The Washington herald., 1915-09-27
Animals and Man.
~ JOHN d. BARRY.

Animals and Man.
BY JOHN D. BARRY.
- Whenever l go to circus to geological
garden l find myself, to my amusement,
watching the animals with surprise. In my being
surprised there is no sense And yet l enjoy the
experience. OF late have been inquiring into
the
Some time ago l experienced the sensation
when was looking at group Of elephants. There
they stood, monsters. that they were, slowly and
gracefully lifting their long trunks, and peering at
the world with their shrewd little eyes, strangely
out of proportion to the rest of their bodies When
they walked in procession they swayed rhyth-
micaly. During an interval of rest stood in front
of one. A little boy offered him some peanuts.
With that long trunk he took them one by one
and deposited them in his huge mouth. In the
spirit of mischief, the boy held out peanut and,
just as the end of the trunk was preparing to
close on it, he threw it away The elephant dis
appointed and angry, shot from his trunk shower
of moisture and dirt that completely enveloped the
boy.
Again l had that pleasurable surprise. The
elephant behaving according to the nature Of
elephants that l had read about in my school
days.
In watching lion in his cage | am made to
realize all again that this animal is lion.
See how perfectly he plays his part. AS he lies
there with his forepaws stretched out on the
ground, head raised, the thick mane standing like
a crown, the eyes resolutely gazing througl the
bars he is every inch the king. At an indignity
he rises to his feet and PAGES up and down. Note
hat in u1
ton. the great head perfect in its proportions.
finely adapted to the neck. Watching him is like
following magnificent actor of tragedy. Not
for an instant does he forget to be his character
Then there the monkeys in their high cages
diabocal and ludicrous in their resemblance to
human beings. But human beings they are not
for one instant. They are monkeys, and monkeys
only. They act like monkeys all the time Every
motion is the motion of monkey. Every sound
is monkey chatter. Two of them up in the corner
are getting into squabble. Now they are fight
ing. One bites the other Since | last saw mon
keys, long time ago, all the monkeys of the
world have gone behaving like monkeys.
Consider, too, the snakes. Some OF them are
huge fellows, J. yng the floor of their cages. 4
Jew OF the people watching them make faces Of
disgust. But why should they, Just because
snakes are snakes They fulfilling their des-
tiny, exactly like the other animals. They are as
good actors the monkeys or the lions or the
elephants. They never get out of the part See
how beautiful they are. The big one lying over in
the corner study him minutely In every attribute
he is a snake. And that other little one nearby
see his eyes blazing and his tongue sticking out
He is following his nature, too.
woman beside shvers and says, "Oh"
She would hate to be close to that snake Per-
haps she thinks he would bite her and cause her
death On the other hand, perhaps, through some
sense denied to us, he feels her enmity and re-
spends in kind. Yet he may feel no enmity what
ever
As matter of fact, doesn't science teach us
that snakes have their place in the world like all
creatures? If they not tormcnted by man
they would let alone.
often think of story told me bv Charles
Kellogg, the naturalist On one occasion while
tie was motoring through the country he stopped
at farm house and fell into conversation with the
farmers wife She told him that for months the
place had been overrun with gophers He asked
her II there were any snakes in the neghborhood
"Oh, no." she replied, 1--WE have driven them ali
out We just made up minds that we would
marked: That's why you were bothered with
gophers. Snakes would have eaten them up"
In studying the snakes in their cages I won
der how they feel about lying on their bellies all
the time. Do they mind? And they slip lightly
over the earth, do they wish that instead of walk
ing with their bellies. they supplied with legs
find myself smiling at the absurdity of my ques-
ton Isn't snake snake in every part of his
being? II he could conceive of being anything else
he might not act the part of the snake nearly so
well. His way of living, being natural, must be
easy for him, and right.
After SDendinp LITTLE time ,u,o,p u, ,,;,,,1 1s
catch myself taking the same point of view to-
ward human beings. There they are women and
men, behaving exactly such. Ever since | can
remember they have behaved in the same way No
matter what part of the world I might be in, no
matter what the conditions might be, l should in
stantly know them. not by their appearance alone,
nor through any speech that l might happen to be
familiar WITH but through multitude OF express
sions that l should recognize as human.
They must fulfil their destiny too. They can
no more escape being what they than those
animals. They have to do everything in the way
prescribed by their human nature. Exactly like
animals. they play their part in the drama Of life