The Savannah morning news., 1903-05-03
BY GUY T. VlSKNISKKI.
Copyright, 1903, by Guy T. Viskniskki.

'How did I happen to take up the
study of animals?' A reminiscent
twinkle came into the eyes of Dan
Beard, the famous animal artist.
How did I? Why, 1 didn't. 1t just
grew up with me: my first recollec-
tons are of animals and of drawing
them"
Mr.. Beard paused for moment.
YES" he continued, nearly all
that 1 can recall of my childhood days
concerns my boyish love for the ami
mails and insects of our neighborhood,
and 1 knew about them before l had
learned my alphabet. ..'1
1T seemed to come naturally to me
to study an insect or an animal, a
great deal more so than it did to say
"A, B, c. and '2x2 is L.. 1 even went
so far as to call them by names all
my own, because no one, my mother
included, who encouraged me in my
boyish passion, could always tell me
their correct names. What the names
were 1 have forgotten except that
l often called my pets after cattle or
the race horses Of that day. You see,
l spent my boyhood in Cincinnati and
in CoVington, KY, so l was in
the center of the horse racing coun-
try.
Hacing Grapevine Beetles.
lone of my earliest recollections is
that at the age of had discovered
the grub in it's various stages of de-
velopment into the beetle. When 1 told
my parents what l had found, they
laughed; they couldn't believe that
beetles were the result of such evolu
ton. But 1 knew, for L had hatched
them.
Il had a lot of fun with my grape
vine beetles. I made little carriages
of paper and slivers of wood and
hitched the beetles to them and raced
them for all they were worth for
hours at time. Fact is, 1 guess 1
raced nearly every pet 1 owned.
And they were many. l had crows,
wild pigeons, fish of various kinds,
foxes, squirrels, 'coons, bull frogs,
snakes, robins, cat birds, chipmunks,
rabbits, owls and what not. Oh, yes,
fve-legged fellow among them.
Il charged five pins to view the
freak in my circus, and, as a result my
family never had to look out for pin
money. l flooded them with pins as
long as 1 possessed that toad.
Two Tricky Foxes.
Get in trouble with my menagerie?
Well, l guess 1 did, but not with my
mother. She didn't seem to care how
much | stocked the house and the
back yard with all sorts of creeping,
crawling and walking things. But my
neighbors weren't always so indulgent.
1 distinctly remember how they got
after me about my two foxes, Faust
and Marguerite.
Il kept them in a box somewhat
sunken in the ground with the earth
slanting up from the door. A peg
was driven in the center of the box
and to this 1 fastened the chain which
held Faust and Marguerite. Therefore,
lima CINE my indignation when a neigh
Dor came to me and accused my foxes
of stealing his missing chickens.
'Taint So, 1 declared, they're
chained and to back up my words
Faust and Marguerite came out of the
kennel as far as the chain would let
them and then went back again.
g There, 1 said, triumphantly, can't
| you see they're chained?
THE man went away half convinced,
and 1 thought no more of the matter
until the next day when he and an
other neighbor hunted me up and
again accused my foxes of stealing
chickens.
a. 'Taint So I said, they're chain
ed and Faust and Marguerite showed
the gentlemen that l spoke the truth.
| We'll, they couldn't say anything
and early the following days one of
the men showed up again.
Say he said, your foxes are
stealing my chickens.
% 'Taint 80, l said. they're chain
ed
Then, as 1 spied Faust lying just
outside mis- house. 1 said to him:
Have you been stealing chickens,
sir?'
"Once before had asked him that
| question. and he had got up and walk
| ed around and showed that he was
| chained. But this time he didn't
move; instead. he had a sly look in
his eye that made me think.
After I had got the man away,
went quietly to Faust and showed him
to one side; and then / found out why
he hadn't moved-he was hiding a big
chicken feather under him.
IF somebody had picked up that
feather and aimed II at me. he could
have sent me sprawling with II. How,
| in the name OF goodness, asked my