The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-10-01

step must be repeated again and again until 1t has become habit.
 For this reason the trainer is care
 ful never to vary in the slightest degree
 the programme which he goes through at each performance, as the least differ
 ence would be apt to confuse his saw age, stupid pupils. If the trainer is in
 the habit of carrying a small whip in
 his hand, and for any reason should
 carry stick instead, there would be
 grave danger of upsetting the whole
 act. Even such a slight change as car rying his whip in the left hanrd instead of the right might have serious effect The animals are accustomed to certain, particular things, which are associated
 in their. minds with their tricks. When
 they do not see just these surroundings
 they do not understand. And anything they do not understand inspires either
 confusion, or fear or rage.
 Lions, tigers and other savage ani-
 mals are not generally ranked as tenn perance advocates, yet it is a fact that trainer who hopes to manage them
 successfully must be a man of good
 habits. This is not entirely because a
 man under the influence of liquor is
 likely to make some careless mistake | which may have a tragic result, al- 1 though that alone would be a sufficient reason for temperance on the part of a ! trainer. But animals seem to recognize the fact that a man is even slightly un- l der the influence of liquor, and when they once perceive it all the awe they
 naturally feel for that mysterious crea- I ture seems to vanish. They will stare at him with wonderment and will re-
 fuse obedience, as if they realized that the being who should be their superior had descended below their level.
 ] Not the least curious part of this
 phenomenon is that they seem to re member such an occurrence with that strange tenacity of memory which aIll- I mals have for anything which has been | strongly impressed upon them. In al most every case where animals have seen their trainer in the least degree in toxicated his influence over them is gone forever. s.
 "The story is told of man who used to attend every performance of a show
 where a trainer placed his head in a lions mouth, When asked why he took
 such an interest in the performance, he
 replied he was certain that some time
 the lion would bite off the mans head and that he wanted to be on hand l when it happened. In a certain degree l he showed an appreciation of wild ami
 nal nature. Sooner of later the lion il question was certain to go bad as 1t is ] called by showmen. The safety of the I trainer lay in the fact that he would I recognize the dawning symptoms oi this change of disposition in time to cut
 out his act as far as that particular
 lion was concerned.
 In tirre almost every trained aninla ] goes bad, and the only thing to do is to withdraw him from the arena and
 keep him behind the bars of a strons l cage. But even before this actua I change of disposition comes there is al.
 ways danger ttat some time the inher. 1 ent savage nature of the animal vii I break through the superficial trainins I implanted by man. The fierceness q l nature, the blind rage, and the instan
 use of claw or tooth are inherited iron thousands of generations of savage an,
 cestors and are. too deeply impalantet I to be eradicated by a few years of train | ". cs..