The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1913-04-18

and held for trial the next Sunday.
when punlas's regular coterie of din
ncr guests should be on hand. :
With laughing gravity these men.
who were held great in literature and
art. formed themselves into a court.
with a prosecutor. Judge. jury and
counsel for the defendant. For Il
while. it looked black for Mysonff; he
had heen caught r~ed-pawed. still
Eloating over the bodies of his victims.
And then Nogent Saint Laurent.
sci for the cat. made his plea. But let
Dumas tell the story.
THE skillful advocate. in a long and
eloquent speech. brought clearly he
fore us the innocence Of Mysouff. the
malice of the monkeys. their quick
ness and tncessant activity compared
with the less inventive minds of cats.
He showed us h Mysouff Vas inca
pable of contemplating such a crime:
he described him wrapped in peaceful
sleep: then, suddenly aroused from
his innocent slulher by the abandon
ed creatures. who. living as they did
opposite the aviary had doubtless long
%harbored their diabolical designs. We
saw Mysouff. but half awake. still
.purring innocently. IIe shakes his
famous proposal that Is being made
him: listens: at first he refuses: then.
naturally yielding. hardly moro than
a. kitten. corrupted as he had been by
the cook, who, instead of feeding him
on milk or q little weak broth, had
recklessly excited his c~arnivorous APP
petite by giving him pieces of liver
and parinEs of raw chops: the unfor-
tunate young cat yields little by little.
weakness of mind than by cruelty or
greed. and. only half awake he does
the bidding of the villainous monkeys
the real instigators of the crime"
To this eloquent pleading the Jury
~succumbed: instead of condenning
Missouri to death he was sentenced to
a period of confinement in the mon
key cage. the judge not stopping to
consider that such a. sentence would
be likely to overthrow completely his
already weakened moral character.
We read Of much more of this ex-
.quistte foolery: after another dinner
Some suggested that the monkeys
be given a bottle of charged water to
open. The bottle is placed in their
cage. They gather around it. all cur.
iosity: finally Nine. Desgarctns" be-
gins chewing the wires that bind the
cork in place. She bites the first wire:
and monkeys watch With hreathless
interest as she begins I Enaw on the
fourth wire.
Then there was a loud explosion.
the watching monkeys fled shriekins
to the farthest corners Of the cage. the
cork hit Nine. Desgarcins" on the
nose. and a eeNser Of settler water
drenched her. When Dumas and his
friends recovered from, their laughter,
ment be repeated. Another Of the
crowd insists that the monkeys. warm
ed by their first experience will not
tampcr with a second bottle. And
there arose a discussion as to
whether curiosity or fear is stronger
In the monkey mind. To settle It a
second. hottie is thrust into the monkey
cage and Mime. Dcskarcins." stub
horn n still inquisitive. opens IL,
with h same results.
But Dumas will not let them do it
any more: the monkeys i shall not
battered n more he says. to pro.
vide amusement for his guests. And
I,unas's son. laughing, saws in a loud
stage whisper:
The real reason gentlemen. is no,
that my father Is sorry for the mon
who hates to see his settler water
wasted"
There are a score Of other tales that
Dumas tells about his animals: of the
Algerian vulturA. which be bought for
no conceivable reason. save that It. was
handsome and exceedingly &c.
having already bitten off the thumb Of
an Arab and the tail of a dog. And
such a time he had bringing 1t home. !
with porters afraid To take hold OF the
But finally Diogenes arrived
and took up his abode in a tub
and became So tame that he used to
come out amiably to have Dumas
his head.
The dogs increased in number: l,u.
mas started with two. and he insists
that his favorite. Fritchard. wen out
and brought homo new additions to
the pack. telling them that Dunlas's
an easy place to settle down and
be assured Of plenty to eat. At last
gardener came to him and told
him that the pack was so large that
1t was eating him out OF house and
home. There were thirteen of them. |
he said. But Dumas would not let
him drive them away.
''rhey have come tn regard the place
as home" he said, land IL they went