86 THE MINDS AND MANNERS 



down a flight of stairs, and land it safely upon the stage, 

 without once losing her balance or her control. She was 

 entirely at home on roller skates, and when taken out upon 

 the pavement of Baird Court she would go wildly careering 

 around the large grass plat at high speed. 



All the above acts were acrobatic feats that called for original 

 thought and action, and were such as no dull mind and body 

 could exert. All the training skill in the world could not take 

 a machine and teach it to ride a bicycle through a collection 

 of bottles, and an intelligent ape is a million years from being 

 a "machine in fur and feathers." 



More than once I have been astounded by the performances 

 of apes on the stage. Mr. J. S. Edwards' orang-utan Joe 

 was a very capable animal, and his performances were wonder- 

 ful. He could use a hammer in driving nails, and a screw- 

 driver in inserting and extracting screws, with wonderful 

 dexterity. 



The most remarkable chimpanzee performance that I ever 

 saw was given in a New York theatre in 1909. The star 

 actor was a fine male animal about six years old, called Peter. 

 I made a complete record of his various acts, and the program 

 was as follows 



PERFORMANCE OF PETER, A CHIMPANZEE 



Stage properties: a suit of clothes, shoes, chair, table, bed, 

 bureau, hatrack, candle, cigarette, match, cuspidor, roller 

 skates, bottles, flag, inclined plane and steps; plate, napkin, 

 cup, spoon, teapot. 



As Peter entered, he bowed to the audience, took off his 

 cap and hung it upon a hatrack. He went to the table, seated 

 himself in the chair, unfolded and put on a napkin, and with 

 a string fastened it in place under his chin. With a fork he 

 speared some slices of banana and ate them. Into his 

 tumbler he poured liquid from a bottle, drank, then corked 

 the bottle. 



