The Paonia newspaper., 1911-04-21

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
out Of reach-the husband" whose
wife" Madame Pianka. was covering
IN a corner OF the lions cage.
The lights went out. and the audi
ence sat breathless until a sudden IL
Illumination showed the lion standing
over Madame Ptanka's prostrate and
apparently lifeless body. but holding
her baby safe in it's 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 dignined 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
hon. Mr.. Boetock's trainers had
busy three weeks. First OF all the
Non for the act had TO be chosen.
Every animal has its peculiar charao-
tsrfstics. 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 a. he stands erect. The
minute he is down they will attack
him. For such n delicate act as Ma
dame P1anka's. therefore. It was neces-
sary to select the steadiest. most do
Gle. and Trustworthy lion that could
be found
Mr.. Bos;ock had forty lions. Among
had outiived most OF his herceness.
and which. by much posing. had be-
come a. steady as the stars. This
lion was chosen. The trainers task
vas 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 a PROSTATE human: and to
hold In his mouth whatever was
placed In II Upon tho man who was
10 appear as Madame Pianka's ''hus-
band" fell the frst task He accom-
plished II thus. From outside the
cage he teased the lion until the beast
sprang for him. The minute the lion
Jumped. the trainer threw him a piece
Of meat
II took the lion only q few days to
understand that the appearance of the
trainer was q cue for him to bounce
and that the nercer he ragged. the
more certain he was OF his piece of
meat To get the lion to stand over
. PROSTATE person. the animal WAS
nrst put upon high psdsstals. while
the trainer walked around and under
him. Gradually the height OF the
pedestais 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 4 nat.
ural tendency to carry things In It's
mouth. One OF Mr.. Bostock's lions
always worked" with a long s-stemmed
rose in Its mouth. Madame Pianka's
lion was given q roll Of paper to carry,
and each day the size Of this roll was
Increased. In time the lion would pa.
tisntly hold 4 large bundle The baby
used for tho exhibition. needless to
say. was not real.
From n fierce Lon to q tame goose
10 far cry. but II is ~ farther than
the range Of skill shown by Mr.. Bos.
tock's trainers. Ono of these train
ers used to be Clyde Powers. now n
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 q goose and a
pig. That man was Mr.. Powers. and
the goose was n famous old bird.
Once a woman wanted goose
trained like this goose. "Ill charge
you n dollar an hour for training IT,"
said Mr.. Bostock, with q maximum
charge Of $50" The woman agreed
TO the price. and Mr.. Powers trained
the goose. This Il how he did II. For
~ hours he let the goose 20 without
food. The next ~ hours he spent
with the bird. trying to gain It's
friendship. Tho remaining 80 hours
were devoted to training. To teach
the goose to follow him. he dropped
grains Of corn ~ he walked. gradu-