The Coeur d'Alene press. (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho) 1892-1907, 1900-04-21
prPKIH yIsrTs THE zoo.
He Sees Animals Yrsm an Parts Of the
world.

AlOAbVR ~ AE<A3 OAtG WIZ NANsA8
Washington should not fail to visit the
congressional library, admitted by all to
be the most magnificent edi6ce 10 the
United States today, and In all prOba-
bility the only public building began
and finished by this government 10 all
its history, In which there was not a
single steal. aEd in which there was not
q single mistake made, and all built
within the amount appropriated. II
my memory IL not at fault, the amount
estimated by the architect was six mil
ions of dollars, and the contractors and
builders completed II and left a balance
of two hundred Thousand dollars.
Surely those contractors are too pure for
this world. As said In my last. Wis
tied the zoo park and saw animals from
every country on earth-all kinds Of
animals. except Missourians. In enter
ing the park one lie confronted with the
sign, mo dogs allowed inside the
grounds" A little further on we see a
sign, "VisitOrs will please not tease any
of the animals." Near by we see sign,
Moose" With myself and friend were
a half dozen youngsters. and ! proposed
TO follow them. because thought then,
and think now, that IL there is anything
worth seeing, trust TO the bad boy" to
pilot you. So to them we stuck. We
had provided ourselves with a peck or
90 of peanuts, and the "kids" generously
distributed them to moose, deer, mon
keys, and 10 fact all animals save alone
the tapir. over which cage was, please
don't throw anything inside, particularly
peanuts" ! saw fine specimens of the
lion, the tiger and the leopard. the latter
all the time on the constant tread
around his cage, never still, but always
with that constant, ceaseless, nervous
tread, characteristic of the wild feline
race. The lion and tiger were huge,
magnificent animals, ali sleek and fat.
Grizzly and Cinnamon bear were much
in evidence, the SlOsh bear from India,
the pecarry from South America; the
armadillO. the spotted pOrcupine and
badgers. martins. minks, weasels and
the mongoose. ! always thought the
mongoose was fowl, but found IT to
be a rodent, about the size Of Spokane
prairie gopher, and over the cage read,
"MongoOse, imported TO Jamaica to ex-
terminate the rodents, so Obstructive to
the sugar-cane of that country" saw
hundreds of animals never dreamed
existed on earth. visited the pens or
yards of the coyote, the timber wolf,
the fox, OF the United States; the Attic
fox. and the wild boar from India, but
did not see any South African Beers.
OF the larger animals there were the
buffalo, the elk, the lama, the white and
black tail deer, the camel and the goats
Of every country on earth. In fact
there were very few of any kind of ami
NAL on earth one cannot see at the ZOO
park. All kids" like other persons,
want TO see the elephant, SO We visited
the building in which the huge
monster was chained by two feet. The
kids" fed him for half hour with
peanuts. The monster would open his
mouth and streams Of peanuts would
tioN in like the swallows homeward
hy." Let us in returning visit the aqua
rian, where we see scores OF FISH OF every
kind-the buffalo, the bass, the mud
and blue cat, the pike. pickerel and the
gar, the dog fish and perch, the eel, the
striped bass, the brook, mountain, lake
and rainbow trout, and dozens cannot
now recall the name of. OF birds there
were the paraquette, the parrot, the
Stork, swan, cranes, and dozens of water
foul with unpronouncable names. or
snakes well, ugh, don't ask me about
them. Huge, hideaus. loathsOme rep
tiles, looked IN on the monster croco-
diles, some twenty in number. Most Of
them lay upon platform about foot
higher than the pool to which they had
access. | saw alligators thirteen feet in
length and young ones twenty inches in
length. While viewing them it occurred
10 ltlt ltldl udu SOuCNHCtC lOdu -Ntidl
the alligator had penchant for a young
Negro baby. looked around for one,
and close by l saw fine looking, buxom
coon with likely looking coon kid
in her arms, and told her l would give
her quarter OF dollar for her kid.
She asked me what wanted with it,
and | told her that l had somewhere
read that il there was anything an ALI.
gator liked better than Negro baby, it
was unknown to the generality of the
human race: and that now as had an
opportunity TO test the assertion made
the offer, and that TO prove it, l pro-
posed to throw her kid over the iron
fence into the tank and see which one
Of The saurians would swallow her kid
first. She spurned my offer, believe
now, but did not then, that four bit
piece would have given one of the ALI.
gators a meal. will say that. to use a
western phrase, saw many slick
things" but the slickest saw was the
cells. Yours,
WM. NJ. PIPKIN.