Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1911-04-26

as-4 dul1udA hluS, WHO uOt
only exhibits wild
animals himself. but also trains them
TO order for other people.
Three weeks after giving this or.
der, Madame Pianka exhibited her
fierce Numidian lion" The audience
shivered as the savage beast dashed
against the bars Of his cage in an at.
tempt to get at man standing Just
out of reach-the husband" whose
WIFE," Madame Pianka, was covering
tn a corner of the lions cage.
The lights went out. and the audi
ence sat breathless until sudden H.
Illumination showed the lion standing
over Madame Pianka's PROSTATE and
apparently lifeless body. but holding
her baby safe in Its mouth. When In
the next scene Madame Pianka,
dressed as the Goddess Of Liberty, sat
with her arm round the erstwhile saw
age beast-now the dignified British
Non-the house went wild with ap-
plause.
During the time between the receipt
Of Madame Pianka's order and her
nrst exhibition with the fully trained
lion. Mr.. Bostock's trainers had a
busy three weeks. First of all the
lion for the act had to be chosen.
Every animal has its peculiar charac-
teristics. and before any attempt at
training Is made these must be known
With rare exceptions all felines are
untrustworthy and more or less
treacherous. They are afraid of man
only as long as he stands erect. The
minute he Is down they will attack
him. For such delicate act as Ma
dame Pianka's, therefore. 1t was neces.
sary to select the steadiest, most do
ctle. and Trustworthy lion that could
be found
Mr.. Bostock had forty lions. Among
these was magnificent animal which
had outlived most of his f1erceness,
and which. by much posing, had be-
come as steady as the stars. This
lion was chosen. The trainers task
was to make this lion simulate rage
without being angry-in the parlance
Of the profession. to make him
bounce; to teach him to stand harm
lessly over PROSTATE human; and to
hold In his mouth whatever was
placed in 1t. Upon the man who was
10 appear as Madame Pianka's "hus-
band" fell the first task. He accom-
plished 1t thus. From outside the
cage he leased the lion until the beast
sprang for him. The minute the lion
Jumped. the trainer threw him piece
Of meat.
1t took the lion only few days to
understand that the appearance of the
trainer was a cue for him to Bounce.
and that the flercer he ragged, the
more certain he was of his piece of
meat. To get the lion to stand over
"a PROSTATE person. the animal was
first put upon high pedestals, while
the trainer walked around and under
him. Gradually the height OF the
pedestals was lowered until the lion
was standing on the floor itself. with
the trainer under him. The third
trick was also easy OF accomplish
ment A lion. like a dog. has a nat
ural tendency to carry things in its
mouth. One of Mr.. Bostock's lions
always worked" with a long-stemmed
rose in Its mouth. Madame Pianka's
Hon was given roll of paper to carry.
and each day the size of this roll was
increased. In time the lion would pa
tiently hold large bundle. The baby
used for the exhibition. needless to
say, was not real.
From fierce lion to tame goose
Is far cry. but 1t is no farther than
the range of skill shown by Mr.. Bos.
tock's trainers. One of these train.
ers used to be Clyde Powers. now q
stage manager at the New York Hip
podrome. Perhaps you may recall the
man who used to make you laugh as
he walked about the Hippodrome
stage accompanied by a goose and a
pig. That man was Mr.. Powers, and
the goose was famous old bird.
Once a woman wanted goose
trained like this goose. "Ill charge
you a dollar an hour for training it,"
said Mr.. Bostock, with q maximum
charge of $780," The woman agreed
to the price, and Mr.. Powers trained
the goose. This is how he did It For
"a hours he let the goose go without
food. The next "a hours he spent
with the bird. trying to gain Its
friendship. The remaining 80 hours
were devoted to training. To teach
the goose to follow him, he dropped
grains of corn as he walked, gradu-
ally lessening the amount dropped.
and in the end giving the bird It's
corn all in a lump after the walk was
over. To teach the goose to run from
point to point. he placed little heaps
Of corn at these points. Similarly
In teaching the goose to pull fire.
engine to a conf1agration and to rush
away with the engine as soon as the
blaze was out, piles Of corn were
placed at intervals. and a blaze was
started at corn heap. The blaze
was timed to last as long as the
corn lasted. After many repetitions
the goose learned to do these tricks