MY LIFE IN THE ANIMAL TRADE 5 
man, and whilst he impressed upon us the urgency of learn- 
ing well the “Three R’s,” he used to tell us that we “were 
not expected to become parsons”. Later on, too, when our 
business began to extend to France and England, he saw 
that it would be desirable for me to acquire the languages of 
those countries. Thus, although my elementary education 
may have left something to be desired, from my twelfth 
year onwards I attended school with greater regularity, and 
in my later boyhood gained a considerable knowledge of lan- 
guages and other more advanced subjects. 
As the business gradually developed, it became necessary 
to undertake journeys for the purpose of buying and selling 
our living wares, and I soon discovered that the transport 
of wild beasts is apt to be rich in incident. I well remember 
my first expedition of the kind. One day when I was eleven 
years old we heard that there was a small collection of animals 
to be sold at Bremerhaven. At that time a journey to Bre- 
merhaven was quite an undertaking, for there was then no 
direct railway connection between that town and Hamburg, 
and it was therefore necessary either to go a long journey 
round by Hanover, or else to drive across country to Bre- 
men, a distance of about fifty miles. Notwithstanding this 
difficulty, however, my father, being anxious to acquire the 
animals, decided to go to Bremerhaven, and he took me with 
him. We found that the little menagerie consisted of a large 
racoon, two American opossums, and a varied assortment of 
monkeys and parrots. My father purchased the lot, and 
after they had been brought up to Bremen by steamer 
they were duly ensconced upon the roof of the diligence 
which was to convey us back to Hamburg. 
We drove all through the night, our route lying across the 
Liineburger Heath, a wild stretch of country in the north of 
Hanover, and daybreak found us in Harburg, a place not 
far from Hamburg. Naturally, our first thought was to 
inspect our property and see that all was safe. Great was 
our dismay when we found the racoon’s cage broken open 
