Ju m p i ng Fro gs

u n d i s c ov e r e d, r e d i s c ov e r e d, a n d c e l e b r a t e d w r i t i ng s of m a r k t wa i n

Named after one of Mark Twains best-known and beloved short stories, the Jumping Frogs series of books brings neglected treasures from Mark Twains pen to readers. 1. Is He Dead? A Comedy in Three Acts, by Mark Twain. Edited with Foreword, Afterword, and Notes by Shelley Fisher Fishkin. Text Established by the Mark Twain Project, The Bancroft Library. Illustrations by Barry Moser. 2. Mark Twains Helpful Hints for Good Living: A Handbook for the Damned Human Race, by Mark Twain. Edited by Lin Salamo, Victor Fischer, and Michael B. Frank of the Mark Twain Project, The Bancroft Library. 3. Mark Twains Book of Animals, by Mark Twain. Edited with Introduction, Afterword, and Notes by Shelley Fisher Fishkin. Texts Established by the Mark Twain Project, The Bancroft Library. Illustrations by Barry Moser.

Mark Twains Book of Animals

Edited with Introduction, Afterword, & Notes by Shelley Fisher Fishkin Illustrations by Barry Moser
tex ts established by the mark t wain project, the bancroft libr ary

Un i v e r si t y of C a l i f or n i a P r e s s
B e r k e l e y L o s A ng e l e s L on d on

Mark Twains Book of Animals

Illustrations by Barry Moser

Con t e n t s

List of Illustrations Introduction

ix 1
Part One: 1850s and 1860s

Bugs! Cruelty to Animals I Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog Fitz Smythes Horse Cruelty to Animals II The Pilgrim The Dogs of Constantinople Syrian Camels I The Remarkable Jericho Pilgrims on Horseback Arabs and Their Steeds

37 38 38 44 45 48 48 51 53 54 55

Part Two: 1870s and 1880s The Cayote, Allegory of Want With a Flash and a Whiz Syrian Camels II The Genuine Mexican Plug The Retired Milk Horse An Invention to Make Flies Curse Peter and the Pain-Killer The Pinch-bug and the Poodle Bugs and Birds and Tom in the Morning A Cat-Tale The Presumptuous Ravens Birds with a Sense of Humor v

59 61 62 63 67 69 70 73 74 76 84 86

v i Con t e n t s
The Idiotic Ant Cock-fight in New Orleans The Bricksville Loafers A Prescription for Universal Peace

90 93 94 95

Part Three: 1890s 1910

Letters from a Dog to Another Dog Explaining and Accounting for Man The Phenomenal Flea Huck Kills a Bird The Bird with the Best Grammar Ants and the True Religion The Sailors and the St. Bernard Mans Place in the Animal World The Marvelous Moa The Inimitable Ornithorhynchus The Laughing Jackass of Adelaide The Phosphorescent Sea-Serpent The Independent-Minded Magpie The Bird of Birds The Deadliest Song Known to Ornithology The Pious Chameleon A Pocketful of Bat Hunting the Deceitful Turkey Letter to the London Anti-Vivisection Society The Victims Extracts from Adams Diary, Translated from the Original MS Autobiography of Eve Rosa and the Crows Assassin The Jungle Discusses Man The Bee Was the World made for Man? A Dogs Tale Flies and Russians Eves Diary. Translated from the Original

99 107 108 109 109 110 117 125 125 129 129 130 131 133 134 135 136 139 141 144 149 154 154 155 158 161 165 174 177

Con t e n t s v i i The Supremacy of the House Fly Mrs. Clemens Corners the Market in Flies The Edisons of the Animal World A Horses Tale Man and the Other Animals The President Hunts a Cow The Time I Got an Elephant for Christmas Little Bessie Would Assist Providence Letters from the Earth Afterword Note on the Texts Notes Acknowledgments Index

181 186 187 195 229 231 235 238 241 257 281 291 315 317

I l lus t r at ions

Apart from the two original drawings of cats by Mark Twain in A Cat-Tale, all of the following wood engravings were created by Barry Moser for this book.

Beetle Frog (Danl Webster) Dogs Camel Coyote Milk-wagon horse Manx cat (Catasauqua) Musical cats, by Mark Twain Cat of two passions, by Mark Twain Raven Dog (Newfoundland Smith) Flea St. Bernard Monkey Platypus Chameleon Turkey Spider Cow Marabou stork with jungle council Mother dog (Aileen Mavourneen) and puppy Dodo House fly Hen Cavalry horse (Soldier Boy) Mexican plug Cavalry dog (Shekels) Bull

36 43 49 52 58 68 77 79 81 85 98 108 112 120 126 134 137 142 150 156 169 179 182 192 196 208 212 222

i x

x I l lus t r a t ions
Alligator Tiger Intestinal microbe

233 243 250

Part One: 1850s and 1860s

Bugs!

