Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1904-02-25
Stories About Wild Animals.

Every geological garden has stories
of queer incidents in the lives Of its
inhabitants, and these stories are full
of tragedy, comedy, pathos or excite
ment
In San Francisco there is a large
recreation park which is partly made
up of menagerie Some years ago
two orang-outangs were imported and
placed therein. The orang-outang is
Daturally a gentle, tamable animal,
but these two were unusually SO. a
miniature bedroom was fitted uP for
them, containing table, chairs, bed
with mattress, and covers and dishes
from which they ate.
On Sunday Darby and Joan, as the
pair were called, were allowed to
show their housekeeping methods to
the public. One side of their house
was taken out and replaced by wire
screen so that they were fully exposed
Joan was dressed as a woman
should be, and Darby was gorgeously
arrayed in a pair Of short red trousers,
green coat and leather belt. They
would amuse themselves at playing
housekeeping, which they did in an
unusual way by picking their teeth
with the chair legs, pulling the mat
tress off the bed and showing it under
the table, or pushing each other un-
der the bed. They seemed to enjoy
the fun almost as much as the crowd
outside.
Darby had an investigating turn of
mind. No new article introduced IN
to the room ever escaped his eyes.
He would seize upon it, and by re-
peated experiments learn its use.
This habit cost him dearly.
One day small boy tossed match
in between the wires. Darbys eyes
lighted with a new interest, and he
picked up the match, his mouth
screwed up in naive wonder.
First he put it in his mouth-hls
first test of any new article-but 1t
did not taste well. He found its true
use sooner than he expected. Taking
the match from his mouth, Darby
rubbed it on the table, and it fAred
up into fame. 1t fell on Joan. Her
skirts were made of some inhammable
material, and the lighted match set
them aAame.
Had she been cool about it, there
would have been no danger, but Joan
did not understand fire, SO she flew
from side to side of the little room,
while her skirts famed about her
Before the keeper could come to her
rescue she fell on the bed in an hys-
terical heap. She was taken out and
her burns treated with sweet oil, but
the fright and the smoke and the
fame she had inhaled proved fatal.
Next day Darby found himself wild
over.
Friendship is not uncommon among
citizens Of the ZOO, even between the
representatives of different species
In New York Central Park Zoo a big
polar bear and his distant cousin, q
J grizzly, were confined il the same PIT
but it was considered expedient tc
, separate them by a strong partition
OF iron bars. Both were full grown
husky specimens of their breed, anc
had they ever come together with In
tent to kill it is probable that the en-
the force of keepers could not have
separated them.
One day small boy threw a pa
per box containing some sugarec
popcorn into the grizzlys side of the
pit. 1t fell close to the partition, anc
in trying to shove it away with hi
muzzle, the grizzly clumsily pushed
! / it into hole Just under the partition
: bars. The greater part of the hol'
was on the polar bears side of th'
house, and he could easily have push
ed out the box, but he seated himsel
on his launches and watched his neigh
Dor trying to get his big Pa7
down the opening of the hole. |