The Minneapolis journal. [volume], September 17, 1904, The Journal Junior, Page 3, Image 28

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Image provided by: Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN

                
MIRTH-LOVING ANIMALS
Dumb Creatures Seem to Enjoy a Laugh Now and Then
as Much as Anybody.
New York Tribune.
The notion that most animals are born humorists is
advanced by a western animal trainer who sees in the
tricks perpetrated and the mischief done by elephants,
monkeys and other dumb creatures a sure sign of their
mirth-loving propensities. "The hippopotamus," he says,
"doesn't look like an animal that can laugh, but it can."
And he goes on to tell how an ugly hippopotamus got even
with a teasing keeper by lying down and pretending to be
asleep. Punch, the hippopotamus, was very fond of bran
balls, and used to hold her jaws open to have them thrown
into her mouth. The keeper tantalized her by holding a
big handful of balls close to her nose, then jerking them
out of her reach. At length, tired of this performance,
the hippopotamus lay down her tank, with her nose
close to the end of the cage, and when the keeper came
along again she pretended to be fast asleep. The keeper
grew careless and rubbed Punch's nose with a bran ball,
when, quick as a wink, Punch grabbed his hand between
her tusks. The keeper shrieked Punch snorted, "tickled
to death." "After enjoying the thing a minute or so,
and winking her eye knowingly, she eased up on the fel
low's hand so that he could get it back. Then she slid
back into her tank of water, and the bubbles that came up
and danced around on the top showed that she was having
a good laugh underneath." Of course. Why not! Every
one knows that the cat, dog and horse can laugh, and
they do not go under water to do it, either. A cat looks
unmistakably humorous and very pretty when she laughs,
the twinkle of her whiskers and eyes being irresistible
when she is amused. Dogs have their own individual ways
of showing their sense of the ludicrous, while horses
show in their eyes the fun they feel in their minds. Ani
mals learn so much from association with humans that one
might suppose the playing of tricks and the gift of laugh
ter might well be among the accomplishments they gather,
were it ilftt for the testimony of the professional animal
trainer quoted above, to the effect that the jungle beast
is dowered likewise. By the way, how the words "brute"
and "beast" as applied to the animals, have gone out of
use. Few people employ them, except sometimes to char
acterize a man. In the same way, the adjectives "brutal"
and "beastly" are oftenest applied to actions which no
animal is ever guilty of.
MADE OF GOLD AND GEMS
Precious Thimbles Belonging to Feminine Royalty Are
Worth Whole Fortunes.
Think of a thimble worth $75,000! And what possi
ble use could any one, able to pay so much for such a
trifle, have for it? It is very doubtful if the thimble in
question has ever seen much service. It belongs to the
queen of Siam, having been presented to her by her hus
band, the king The thimble is quite an exquisite work
of art. It is made of pure gold, in the fashion or shape
of a half opened lotus flower, the floral emblem of the
royal house of Siam. It is thickly studded with the most
beautiful diamonds and other precious stones, which are
so arranged as to form the name of the queen, together
with the date of her marriage. She regards this thimble
as one of her most precious possessions.
Not long since a Paris jeweler made a most elaborate
thimble to the order of a certain well-known American
millionaire. It was somewhat larger than the ordinary
size of thimbles, and the agreed price was $25,000. The
gold setting was scarcely visible, so completely was it
set with diamonds, rubies and pearls in artistic designs,
the rubies showing the initials of the intended recipient.
This thimble was made as a birthday present to the mil
lionaire 's daughter, who can now boast the possession of
the second most valuable thimble in the world. Her
father was so much pleased with the fine workmanship it
showed that he ordered another, but much less expensive
one, to be made for presentation to the school companion
and bosom friend of his fortunate child.
Five or six years ago a jeweler in the west end of
London was paid a Bum of nearly $15,000 for a thimble
which the pampered wife of a South American Croesus
insisted on having made for her. This was one mass of
precious gems, diamonds and rubies, which as thimble
adornments seem to almost monopolize feminine taste,
largely predominating.
That eccentric prince, the late Maharajah Dhuleep
Singh, never did things by halves, and one of the most
beautiful and costly thimbles ever made was that whieh
was supplied to his order as a present for a great lady in
Russia. The price of this ran well into four figures and
the gems set in it were all pearls of great value and no
less beauty. So were those in a highly-treasured thimble
which, on the occasion of one^of his visits to Europe, the
late shah of Persia presented to a lady whose guest he
was for a few hours. In the words of the delighted re
cipient, it looked like a cluster of glittering gems, which
in reality it was, save for the gold in whieh they were
set. An expert in precious stones valued this thimble at
$7,500.
In a Den of Foxes.
At Aerise, a village near Folkestone, a vixen fox and
three cubs were dug out after six hours' work. Their
lair contained the remains of one Vwnb, fifty rabbits, one
hare, two fowls and some rats.
THE JOURNAL JUNIOR, MINNEAPOLIS* MINNESOTA, SATURDAY, SEPT. 17, 1904
CLEVEREST OF MARTENS
The Fisher Laughs at Traps and Even Finds Safety in
Following the Huntec
Collier's Weekly.
The fisher marten deserves to be much better known
than he generally is, if only on account of his own good
opinion of himself, his wonderful cunning and shrewd
intelligence.
One of the largest and handsomest of the martens,
he has also the agility, strength and endurance, for any
two of his kind put together. Measuring about three feet
in length, with a slim, vigorous body, the fisher will
travel enormous distances in a single night, bounding
lightly up into the air, with his nose turned up in order to
catch every little whiff of scent,, outwitting other animals
and the cleverest trappers, and making himself at home
wherever he happens to find himself.