Bugs! Yes, B-U-G-S! What of the bugs? Why, perdition take the bugs! That is
all. Night before last I stood at the little press until nearly 2 oclock, and the flaring gas light over my head attracted all the varieties of bugs which are to be found in natural history, and they all had the same praiseworthy recklessness about flying into the fire. They at first came in little social crowds of a dozen or so, but soon increased in numbers, until a religious mass meeting of several millions was assembled on the board before me, presided over by a venerable beetle, who occupied the most prominent lock of my hair as his chair of state, while innumerable lesser dignitaries of the same tribe were clustered around him, keeping order, and at the same time endeavoring to attract the attention of the vast assemblage to their own importance by industriously grating their teeth. It must have been an interesting occasion

perhaps a great bug jubilee commemorating the triumph of the locusts over Pharaohs crops in Egypt many centuries ago. At least, good seats, commanding an unobstructed view of the scene, were in great demand; and I have no doubt small fortunes were made by certain delegates from Yankee land by disposing of comfortable places on my shoulders at round premiums. In fact, the advantages which my altitude afforded were so well appreciated that I soon began to look like one of those big cards in the museum covered with insects impaled on pins. The big president beetle (who, when he frowned, closely resembled Isbell when the pupils are out of time) rose and ducked his head and, crossing his arms over his shoulders, stroked them down to the tip of his nose several times, and after thus disposing of the perspiration, stuck his hands under his wings, propped his back against a lock of hair, and then, bobbing his head at the congregation, remarked, B-u-z-z! To which the congregation devoutly responded, B-u-z-z! Satisfied with this promptness on the part of his flock, he took a more imposing perpendicular against another lock of hair and, lifting his hands to command silence, gave another melodious b-u-z-z! on a louder key (which I suppose to have been the key-note) and after a moments silence the whole congregation burst into a grand anthem, three dignified daddy longlegs, perched near the gas burner, beating quadruple time during the performance. Soon two of the parts in the great chorus maintained silence, while a treble and alto duet, sung by forty-seven thousand mosquitoes and twenty-three thousand house flies, came in, and then, after another chorus, a tenor and bass duet by thirty-two thousand locusts and ninety37

3 8 M a r k Twa i n s B o ok of A n i m a l s seven thousand pinch bugs was sungthen another grand chorus, Let Every

Bug Rejoice and Sing (we used to sing heart instead of bug), terminated the performance, during which eleven treble singers split their throats from head to heels, and the patriotic daddies who beat time hadnt a stump of a leg left. It would take a ream of paper to give all the ceremonies of this great mass meeting[....] b

Cruelty to Animals I

Probably there is no law against it. A large truck wagon, with a load on it
nearly as heavy as an ordinary church, came to a stand-still on the slippery cobble stones in front of the Russ House, yesterday, simply because the solitary horse attached to it found himself unable to keep up his regular gait with it. A street car and other vehicles were delayed some time by the blockade. It was natural to expect that a streak of lightning would come after the driver out of the cloudless sky, but it did not. It is likely Providence wasnt noticing. b

Jim Smiley and His Jumping Frog

Mr. A. Ward,
Dear Sir:Well, I called on good-natured, garrulous old Simon Wheeler, and

inquired after your friend, Leonidas W. Smiley, as you requested me to do, and I hereunto append the result. If you can get any information out of it you are cordially welcome to it. I have a lurking suspicion that your Leonidas W. Smiley is a myththat you never knew such a personage, and that you only

conjectured that if I asked old Wheeler about him it would remind him of his infamous Jim Smiley, and he would go to work and bore me nearly to death with some infernal reminiscence of him as long and tedious as it should be

