The daily morning journal and courier., 1901-12-25

| III the boundlesS bayouS and lagO0nS,
 and never tasted ''nigger," he has | few of the traits of the alligator in it's | native state. His countenance has ac- | quired grave cast, like that of grain speculator on the wrong side of the
 market.
 | As Mare grew he was placed in a cemented and inclosed area in the rear
 of the secretary's office, but as the door
 was frequently left open he would get
 lonesome and a yearning to mingle in | the excitement on the trading floor would come to him, and he would
 crawl into the room. Even now, if the
 door is not kept closed, he will wander into the big chamber and appear to be looking at the market quotations on the blackboards. After a while, apparently satisfied with the condition of the mar
 kets, he will go back to his legitimate
 apartment and attempt to turn on the
 water faucet with his tail.
 Marc has reformed as many drunk
 ards as the late Dr. Keeley. It has of-
 ten happened that man who did not
 know of Mares existence would go to
 the board of trade long on liquor and
 short on nerve. While the visitor
 would be making a laudable attempt to
 appear sober and keep his mind on the
 business in hand, Marc would crawl
 into the room and leer at the man
 with the jag" Now, even to a man
 who has never toyed with the wine
 when it is red, Marc would not appear
 exactly as a vision of lovelness. So
 when he ambles up to a man who has
 been mopping up Scotch highballs.
 whiskey punches, gin fizzes and ab- sinthe- -anisettes for week, and is kept awake nights by thoughts of seeing green monkeys, grasshoppers wearing paper collars and pigs with feather duster tails, the effect of Marc Anto- nys sudden appearance is, to say the least, startling.
 Two men went into Mir Smiths office not long ago. One of them was carry ing a package" of which any drinking man might be proud, but his friend was comparatively sober They had no sooner entered the room through the door than Marc crawled jauntily in the other. The man with the variesated jag nearly fell dead. His face blanched | to a deadly pallor his eyes bulged out 1 till they could have been lassoed with rope and grasping his friends arm he managed to gasp out: l
 Shay, ol' fell, les get back to hotel i quick. Knew last night would have i 'em agen. Tha' settles it. I've took | las drink Wow, brute's hunned feet 1 long,"
 As the pair escaped to the street nf ;,- solemnly asseverated, slowly winked.
 Some time ago there was negro DOT ter employed at the building who was very proud of the alligator, and was always anxious to put Marc through his paces for the edification of visitors, those from the north, where alligators are seldom seen. One warm day last summer two men from Boston drifted breezily into the board of trade. The porter saw an opportunity to ex- hibit his pet to an appreciative audi ence, and with all the dignity he could assume ushered the visitors back where Marc was dozing in the sun. After ad hiring the alligator's classic. saurian beauty, one of the men noticed there was no water for him to get into and to the porter:
 q had an impression, you know, that alligators are amphibious.
 ''Amfibulous, said the negro, "w'y, ooss, dat gators as amfibulous as he 1in be. He'd eat a man in minnit."
 Back in the aligator's private apart nents there is a water pipe. When the water is turned on he will lie with ev ny indication of being at peace with all he world. But unless the aperture of he drain pipe is closed the water runs if as rapidly as it falls. Marc learned ong ago that to retain water enough n the gutter to get any sort of satis actory bath this drain pipe must be losed He evidently reasoned the mat CT out and now when the water is urned on he closes the drain pipe with is tail and keeps the water in the gut CT until he has taken his bath. If the ,ater is not turned on when he thinks should be he tries to climb up to the aucet to turn it on.
 He hihernates in the winter, and as - Oon as the northern winds begin to I hill the air he crawls under the build- lg and is seen no more until the balmy ir of the southern spring-tme lures i'm from his retreat While he Is do- lg the hermit act he neither eats nor rip1xe Rut with tha lrary1, 1a1x, dave