The Washington times., 1901-12-15

trained the greater portion Of the per-
forming Canaries one sees about the
streets Of London and al country fairs.
The training OF cats has long been =
recognized industry, but it was Mr. LeOni
Clarke. better known by his sobriquet Of
The Cat King" who FIRST organized it as
a paving business on practical lines.
Over two thousand pussies have passed
through Cat College" his training es-
tablishment in Surrey, and the cry is
still they come" II is q profitable busi
ness, too.
The ordinary common or garden feline
very much garden. too. f-eqnont!y-has
usually scarcely any market value what
ever. Whereas pair Of boxing cats"
are worth a ten pound note musical
feline marvel'-onc that can play upon
the flute or piccolo-was sold by him only
the other de- for thrice that sum; while
for his Baldwin pussy" which. it will be
remembered. created q sensation some
years back by ascending in a balloon TO
the roof OF Olympia and descending by
means OF tiny parachute, the sum Of
goo has been offered and refused.
These sums sound large. But then ii
must be remembered that cats are in
fnitely stupid animals. and that months
OF patient training are often necessary in
order to get them to perform an appar-
entity simple trick. Take. for instance.
the now familiar feat OF jumping through
a paper-covprcd hoop For weeks on end
the pupil IS taught 10 jump across a band
of paper. which is increased in size day
by Gay until he has to jump through it.
Teaching reIInes 10 Jump.
The teacher then takes a hoop covered
with paper. shows it TO the cat, and
afterward punches in the middle Of It
hole through which It is made to jump.
Each succeeding day the hole is made
smaller until it reaches the vanishing
point. and the cat makes a hole Of its
own To teach a cat of averapp intelli-
gence to do this trick certainly and salts
factorily takes from five 20 six months.
The jump through the flames is taught on
the same principle, and takes about as
long.
Practically all the horses and ponies
used to impart an air Of realism to Lon
don stage plays. come from a certain
well-knoWn animal training establish
mont near Coyent Garden. The proprie-
tor Of this equine academy is a past mas
ter IN the art Of turning out performing
horses. on one occasion finding as many
as twelve racers for a single Drury Lane
spectacular drama. At Christmas time.
too, he has 10 provide innumerable Shet-
land ponies for drawing Cinderella's 3 coach
IN the various pantOmimes.
AS general rule each animal is trained
for one special part. and for one only
Thus. one horse viii be kept solely for
use in the bullfght scene Of Carmen"
another is a "Mazcppa" animal and so
forth. Occasionally the proprietor sup
plies other trick animals, In addition 10
horses and ponies.
The six white sheep, FOR instance. which
appeared some few years back in white
Heather" at Drury Lane were his, as
was also the donkey which used to cause
such Ioars OF i lighter In Round the
Town" at the Empire Once, too. he had
a very talented pig; bat in an eva hour
he permitted him TO accept pantomime
engagement at Coyent Garden. The prop
erty room there is in the flies" forty
feet above the stage. and Mr. Pig, while
no one was looking. fell out and over on
to the boards below. That night the su-
pers had roast pork for supper.
Carl HngenbeeI's Work.
Carl Hagenbeck. of Hamburg, devotes
almost his entire attention TO the train.
ing OF polar bears. selling all the other
thousands OF animals that pass through
his hands in practically the same state
as he receives them. No polar bear is
allowed to enter college" after II is six
or seven months old, and for preference,
babies of two or three months are select
ed. The pupil Is first placed in large
cage. and left there quite alone for three
days and nights. On the morning of the
fourth day the schoolmaster enters, clad
In Il ssin suit. and carrying ligh, cane.
He is instantly attacked by the animal !