Pa r t O n e 39 useless to me. If that was your design, Mr. Ward, it will gratify you to know that it succeeded. I found Simon Wheeler dozing comfortably by the bar-room stove of the little old dilapidated tavern in the ancient mining camp of Boomerang, and I noticed that he was fat and bald-headed, and had an expression of winning gentleness and simplicity upon his tranquil countenance. He roused up and gave me good-day. I told him a friend of mine had commissioned me to make some inquiries about a cherished companion of his boyhood named Leonidas W. SmileyRev. Leonidas W. Smileya young minister of the gospel, who

he had heard was at one time a resident of this village of Boomerang. I added that if Mr. Wheeler could tell me anything about this Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley, I would feel under many obligations to him. Simon Wheeler backed me into a corner and blockaded me there with his chairand then sat down and reeled off the monotonous narrative which fol

lows this paragraph. He never smiled, he never frowned, he never changed his voice from the quiet, gently-flowing key to which he tuned the initial sentence, he never betrayed the slightest suspicion of enthusiasmbut all

through the interminable narrative there ran a vein of impressive earnestness and sincerity, which showed me plainly that so far from his imagining that there was anything ridiculous or funny about his story, he regarded it as a really important matter, and admired its two heroes as men of transcendent genius in finesse. To me, the spectacle of a man drifting serenely along through such a queer yarn without ever smiling was exquisitely absurd. As I said before, I asked him to tell me what he knew of Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley, and he replied as follows. I let him go on in his own way, and never interrupted him once: There was a feller here once by the name of Jim Smiley, in the winter of 49

or maybe it was the spring of 50I dont recollect exactly, some how, though

what makes me think it was one or the other is because I remember the big flume wasnt finished when he first come to the camp; but anyway, he was the curiosest man about always betting on anything that turned up you ever see, if he could get anybody to bet on the other side, and if he couldnt hed change sidesany way that suited the other man would suit himany way just sos he

got a bet, he was satisfied. But still, he was luckyuncommon lucky; he most

always come out winner. He was always ready and laying for a chance; there couldnt be no solitry thing mentioned but what that fellerd offer to bet on itand take any side you please, as I was just telling you: if there was a horse

4 0 M a r k Twa i n s B o ok of A n i m a l s race, youd find him flush or you find him busted at the end of it; if there was a dog-fight, hed bet on it; if there was a cat-fight, hed bet on it; if there was a chicken-fight, hed bet on it; why if there was two birds setting on a fence, he would bet you which one would fly firstor if there was a camp-meeting

he would be there reglar to bet on parson Walker, which he judged to be the best exhorter about here, and so he was, too, and a good man; if he even see a straddle-bug start to go any wheres, he would bet you how long it would take him to get wherever he was going to, and if you took him up he would foller that straddle-bug to Mexico but what he would find out where he was bound for and how long he was on the road. Lots of the boys here has seen that Smiley and can tell you about him. Why, it never made no difference to himhe would bet on anythingthe dangdest feller. Parson Walkers wife laid

very sick, once, for a good while, and it seemed as if they warnt going to save her; but one morning he come in and Smiley asked him how she was, and he said she was considerable betterthank the Lord for his infnit mercyand

coming on so smart that with the blessing of Providence shed get well yet

and Smiley, before he thought, says, Well, Ill resk two-and-a-half that she dont, anyway. Thish-yer Smiley had a marethe boys called her the fifteen-minute nag,

but that was only in fun, you know, because, of course, she was faster than thatand he used to win money on that horse, for all she was so slow and

always had the asthma, or the distemper, or the consumption, or something of that kind. They used to give her two or three hundred yards start, and then pass her under way; but always at the fag-end of the race shed get excited and desperate-like, and come cavorting and spraddling up, and scattering her legs around limber, sometimes in the air, and sometimes out to one side amongst the fences, and kicking up m-o-r-e dust, and raising m-o-r-e racket with her coughing and sneezing and blowing her noseand always fetch up at the

stand just about a neck ahead, as near as you could cipher it down. And he had a little small bull-pup, that to look at him youd think he warnt worth a cent, but to set around and look ornery, and lay for a chance to steal something. But as soon as money was up on him he was a different doghis

under-jawd begin to stick out like the forcastle of a steamboat, and his teeth would uncover, and shine savage like the furnaces. And a dog might tackle him, and bully-rag him, and bite him, and throw him over his shoulder two or three times, and Andrew Jacksonwhich was the name of the pupAndrew

