The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1923-04-15

! With One of

kept solitary state. Finally made up my
mind that he wanted to be taught just
like the young tigers whom he so much
resembled.
Il asked permission to take him out
and try to train him for lead animal
That's what we call, in circus parlance,
the animal who makes the top piece in
pyramid formations; the animal who
comes in at the head of the possession,
who does his tricks first and who is the
last to leave the ring, as the act is finished.
/ was laughed at, but allowed to try Mid
night out. The first day he followed
docilely, and learned as much in that one
lesson as the other tigers had learned in
three days training. At the end of the
first week that little mystery animal had
mastered all the tricks his brothers, the
taWny tigers, knew. So assigned him
place, at the top of the pyramid, and I
gave him a stool, painted white and blue,
like the others.
Things went we'll Midnight was twice
as smart as any of the others and / was
so proud of him. Then came day, very
shortly before the opening, when Mid
night went into an unexplained fuke. He
wouldn't climb the steps to his stool, at
the top of the pyramid, but he insisted
upon sitting down on the stool between
two of the other tigers. was discouraged
and baffled. The first day | let it go by
md hoped for better things the next day.
Next day came. | cracked my whip
as signal for all to take their places, but
that pervefse little black tiger, Midnight,
as usual went to the stool in third place
and refused to give it up to the tiger to
whom it belonged. / was desperate. But
/ couldn't get him to top the pyramid,
and so at last had to stop trying Then,
when all the tigers had been carried off
for that day, | delayed and tried to study
the problem for myself. And all at once
| knew the answer.
''The stool that was in third place; the
stool that Midnight had so stubbornly in
sisted upon occupying, when he refused
to mount the steps t. his place at the top
of the pyramid, was Midnight's own stool!
| recognized it by certain cravings which
Midnight had put on it. by way of mono
gram. That curious little animal had
reasoned that his place was where the
stool that he had marked was set, and not
at the top of the figure. Accordingly he
stuck to his own stool, no matter how |
urged him.
81 carried his stool to the top and 10
and behold! Midnight climbed with docil-
ity right up and sat on it.
If mankind ever does actually succeed
in devising means whereby elephants,
dogs, horses and other of the higher
animals are able actually to converse with
US, either by signs, symbols or writing,
there will come of course, profound
changes in our attitude toward them.
Man has considered himself as a creation
apart, almost solely because he has
thought that he has a reasoning power
which no other creatures possess. If he
learns conclusively that he shares this
reasoning power with his four-footed
brothers, it must profoundly change his
The usefulness of such means of COM
munication is obvious, since it would not
only greatly increase the stores of human
knowledge, but would enable us to utilize
the peculiar abilities and qualities of the
animals in ways undreamed of at present