96 THE MINDS AND MANNERS 



expected of him, even though I always petted him and gave 

 him grapes (of which he was especially fond), but I think at 

 first he imagined that this treatment was a punishment. At 

 first, without other reasons, he would roll on the floor and 

 shriek, but directly he understood what was expected of him he 

 soon learned, and began to behave excellently. 



"This training occupied quite six weeks. About February, 

 191 9, we took him out of his cage, and allowed him the freedom 

 of the house. Thereafter he would run upstairs to the bath- 

 room of his own accord, turning the doorknob of whatever 

 room he was in, and also opening the door of the bathroom. . . . 

 He would g^t out of bed in the night by himself, go back to bed, 

 and pull the blankets over himself quite neatly. 



Food. "John's appetite seemed to tire of foods very 

 quickly. The only thing he stuck to was milk, which he liked 

 best when warmed. We began by giving him a quart a day, 

 rising to three and one-half quarts a day. I found that he 

 preferred to choose his own food, so I used to prepare for him 

 several kinds, such as bananas, oranges, apples, grapes, raisins, 

 currants, dates and any small fruits in season, such as rasp- 

 berries or strawberries, all of which he liked to have warmed! 



"These displays I placed on a high shelf in the kitchen, 

 where he could get them with difficulty. I think that he 

 thought himself very clever when he stole anything. He never 

 would eat anything stale. He was extremely fond of fresh 

 lemon jelly, but he never would touch it after the second day. 

 He loved roses, to eat, more than anything. The more beautiful 

 they were, the more he liked them, but he never would eat 

 faded roses. He never cared much for nuts of any other kind 

 than baked peanuts, save walnuts. I found that nuts gave him 

 dreadful spells of indigestion. 



Use of Tools. "He knew what hammers and chisels were 

 for, but for obvious reasons we never encouraged him in any- 

 thing to do with carpentry. With cocoanuts he was very 

 funny. He knew that they had to be broken, and he would 