Jackson would never let on but what he was satisfied, and hadnt expected nothing elseand the bets being doubled and doubled on the other side all

the time, till the money was all upand then all of a sudden he would grab

Pa r t O n e 4 1 that other dog just by the joint of his hind legs and freeze to itnot chaw, you

understand, but only just grip and hang on till they throwed up the sponge, if it was a year. Smiley always came out winner on that pup till he harnessed a dog once that didnt have no hind legs because theyd been sawed off in a circular saw, and when the thing had gone along far enough, and the money was all up, and he came to make a snatch for his pet holt, he saw in a minute how hed been imposed on, and how the other dog had him in the door, so to speak, and he peared surprised, and then he looked sorter discouraged like, and didnt try no more to win the fight, and so he got shucked out bad. He gave Smiley a look as much as to say his heart was broke, and it was his fault, for putting up a dog that hadnt no hind legs for him to take holt of, which was his main dependence in a fight, and then he limped off a piece, and laid down and died. It was a good pup, was that Andrew Jackson, and would have made a name for hisself if hed lived, for the stuff was in him, and he had geniusI know it, because he hadnt had no opportunities to speak of, and it

dont stand to reason that a dog could make such a fight as he could under them circumstances, if he hadnt no talent. It always makes me feel sorry when I think of that last fight of hison, and the way it turned out. Well, thish-yer Smiley had rat-tarriers and chicken cocks, and tom-cats, and all of them kind of things, till you couldnt rest, and you couldnt fetch nothing for him to bet on but hed match you. He ketched a frog one day and took him home and said he callated to educate him; and so he never done nothing for three months but set in his back yard and learn that frog to jump. And you bet you he did learn him, too. Hed give him a little hunch behind, and the next minute youd see that frog whirling in the air like a doughnutsee

him turn one summerset, or maybe a couple, if he got a good start, and come down flat-footed and all right, like a cat. He got him up so in the matter of ketching flies, and kept him in practice so constant, that hed nail a fly every time as far as he could see him. Smiley said all a frog wanted was education, and he could do most anythingand I believe him. Why, Ive seen him set

Danl Webster down here on this floorDanl Webster was the name of the

frogand sing out, Flies! Danl, flies, and quickern you could wink, hed

spring straight up, and snake a fly offn the counter there, and flop down on the floor again as solid as a gob of mud, and fall to scratching the side of his head with his hind foot as indifferent as if he hadnt no idea hed done any moren any frog might do. You never see a frog so modest and straightforard as he was, for all he was so gifted. And when it come to fair-and-square jumping on a dead level, he could get over more ground at one straddle than any animal of his breed you ever see. Jumping on a dead level was his strong suit,

4 2 M a r k Twa i n s B o ok of A n i m a l s you understand, and when it come to that, Smiley would ante up money on him as long as he had a red. Smiley was monstrous proud of his frog, and well he might be, for fellers that had travelled and ben everywheres all said he laid over any frog that ever they see. Well, Smiley kept the beast in a little lattice box, and he used to fetch him down town sometimes and lay for a bet. One day a fellera stranger in the

camp, he wascome across him with his box, and says:

What might it be that youve got in the box? And Smiley says, sorter indifferent like, It might be a parrot, or it might be a canary, maybe, but it aintits only just a frog.

And the feller took it, and looked at it careful, and turned it round this way and that, and says, Hmso tis. Well, whats he good for?

Well, Smiley says, easy and careless, Hes good enough for one thing I should judgehe can out-jump ary frog in Calaveras county.

The feller took the box again, and took another long, particular look, and give it back to Smiley and says, very deliberate, WellI dont see no points

about that frog thats any bettern any other frog. Maybe you dont, Smiley says. Maybe you understand frogs, and maybe you dont understand em; maybe youve had experience, and maybe you aint only a amature, as it were. Anyways, Ive got my opinion, and Ill resk forty dollars that he can outjump ary frog in Calaveras county. And the feller studied a minute, and then says, kinder sad, like, WellIm

only a stranger here, and I aint got no frogbut if I had a frog Id bet you.

And then Smiley says, Thats all rightthats all rightif youll hold my box

a minute Ill go and get you a frog; and so the feller took the box, and put up his forty dollars along with Smileys, and set down to wait. So he set there a good while thinking and thinking to hisself, and then he got the frog out and prized his mouth open and took a teaspoon and filled him full of quail-shotfilled him pretty near up to his chinand set him on

the floor. Smiley he went to the swamp and slopped around in the mud for a long time, and finally he ketched a frog and fetched him in and give him to this feller and says: Now if youre ready, set him alongside of Danl, with his fore-paws just even with Danls, and Ill give the word. Then he says, onetwothree

jump! and him and the feller touched up the frogs from behind, and the new frog hopped off lively, but Danl give a heave, and hysted up his shoulders

solike a Frenchman, but it wasnt no usehe couldnt budge; he was planted

as solid as a anvil, and he couldnt no more stir than if he was anchored out.

