El Paso daily herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1881-1901, 1900-03-03
For the Better Half
Written for the HERALD.


We bad all of US heard of the ella
monster always but had never given
any particular thought to him: had
tucked the name of MIN away in our
semi-consciousness along with our
notions of griffins, sea serpents,
dragons and other fabulous monsters
that don't exist" except on crests and
banners and in legends aud fairy
tales. So that when we heard that
there were Gila monsters at the Zoo
We journeyed thither to see what they
might be like-vaguely expecting
| purpose the word monster conveys the
idea of unusual bigness. 1t is true the
dictionary does not limit the word so
but makes it applicable to anything
unusual, big or little-an abnormally
diminutive thing may be monster If
1t goes at it right, as we'll as an aboor-
mally big thing. Also the dictionary
carries one back to the delightful days
of pagandom when abnormal objects
were called monsters because they
were supposed to be omens from the
| unseen powers pointing out coming
| mi fortunes. The word is from
mOnstrare-to point out. But we had
not studied the dictionary before
| we went to the Zoo and these moral
| izings occurred only afterwards. We
| passed cages of screaming parrots.
and came to q big corner place of
honor where in a roomy cage, queerly
painted little beasts we're promenading
languidly, Indifferent to the noise of
the parrots or the stare of the humans.
| The cage was labelled celia Monsters"
aud we had to take the labels word for
| it though the beasts we, only as big
as baby alligators and looked more as
If they were made of Mexican pottery
then like real animals.
"Are they snakes or toads?" asked
the lawyer.
They've got patterns like print
| tive pottery:" said the colonel.
| "They are fat, wriggly snakes" said
| the lsdye, land 1 hate them.''
mo two are of the same color, nor OF
| the same pattern; isn't that curious?"
laborated the lawyer.
"They look too fat and clumsy to do
much harm.' said the colonel. land
yet there have been SO many tales of
horror told of Them
1.-THE idea of their having fat tails,
| think 1T is too disgusting of them, "said
! the ladye, why do we look at them?
Their architecture is abominable.
They have no lines of anatomy. They
| look like those stuffed calico cats or
china pigs. They are too repulsively
without angles or lines. Let's go see
something else"
81 think that narrow zig gag pattern
of inky black on the pink ones is at
tractive," said the colonel.
81 like the wider Greek key pattern
| on the lemon colored one BETTER" said
| the lawyer.
AS citizen of the land of sands and
rocks and sunshine [ began to think it
possible to take little pride in the
beasts. They are repulsive and yet
they look so much like ones own draw
ings of four footed things that one is
| tenderly reminded of the stolen pleas
ures of school days. have drawn just
such looking creatures on u slate many
| times when sums were to bedOne. They
also look like Egyptian pictures of
dogs. Their curious, inky black, zig
gag bands remind one of Navajo
| Indian blank patterns or of the orna-
men tstions that the Indian puts on
pottery and baskets. The design Is
essen TALLY primitive. There must be
| some connection between him and the
savage's idea of art. Probably Nature
has done one of her cunning tricks of
protection for the animal, in thus pat
terning his skin. AS the tiger s stripes,
conspicuous as they seem when one
sees him Gagged and away from his for
ests, do yet protect him mingling With
the bright lights and black shadows OF
tropical iungles, so this lizards
black patterns on his yellow skin prob
ably initiate the place where he
abides and fOrages and thus conceal
him from his enemies. Perhaps the
dead black lines against the pinkish
yellow sands and weave it in their de-
signs. II the white man cannot see 1t,
il may be his eyes are less cunning to
note every phase of color on the dry
sands of the west. At any rate the
beast ia thus marked and nature ia
ever reasonable and one has the fun
of guessing what she meant anyway.
The monsters are like nothing else
living on earth-at least to the out
ward eye and ordinary mind. Scien-
lists can classify them easily enough as
lizards of remarkably clumsy figure,
but even impartial, cold and d1gnifed
science cannot help giving a jab at
their lack of beauty. The Mexican
lizard of near kinship is called the
Heloderma horridum while the ella
monster himself is the Heloderma sus-
pectum-suspectum Is a polite way of
putting it, for it is pretty generally
agreed that he is q venomous beast.
The scientific name sounds rather i'm
posing but being torn to pieces and in
terpreted literally we find that science
calls him "warty skinned" and ''sus-
picious."
We could safely argue with the
keepers as to whether or not the beasts
we're veuomous, for they were in a cage,
but as they do not look agile nor seem
to take any interest in human beings,
we did not think we would he afraid of
them anyway. We di not shudder at
their venom-only at their lack OF
beauty. I began to take g decided
pride in them. They are perfect in
their own particular line. AS speci-
mems of the u unpleasant they cannot be
improved upon.
One hears on all sides whispers and