262 Animal Humor. [ May, 
brought down with intense simian anger upon that glistening pate. 
It did look as if Cebus thought, ‘ Let me ‘put a head on’ that flat- 
tery!” The gentleman’s feelings may be judged from his ac- 
tions. Up rose a livid spot, on which, like a soothing poultice, 
one hand was tenderly placed, as old Uncle Ned would say, — 
“ In de place whar de wool ought to grow.” 
Now in all this we find incongruousness and surprise, and, to 
the spectator, sparkling, rollicking fun. In words, it would have 
the startle and unexpectedness of wit; in pantomime, that scene _ 
would bring down the house like a hurricane. Is it supposable 
that Jack was unconscious of the fun? I do not think that he 
was altogether funnier than he knew. 
Is it not noteworthy that the fun of animals is chiefly got at 
in sham battles, amid the roar of mock anger? Boys too often 
love to tease and worry animals, and not less one another. It is 
with the same impulse one ties a tin utensil to a cur’s tail, or 
pins some annoyance on a playmate’s back; and from the same 
source come tripping, and sparring, and knocking the hat down 
over its owner’s eyes. If motive be the gauge, how fine the line 
between much of boyish roguery and monkey mischief generally. 
Ateles played tag, and Cebus attacked our humble self in fun 
and the bald man in earnest. On the doctrine of identity, our 
illiterate neighbor spoke more astutely than he supposed when he 
bade a teasing wag not to cut up any more monkey-didos with him. 
Have we not seen in some men a humor of an inhuman sort, 
the delight in torment and destruction? “Some one has called it 
“ pure cussedness.” Mixed with better traits, Cebus had this 
malady in streaks. He got loose once, and found his way to the 
closet of confections. A few minutes sufficed him to eat to sati- 
ety ; then the “ pure cussedness ” began to play. He took the 
precious sweets from the jars and threw them on the papered 
walls of the drawing-room. Oh, was not this the very delecta- 
tion of fun? “A melancholy scene,” did you say? It was Mil- 
tonian: “ Delectable both to behold and taste.” Then came the 
smashing of glass and china, a most exciting perfomance. The 
scene of operations was now changed to the museum and study of 
the naturalist. Here he discovered a rich and novel field for the 
exercise of his peculiar talents. An aquarium contained a num- 
ber of living salamanders. Cebus began an investigation. He 
is quite curious about live things. If in the present instance 
vivisection was intended, it was very bunglingly done. Each 
one was taken out of the water, separately examined, its head 
SEA Selamat ete gE ge a cate o s yale a Oe see 
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