Pa r t O n e 43

Smiley was a good deal surprised, and he was disgusted too, but he didnt have no idea what the matter was, of course. The feller took the money and started away; and when he was going out at the door he sorter jerked his thumb over his shoulderthis wayat Danl, and

says again, very deliberate, WellI dont see no points about that frog thats

any bettern any other frog. Smiley he stood scratching his head and looking down at Danl a long time, and at last he says, I do wonder what in the nation that frog throwed off forI wonder if there aint something the matter with himhe pears to look

mighty baggy, somehowand he ketched Danl by the nap of the neck, and

lifted him up and says, Why blame my cats if he dont weigh five pound

and turned him upside down, and he belched out about a double-handful of shot. And then he see how it was, and he was the maddest manhe set the

frog down and took out after that feller, but he never ketched him. And

[Here Simon Wheeler heard his name called from the front-yard, and got up to go and see what was wanted.] And turning to me as he moved away, he said: Just sit where you are, stranger, and rest easyI aint going to be gone

a second. But by your leave, I did not think that a continuation of the history of the enterprising vagabond Jim Smiley would be likely to afford me much information concerning the Rev. Leonidas W. Smiley, and so I started away.

4 4 M a r k Twa i n s B o ok of A n i m a l s At the door I met the sociable Wheeler returning, and he buttonholed me and recommenced: Well, thish-yer Smiley had a yaller one-eyed cow that didnt have no tail only just a short stump like a bannanner, and

O, curse Smiley and his afflicted cow! I muttered, good-naturedly, and bidding the old gentleman good-day, I departed.

Yours, truly, Mark Twain. b

Fitz Smythes Horse

Yesterday, as I was coming along through a back alley, I glanced over

a fence, and there was Fitz Smythes horse. I can easily understand, now, why that horse always looks so dejected and indifferent to the things of this world. They feed him on old newspapers. I had often seen Smythe carrying dead loads of old exchanges up town, but I never suspected that they were to be put to such a use as this. A boy came up while I stood there, and said, That hoss belongs to Mr. Fitz Smythe, and the old manthats my father, you

knowthe old mans going to kill him.

Who, Fitz Smythe? No, the hossbecause he et up a litter of pups that the old man wouldnt a

taken forty dol

Who, Fitz Smythe? No, the hossand he eats fences and everythingtook our gate off and car

ried it home and et up every dam splinter of it; you wait till he gets done with them old Altas and Bulletins hes a chawin on now, and youll see him branch out and tackle a-n-y-thing he can shet his mouth on. Why, he nipped a little boy, Sunday, which was going home from Sunday school; well, the boy got loose, you know, but that old hoss got his bible and some tracts, and thems as good a thing as he wants, being so used to papers, you see. You put anything to eat anywheres, and that old hossll shin out and get itand hell eat

anything he can bite, and he dont care a dam. Hed climb a tree, he would, if you was to put anything up there for himcats, for instancehe likes cats

hes et up every cat there was here in four blockshell take more chances

Pa r t O n e 45 why, hell bust in anywheres for one of them fellers; I see him snake a old tom cat out of that there flower-pot over yonder, where she was a sunning of herself, and take her down, and she a hanging on and a grabbling for a holt on something, and you could hear her yowl and kick up and tear around after she was inside of him. You see Mr. Fitz Smythe dont give him nothing to eat but them old newspapers and sometimes a basket of shavings, and so you know, hes got to prospect or starve, and a hoss aint going to starve, it aint likely, on account of not wanting to be rough on cats and sich things. Not that hoss, anyway, you bet you. Because he dont care a dam. You turn him loose once on this town, and dont you know hed eat up m-o-r-e goods-boxes, and fences, and clothing-store things, and animals, and all them kind of valuables? Oh, you bet he would. Because thats his style, you know, and he dont care a dam. But you ought to see Mr. Fitz Smythe ride him around, prospecting for them itemsyou ought to see him with his soldier coat on, and his

mustashers sticking out strong like a cat-fishs horns, and them long laigs of hisn standing out so, like them two prongs they prop up a step-ladder with, and a jolting down street at four mile a weekoh, what a guy!sets up stiff

like a close pin, you know, and thinks he looks like old General Macdowl. But the old mans a going to hornisswoggle that hoss on account of his goblin up them pups. Oh, you bet your life the old mans down on him. Yes, sir, coming! and the entertaining boy departed to see what the old man was calling him for. But I am glad that I met the boy, and I am glad I saw the horse taking his literary breakfast, because I know now why the animal looks so discouraged when I see Fitz Smythe rambling down Montgomery street on himhe has

altogether too rough a time getting a living to be cheerful and frivolous or anyways frisky.

