-
lowed us to the door, and looking out
after us, seemed to say, Call again
when you feel like it," But 1 could
MT get the children back there again.
l suppose James Henry is the only boy
in Blue Earth county, that ever had
real lion lick his shoes. We next
found ourselves in large circular
building, which was wholly devoted
to monkeys. 1t was regular monkey
village. There were monkeys aud
monkeys; little monkeys and big
monkeys, monkeys with tails and
monkeys without tails. They were of
every variety and from every country
where monkeys grow and the children
counted about forty. Some of them
had heads which looked almost
human, If you would put pair of
spectacleS on some Of them, and give
them a book, they would look like
quite as solemn as judge. But most
of them were thoroughly miSchievous.
They jumped about in their great high
cages, and chartered their teeth, and
seemed to threaten us with violence.
They climbed up their poles with
nimbleness, as high as thirty or forty
feet, and the higher they climbed,
the worse they looked, like some men
in he world do.
They are a filthy set of animals,
and and as cunning, and as artful as a
politician. They were seen to be very
fond of hunting vermin, both on their
own bodies and on those of their COM
panions, and when they find one, they
crack it between their teeth! / am
glad | do not belong to that class OF
xuh ho1iaun no