The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-05-20
MME. D'OSTA.

Nature made Ham Jr., a monkey. Edu-
cation made him all but a man. Love
made him a suicide. He died for love of
Nine d'Osta, who had taught him to use
a knife and fork and napkin, to dress
and undress. to sleep in bed, to take
medicine, to say Eyes," no." and mann
ma"
That was the word he spoke oftenest-
mamma" He walled it continually
during his last days, when the choicest
delicacies failed to shake his resolve to
die by starvation. 1t was his last cry
as he took photograph from under his
pillow and held 1t before his gazing
eyes. The picture was that of Nine.
dOsta For she was mamma"
In teaching Ham Jr. to be man she
had taught him mans greatest privilege
and pain. She had taught him to live
for her. and now too late she realizes
that he could not live without her. Ham
Jr. learned to play many parts He
would impersonate a 1aborer smoking his
pipe, an old woman slipping her tea, a
gourmet tasting his wine, a student
reading his book, a politician haranguing
his constituents.
But that was all mimicry. One part he
played seriously, and that was the part Of
a lover. He was the willing slave Of
fair woman. Love was the handspring
of this monkeys life. All he did was for
her. He forgot the tropical forest and
learned to endure the monotony Of steam
heat. He was patient under the tyranny
of broadcloth and starched linen. He ac-
quired the niceties of table etiquette so
thoroughly that when he dined with
Rear-Admiral Schley and Gen. Fitzhugh
Lee no gentleman in the company eX-
celled him in politeness.
His ordeal made him the best educated
monkey in the world, valued by his
owner at S10.0 900: but 1t was all for love
of 'mamma"-to make her proud of him.
And last week in Atlantic City she
stood by his open grave. into which his
child friends were dropping pinks and
violets, and sobbed:
why didn't you send for me? Why
didn't you tell me he was i'll? If I had
come to him he would have lived!'
The doctors agree with her. They say
that Ham Jr. died Of broken heart.
He was an orang-outang, one Of a
batch of fifteen bought In Borneo three
years ago by Capt. d'Osta.
The voyage from the East Indies to
England was a severe test Of their vi
tality. Soon after Capt. Bostock's ar
rival in London only one was left-a fne
male specimen.
He was surrounded from the beginning
with every precaution against disease.
especially pneumonia. After period Of
recuperation in England he was brought
across the Atlantic. Two years ago his
educa ton was begun.
This important work was intrusted to
Nine. d'Osta.
Table manners. for example. How
might ages of heredity be overcome to
make a monkey eat with a spoon? Nine.
d'Osta devised a deep, narrow cup, into
which Ham Jr. could not insert his hand.
Very good. Ham Jr.'s intelligence
prompted him to use a spoon to extract
his food from the cup But heredity In
spired him to drop each spoonful on the
table and convey it thence to his mouth
with his hands.
Nine. d'Osta procured the services Of
child and kept it hungry about the mon
keys meal times. 1t was instructed to
snatch away and eat every spoonful of
food that Ham Jr. dumped upon the table,
and 1t obeyed. Ham Jr. was first mysti-
fed, then panied, then indignant. Then
he chartered with wrath 1t was no use.
At the other side of the table his beloved