Cruelty to Animals II

One of the most praiseworthy institutions in New York, and one which
must plead eloquently for it when its wickedness shall call down the anger of the gods, is the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Its office is located on the corner of Twelfth street and Broadway, and its affairs are conducted by humane men who take a genuine interest in their work, and who

4 6 M a r k Twa i n s B o ok of A n i m a l s have got worldly wealth enough to make it unnecessary for them to busy themselves about anything else. They have already put a potent check upon the brutality of draymen and others to their horses, and in future will draw a still tighter rein upon such abuses, a late law of the Legislature having quadrupled their powers, and distinctly marked and specified them. You seldom see a horse beaten or otherwise cruelly used in New York now, so much has the society made itself feared and respected. Its members promptly secure the arrest of guilty parties and relentlessly prosecute them. The new law gives the Society power to designate an adequate number of agents in every county, and these are appointed by the Sheriff, but work independently of all other branches of the civil organization. They can make arrests of guilty persons on the spot, without calling upon the regular police, and what is better, they can compel a man to stop abusing his horse, his dog, or any other animal, at a moments warning. The object of the Society, as its name implies, is to prevent cruelty to animals, rather than punish men for being guilty of it. They are going to put up hydrants and water tanks at convenient distances all over the city, for drinking places for men, horses and dogs. Mr. Bergh, the President of the Society, is a sort of enthusiast on the subject of cruelty to animalsor perhaps it would do him better justice to say he is

full of honest earnestness upon the subject. Nothing that concerns the happiness of a brute is a trifling matter with himno brute of whatever position or

standing, however plebeian or insignificant, is beneath the range of his merciful interest. I have in my mind an example of his kindly solicitude for his dumb and helpless friends. He went to see the dramatic version of Griffith Gaunt at Wallacks Theatre. The next morning he entered the managers office and the following conversation took place: Mr. BerghAre you the manager of this theatre?

ManagerI am, sir. What can I do for you?

Mr. B.I am President of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Ani

mals, and I have come to remonstrate against your treatment of that pig in the last act of the play last night. It is cruel and wrong, and I beg that you will leave the pig out in future. That is impossible! The pig is necessary to the play. But it is cruel, and you could alter the play in some way so as to leave the pig out. It cannot possibly be done, and besides I do not see anything wrong about it at all. What is it you complain of? Why, it is plain enough. They punch the pig with sticks, and chase him

Pa r t O n e 47 and harass him, and contrive all manner of means to make him unhappy. The poor thing runs about in its distress, and tries to escape, but is met at every turn by its tormentors and its hopes blighted. The pig does not understand it. If the pig understood it, it might be well enough, but the pig does not know it is a play, but takes it all as reality, and is frightened and bewildered by the crowd of people and the glare of the lights, and yet no time is given it for reflectionno time is given it to arrive at a just appreciation of its cir

cumstancesbut its persecutors constantly assail it and keep its mind in such

a chaotic state that it can form no opinion upon any point in the case. And besides, the pig is cast in the play without its consent, is forced to conduct itself in a manner which cannot but be humiliating to it, and leaves that stage every night with a conviction that it would rather die than take a character in a theatrical performance again. Pigs are not fitted for the stage; they have no dramatic talent; all their inclinations are toward a retired and unostentatious career in the humblest walks of life, and

ManagerSay no more, sir. The pig is yours. I meant to have educated him

for tragedy and made him a blessing to mankind and an ornament to his species, but I am convinced, now, that I ought not to do this in the face of his marked opposition to the stage, and so I present him to you, who will treat him well, I am amply satisfied. I am the more willing to part with him, since the play he performs in was taken off the stage last night, and I could not conveniently arrange a part for him in the one we shall run for the next three weeks, which is Richard III. Mr. Bergh does everything in the behest of the Society with the very best of intentions and the most honest motives. He makes mistakes, sometimes, like all other men. He complained against a Jewish butcher, and required his arrest, for cutting the throat of an ox instead of knocking it on the head; said he was cruelly slow about terminating the animals life. Of course, people smiled, because the religious law which compels Jewish butchers to slaughter with a consecrated knife is as old as the Pyramids of Egypt, and Mr. Bergh would have to overthrow the Pentateuch itself to accomplish his point.