Yet he kept tasting a little of the apple from a spoon while the
keeper told us how the sailors who hoped to capture his mother only
succeeded in bringing him off alive after they had killed her. They
had hard work to keep him alive on board ship, but found a warm nook
for him by the galley fire. He was in fair health when they landed, so
they obtained the large price offered by the Zoological Gardens; but
in spite of the most devoted care, he seemed to languish in his new
home.
"Do you love me, Joe?" the man ended his story with. Joe nodded,
smiled, and put his head lovingly on the other's shoulder.
As we left that day, Joe took his hat, cane, and heavy wrap, and
escorted us to the great door of the monkey house, shaking our hands
as we bade him good-bye.
Another time when I called he was taking tea, using milk and sugar
and handling cup and saucer as if he had been familiar with them from
his earliest days. He motioned us to take chairs. We did so and he
jumped up, found cups for us, and then passed a plate of biscuits,
laughing with glee as we took one. I have taken tea with many curious
individuals, but never expect to be so honored again as to be invited
by a chimpanzee.
Noticing his hand was feverish, I found his pulse was 130. I said
"What is the matter of him?"
"Consumption is what kills all of them," the man answered, low, just
as if talking before a human invalid.
From that day Joe failed rapidly, and one morning under the head of
"Great Loss," _The Times_ announced that he died at midnight.
I went down at once to see the keeper whose grief I knew would be keen.
He told me how for days, Joe could only be persuaded to take food by
seeing him eat and hearing him praise it, how he made him sleep in his
berth by his side, and when death came, held his hand through all the
last struggle.
The man's voice was actually choked with sobs as he said, "It don't
seem right, indeed it don't, not to have a funeral for him! He ought
to have had it."
I never heard Joe had any funeral, but I did hear that he was stuffed,
and looks more like a big boy than when he was alive.
MARKET DAY AT PAU.
If you don't know where Pau is, do as I did when I first heard of
it,--look it up on some large map of France.
Down in the southeast corner, at the mouth of the Adour river, you
will see the city from which the bayonet is said to have received its
name; and if you move your finger along about an inch due east from
Bayonne you will be likely to pass it directly under Pau.
It is the capital of one of the finest departments of France, the
Basses-Pyrenees; and its mild, equable climate and charming scenery
have made it, for the last thirty years, a favorite winter resort for
invalids and pleasure-seekers.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account