River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1903-03-05
A QUEER COLLECTION.
mails Ont of Wood just for the
Fun OF the Thing


"Menagerie Farm near Columbus,
o., looks like scene out of .Alice
in Wonderland" says the New York
Tribune
Hugh +. Jones is the owner and
operator of the farm, and for years he
has been hard at work with jackknlte.s
saw and plane fashioning strange and
wonderful creatures Snakes that
cannot crawl. giraffes that have never
looked behind them, wild boars with
legs they cannot bend and tails they
dare not move, elephants with no taste
for peanuts-such are the animals to
be seen at Menagerie Farm.
Mr.. Jones frankly admits he is re-
sponsible, but has no apologies to
offer. Although he has come within
speaking distance of so years, he keeps
right on whiting, saving and plan
ing, always adding animals TO his
menagerie. When he wants an ele-
phant he does not correspond with his
agents over seas. He hunts up good
thick stick for a body. a shapely root
for a trunk, a smaller one for tail,
small straight sticks for tusks ana
legs. some broad pieces for ears, ana,
going into his studio in the wood
shed, soon turns out an elephant that
cannot be bribed with barrel of pea
nuts. To turn out a good, respectable
looking snake requires little more
research. for roots shaped in snake
fashion are not found every day. But
once in hand Mr.. Jones can turn out
of such a root snake with more real
characteristics than would be sup
posed. Mr.. Jones readily makes wild
boars when he has the material. a
body with no frills about it, coal
scuttle shaped snout, legs like saw
horse, pair of fanlike ears, brace
of wooden tusks and an apology for
a tail and there it is. Giraffes are not
hard either; little more root and pa
thence. and there the beast is, more or
less lifelike.
But Mr.. Jones has not confined him.
self entirely to animals in his so-called
artistic career. Occasionally he carves
a man, and although he cannot be said
to have improved or the original de-
sign he has developed some points that
might be desirable in the real article.
One of his men is 'Oom Paul" mount
ed over the entrance to Menagerie
farm. He is associated with the Amer
lean eagle and a plebeian rooster on
lookout duty at the farm. The gate
is plainly labeled with the distance to
Columbus and Lockbourne, in addition
to other information about the postal
service in that region.
Mr.. Jones gets almost as much fun
out Of his farm as do his visitors.
In shirt sleeves and overalls the old
man welcomes the visitors to Menag-
erie farm and points out the different
animals scattered about over the lawn,
relating the peculiarities and history
of each. He allows the little ones to
ride the wild boar, but draws the line
at letting them climb the neck of the
giraffe. Older persons are allowed to
sit on the baby elephants back and fan
themselves in the shade of the trees.
Mr.. Jones was born on board his ia
theirs ship when about three miles off
Alexandria, Egypt, and he had an adj
venturous youth in the Holy Land.
That may not be responsible for Men
agerie farm, but the stories Mr.. Jones
tells of those days are interesting. 1t
is 40 years since he came to America
and set up his farm in Ohio.