Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1909-04-29
An Ape Thar Has Made Good

ready for the night. He blows out
the CANDLE then it is time to get
up again. He gets up, goes through
few physical exercises, dresses,
and rides off the stage on a tricycle.,
| himself leading the applause by
| clapping his hands as he rides out.
In private life, Consul is no less
social activities and reinements Of
civ IizatiOn. 1t might be thought by
those unfamiliar with his career that
his public perfoI nance was a tour
de force which he had been trained
by the most strenuous and patient
efforc on the part of his keeper. But
/ see the ape in private and he is the
same succession of wonders, to the
/ ordinary beholder He writes his own
! anne: he needs about a minute for
the job, but he writes each letter
with great care and invariably in the
same way. Thus the 90 he always
shapes like a boys kite This liter
airy accomplishment has been utilized
by the apes manager in business
matters. and checks signed by Con
sur regularly go to a London bank.
where his deposit is kept, and they
are promptly honored by the bank
officials.
The ape also uses a typewriter to
some extent, that is, he can operate
the machine perfectly, but he fills
the page with a hodge-podge Of let
ters signing his name cor ectly,
however, at the bottom of every page.
This shows that he has learned the
six KEYS that maks his own sigma
ture and suggests that further prog
ress in tipping depends simply upon
his future development in the intel
Iigent use of human language. Con
sui can use a sewing machine prop
erIy: he can thread his needle and
he actually mends his underclothing
Of course. he dresses himself. al
ways Steps in a bed like q civilized
man and takes a tub bath every
morning. he drinks coffee for break
fast. cIaret for lunch, with perhaps
Il
takes a little whisky before going
to bed. Consul began smoking Gig
arets at two years of age. and he
now smokes y a day-being at the
age of seven years and still growing,
with his second teeth cutting through
For pets he has a fox terrier and
Get. which he treats beautifully, be
ing a gOod-tempered ape. But be
tOlerates children only when the
grown-ups ignore them, at this point
showing a rather jealous disposition
This is all exceedingly interesting
but more interesting still is the way
the chimpanzee acquired his educa-
ton. He has never been trained
in the way lower animals usually
are. His tricks have not been forced
Rpon him by whip and spur. On the
contrary. Consul is what he is today
because he has lived with civilized
human beings since he was nine
months old sharing from infancy, so
to speak like any child, Consul has
grown ND unconsciously initiating
those around him He has known
no other life than that of the men
he has lived with. and thus he has
copied their habits and absorbed hui
man culture TO the very limit OF his
brain capacity. The process this ape
has gone through, it is easy to see.
has a scientific basis. 1t is illustTat-
ed constantly in the rearing OF chill
dren; it may be observed in the de-
velopment OF backward races when
brought into contact with races more
advanced in civilization. Probably
any chimpanzee in the African jun
gle could have equaled ConsuIs rec
ord if he had had Consul's early
educational advantages Of daily as
sociation with verp superior spe-
cies: and Kipling's story of Mowgli
the jungle child, illustrates, in mea-