The evening tribune. (Pawtucket, R.I.) 189?-190?, 1897-01-22
SOME CURIOUS PETS.
WILD ANIMALS As WELL AS TAME
ONES MADE FAvoRITEs.

ONES MADE FAvoRITes.
Ancient and Modern Men Of Note Hsvy
Dotted on These Singular Pets--sir Rich
ard Burton's "House That Jack Buut1
I'm Damascus.
Nothing In human nature Is perhanf
more peculiar than the practice of adoptina
some representative of the animal world al
On intimate. It may he conjectured thsf'|
the nrst pets were those animals which had
already proved themselves useful in thd
service OF man, suoh as horses and dogsI
~ ana by, as other animals became do
mestioated, they were admitted to a degrse
OF in0macy which, while not perhaps ex
aotiy that OF the modern pet, was a step iu
shat direction. The Mncients as we'll ad
ourselves arc known to have layished nd
small amount or affection upon their "a
vorites. Did not Alexander grieve for the
loss OF Buoephalus and endeavor to con-
sole himself with PeYitas, the lion fighting
dog, which cost him something over RBOCX
In lndiaY And had not both horse and doc
cities named after themf Did not the dog
OF XaDthippus swim beside hLs master 3
galley % SalamiR The mares of Cimop.
with which he was thrice victorious at the
Olympic games, were buried beside his
own tomb. We all remember how "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
we'll Pythagoras tanned an eagle so far
that, by pronouncing certain words he
could instantly check 1t 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 of, |
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 lost bird by !
giving him command Of tho feet. Serto-
RUS, when In Lusitania, received present
OF milk white hind, which became 90 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
tlefield Cardinal Wolsey, 1t 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 .
mails not usually considered as domestic.
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 esen the humble
occupant OF q single room will be found
the possessor Of a linnet or canary. Birds,
indeed, from the small spacs they require,
are first favorites as city pets Bears are
great favorites on board ship where they
get quite tame, and sailors havs even been
known to pet an alligator In default Of a
more agreeable animal A robin flew on
board the Victory in the heat Of the battle,
of the Nile and took up its quarters in th4
admirals stateroom, and accompanied
the ship to Naples, the pet of all ON boardA
Who docs not remember the little dryas1
dust entomologist whom the autocrat of
the Breakfast Table called the acarabe6,
and who had nothing In the world to love
but large gray spiders
People who are compelled to reside for
any length of time abroad usually make !
pets of the animals indigenous to the 10
oaljty in which they live How strange
was that abode at Damascus where the
late Lady Burton and her distinguished
husband resided. In addition 20 ehe Or
dinary live stock, consisting of fowls and
goats, together with the horses and c,.mels,
there were Persian cat, a lamb ind
leopard. The last named was trapped as
a 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 dagger
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 tho other animals, especially
the cat, though he was In turn afraid of
the bulldogs, but used to Side with them
In their antipathy to certain baker. He
used to play hide and seek with his mis-
tress, and, as she naively remarks, "When
he bit too hard, / used to box his ea,rs,
when he was instantly good" He used
to sleep in his mistress room, and when
he fell victim to poison administered by
the neighboring peasants, who were afraid
or him, we are not surprised to hear his
death was the cause of much grief.
Another pet in this strange household
was Kurdish dog as big as a st. Ber-
nard. and which looked like bear. His
name Kasrawan, WAS corrupted into Cuss.
He was an inveterate fighter but a splen-
did watchdog Indeed, the Burton menage
was, as Sir Richard himself described 1t, AZ
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 one of them In sheer dis
gust went and committed suicide by
drowning, while the favorite's yells al
most scared the life out of the donkey and