MY MONKEYS. 



523 



his hands, succeeding at last by throwing his whole weight upon the 

 latch. In May my house was painted and whitewashed, and a scaf- 

 folding was built around it to facilitate the work. The top of the 

 highest timber became Molly's favorite place. It was some four feet 

 above the roof ; Molly was accustomed to sun himself upon it, and 

 from it he watched attentively all who passed. He would never move 

 from it as long as he could see me. But, as soon as I set foot out of 

 the grove where I used to work, he would set up a plaintive cry, and 

 slide down the timbers to hunt me up, and would not stop his whining 

 till he had found me, an event which he marked by repeated grunts of 

 joy. 



He gave me a proof of the susceptibility of the character of his 

 species the very day he came. Perching himself on my wife's shoul- 

 ders, he amused himself with disarranging her hair. Tired of this, my 

 wife tried to push him away, at first pleasantly, then roughly. The 

 last movement cost her a bite on the hand, and in return for this she 

 struck Molly sharply on the cheek, when the monkey ran to his cage 

 in great anger. From that day the inclination he had formed toward 

 my wife was turned to a violent hatred, which he continued to mani- 

 fest till the end of his days. All his affection was turned toward me, 

 and it was really admirable. No dog ever showed so exclusive an 

 attachment to me as this monkey, a fact the more singular because the 

 animal had come from a wild life, and not, like the dog, from trained 

 ancestors. Molly never refused morsels from the hand of other per- 

 sons than myself ; but, accepting the gift from them, he would scratch 

 or bite the hand that offered it. 



He was greatly frightened at a gun that I shot off one day at some 

 sparrows. He hid at once in the straw of his cage, and never left it 

 till the gun was hung up again. After that I had only to touch the 

 stock, to make him hide again, when nothing could be seen in the 

 straw, except a pair of sharp eyes watching all my motions. Just a 

 touch of my finger or of a cane upon the cock of the gun was enough 

 to deprive him of all quiet. I used to carry on my watch-chain a little 

 pistol, on which a percussion-cap would make a tolerably loud report. 

 The monkey had not yet found this out, and, sitting on my knees, 

 would amuse itself with licking the silver barrel. One day in his pres- 

 ence I put a percussion-cap on the nipple of the pistol. The monkey 

 observed my movements with great attention, but without seeming 

 disturbed by them. But when the cock, being raised, made two clicks, 

 Molly dropped his eyebrows, while he continued sitting quietly. When 

 the explosion took place, his fright was unbounded. Crying loudly, 

 and full of anguish, he fell from my knees, ran across several rooms, 

 leaped out of the window, clung to a water-pipe, slid down to the street 

 and hid himself in a ditch in a neighboring garden. His nervousness 

 lasted a long while, and I had to take off my watch-chain to appease 

 it. From that day he was in such fear of the little pistol that to take 



