The Washington times., 1935-03-29
NOW
Zoo Performs
" For Its Boss
TACT REQUIRED
BY HELEN ESSARY

with Dr, William M. Mann, 1CS
director, and his delightful
wife. Of course, they were the
gayest and kindeSt of hosts.
Nevertheless, one had to be
careful.
One could not remark in the
Asinine way of people who
know nothing about animals:
mercy, what horrible snake"
Or, THAT weird creature must
be a Bar Sinister" Or, "What
q hideous beast that rhinoceros
is"
The horrible snake would be
discovered as a favorite boa
constructor taken from a tree
and tucked in a basket by DR..
Mann somewhere down in the
tropics where boaS 60 grandly
about the place.
The Bar Sinister would be the
only specimen in this country
of the giraffe-gazelle raised
from puppyhood Cor whatever
is the state of gazelle when
young) by Mrs. Mann. And
you-you had been making re-
marks about personal friends
Of your hosts!
AS for the rhinoceros-Dr.
Mann hoped the wall that
separates his cage from average
people and said:
Here, Heinie!"
Heinie padded over to the
bars, wedged his big tusks into
an opening. DR.. Mann reached
q hand through. Patted Heinie.
The huge beast went COM
pletely coy. Crossed his front
feet. Leaned against the bars.
Closed his eyes and practically
purred!
It was that kind of after
noon. Almost the incest we
ever have had. It began with
baked beans and hot dogs at the
lunch room across from the lion
house.
The walls of the lunch room
were decorated with pictures of
reptiles and bears. We talked
about elephants, about the 10
species that flourished when the
earth was younger. Only two
species Of elephants-the Afri-
can and the Indian-remain. BY
computing from the known
duration of a single species, the
scientists Say-~-it'S as clear to
them as A B G to you and me
that the world was millions of
years old before the New Deal
was ever heard of.
We spoke of what happened
a million years ago as if we
were telling about our spell Of
flu Christmas before last. We
regretted, some of us, that the
rattlesnakeS on order, express
collect, had not yet come. Then
we had large pieces of "the best
apple pie in North America"
The tour of the Zoo was per-
sonally conducted by DR.. and
Mrs. Mann. They are the most
refreshing people in Washing
ton. And a cure for whatever
you may think ails you. Mrs.
Mann had to run home for a
few minutes to feed u rickety
baby wildcat, which she is nurS-
ing on vitamins and affection.
We called on the elephants
first. Watched Babe, who for so
years led the herd in Ringling's
Circus, stand and shake her
shoulders. Circus elephants learn
to take their exercise in this
way while they stand picketed
In an animal tent.
In the small animal house,
DR.. Mann stopped to speak to
Cinnamon, a caracul (some'
thing like a cat, with long,
pointed ears and bright eyes,.
Cinnamon lived with DR.. and
Mrs. Mann for a season. Judi
ciously we made the porcupines
bristle. And heard about the
hardest job DR.. Mann ever
tackled-moving II porcupineS
from one cage to another.
The reptile house is at present
the prize building in the Zoo.
(See big jungle spaces decorated
by artist of the PWA; banana
and papaya trees here and
there, grown from seeds planted
by Mrs. Mann)
When DR.. Mann coaxed a
cobra to "spread," the spectacle
of its swelling head and darting
tongue was entertaining-be-
hind heavy plate glass. The
turtles in their tanks looked
like fat men in swimming pools.
The moss on some Of the tur.
ties backs was as thick as the
thatch on an Irish cottage.
The leaf fish gobbled small
tropical fish before our blink
ing eyes. The dragon, descend.
ant no doubt of the mytholog-
ical monster Theseus killed
when he rescued the beautiful
maiden, baSked in a Dutch East
Indian jungle.
All the animals to which we
said chow do" showed off like
prima donnas. The ourang-
outang stopped eating onions
and balanced herself on the
fourth building block without a
tremor. Even the Appropriations
bird said in a clear voice:
''What about that appropria-
tiOn?"
Then we knew why Congress