The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1899-05-06
KNOWS THE ALPHABET.


of betting about three inches long and
half an inch wide, and tackled bit to
each block. This was for the goose to
take hold by. Then laid in few ears
of corn.
THE second night l brought the
goose up. He had had nothing to eat
and was pretty hungry. / began with
the first three letters of the alphabet
"A, b C-showed him the difference
between them, and kept at him until
he brought me the right letter each
time IAsked for it. Then rewarded
him with few grains of corn--not too
much-and we went on to the next let
tiers.
He learned the whole alphabet per-
fectly in two evenings and l never
heard of child who did as WELL Every
time he picked up the letter / called
for I gave him grain of corn, but
gave him nothing when he brought the
wrong letter. Know? Why, that goose
was as eager to learn as / was to teach,
just as soon as hefouDd that the proper
letter always brought him something
to eat!
"After that / had cards printed with
short words upon them and l taught
the goose to bring the correct answer
to questions / asked him. Some of my
questions were: who was the first
president?' VINO was the last presi-
dent?' What is your name? what
is my Nance Where do you live?'
How many days do you work?' Six
was the goose's answer. What do you
work forT Corn What do l work
for?' Money
81 had the days of the week printed
in slips, too. Then i asked my goose:
What is to-day?' And taught him to
bring the right answer. Oh, that was
trick, of course! The blocks or cards
were laid in row upon the floor and
the goose walked along in front of
them, stopping at the right place.
When l asked: What day is to-day?'
the goose marched gravely by each UNI
til he saw my foot move just little
toward a particular card. He knew
that was the one to take. and he
brought me Tuesday, if it was Tue sday,
as straight as die.
"Next / taught him to tell the time
of day. This was little more COM
plicated, but / did it in much the same
way. l was not particular about min
utes, but -four o'clock or 'half-past
two was near enough for a goose to
get, and a very slight motion of my foot
showed him the correct hours of the
day card just as well as the name of the
day of the week.
Now, you may call that smart
goose or even doubt the story altogeth-
er, but il is true enough, and believe
many geese could learn as we'll as that
goose did.
He made big reputation, though.
used to show him off to my friends and
they brought others to see my trained
goose, and at last people came from all
over the country to see that goose tell
what time it was
A reward of food when they are
docile and quick and a refusal of it
when they prove refractory is enough
incentive Tor ANIMALS TO learn readily
the tricks required of them.
Special ways of teaching have to be
used with each animal, and the trainer
must learn something of the animal, his
habits, peculiarities. likings and dis
likings before he can manage the crea-
ture readily. In fact, he must get ac-
quainted with his pupil.
The most successful trainers say that
with persistent kind treatment they
can accomplish what they wish with
any animal-Philadelph Euuuirer