He generally chooses as his hunting grounds the
thickly-covered hills and ridges where the hemlock and
spruce grow in abundanee, but he is as much at home on
the tree tops as on the ground and can sleep as soundly
in a low hollow of a tree as on a branch of a fir tree,
where he will lie stretched out in the sunshine like any
old cat.
As for fear, he does not know what it is. He will
not only face, but actually kill, a Canadian porcupine,
and does not even appear to mind the quills which pene
trate his body. He is not particularly fond of meeting an
BE WARNED IN TIME.
Professor Dryasdust worried over his geometrical figure until he practically made himself into one like it.
Pick-Me-Up.
old bear with cubs, but is generally clever enough to
steal her cubs while she goes off on some httle expediti 11
of her own, while instances have been related of the
fishers in the Rocky Mountains even killing young griz
zlies.
As for man, he appears to laugh at him and his de
signs for trapping wild animals. He will pull a marten,,
trap open and take out the bait, whether alive or dead
he will tear a pine maften or mink to pieces in no time
and carry it off, or drag the trap over some rough pro
jection in order to spring it and make off more often
than not without having received so much as a scratch.
But perhaps his cleverest trick is when he finds a
trapper is following his trail, to go behind the trapper
and follow him, so that while the unconscious trapper is
walking after the fisher, the fisher is keeping completely
out of danger by following the trapper. Many a useless
mile has the trapper walked in this manner and many
good baits has he lost by the very same shrewd, cunning
animal he is trying to trace and catch.
THE SOUVENIR BUTTONS
A Junior button is given to every contributor for bis first
paper printed, provided it is neither a prize winner nor an
"honorable mention Only one Junior button is given a year,
and this is sent without application. The new year began
September 10, 1904.
An Honor Button is awarded for an "honorable mention"
and is sent without application.
An Honor Button is awarded to every Junior who has three
papers printed which are neither prize winners nor honorable
mentions These must be claimed by the winner, giving dates
of publication.
An Honor Button is awarded for an accepted contribution
to the storyteller colnmn, and is sent without application, to
gether with an order for a book.
Any number of Honor Buttons may be won.
A Prize Button is awarded for every prize paper, without
application. Two picture prizes only in one year may be won.
All of these, except tte Honor Buttons awarded for three
papers printed, are sent our the day of publication, and all no
tices of failure to receive them mast be sent to the editor
within the week following publication.
THE HIGH SCHOOL CREDIT CONTESTS.
These contests are for writers in and above the ninth
grade.
Two prizes of $15 and $7 50 for pictures or books for the
schools are awarded every three months to the two high
schools winning the highest number of credits
The first prize of $15 may be won but once daring the
school year.
Winners of the second prize are not barred from winning
the first prize.
No school in Minneapolis and no town in the northwest win
be given more than one credit a week. At least four papers
must be sent in on a topic for a high school to be considered in
the contest, and there most be at least twelve papers a
month.
A Journal Junior Prize Button is sent for the first high
school credit paper of each competitor daring the quarter.
The first quarter began Sept. 10 and ends Nov. 20, 1904.
THE FSX2E PICTURES.
The pictures which are given as prizes daring the school
year become the exclusive property of the schoolrooms upon
whose walls they are hong. They are to remain permanently in
the school which the winner attended when he or she won the
prize, and under no circumstances axe to be removed to an
other school or to a private home.
Express charges on ail prize pictures* are prepaid by The
Journal.
HOW TO PftKEATiE THE PAPESS.
Write In Ink, and on only one side of the paper. Leave a
space of three indies at the top of the first pace. Use no
headlines. Pat the number of words In the upper left-hand
comer of the first page. Sign the name and residence at the
end at the right, the grade and school at the end at the left.
THE BTQRYTKT.TVEH.
Any pnpn of a pnblie school, hi any part of the United
States, who is in or above the fifth grade, may contribute to
the Storyteller. These stories may be true or fiction, and upon
any subject preferred by the writer. They mast not be less
than 600 wards In length, nor more than 1,000.
TOPICS FOB OUT-OF-TOWN WBITEBS.
AH writers outside of Minneapolis, whether distinctively
of Che northwest or not, are to use the topics headed "North
western Topics.'* Pupils in the public schools anywhere In
the United States may write for The Journal Junior, bat mast
as* the topics am given above.
EARLY USE OF GUNPOWDER
There Is Abundant Evidence That the Substance Was
Known in the Dim Ages.
Cassier's Magazine.
With reference to the early use of gunpowder and
firearms, long before "the popularly accepted, but errone
ous, date of gunpowder discovery, General Joseph Wheel
er, United States army, in a lecture a short time ago
before the Franklin Institute, remarked that in many lo
calities in China and India the soil is impregnated with
niter, and the probable discovery of gunpowder there,
many centuries before the' Christian era, may be ex
plained in this way:
All cooking at that time was by wood fires and the
people lived in tents and huts with earth for their floors.
Countless fires made of wood upon ground strohgly im
pregnated with niter must have existed every day, and
when such fires were extinguished a portion of the wood
must have been converted into charcoal, some of which
would, of necessity, become mixed with the niter in the
soil. By this means two of the most active ingredients
of gunpowder were brought together, and it is very nat
ural that when another fire was kindled on the same spot
a flash might follow. This would lead to investigation,
and then the manufacture of gunpowder was conceived.
Whether this be true or not, there is abundant evidence
that the origin of gunpowder and artillery goes far back
in the dim ages of the past.
The Hindoo code, compiled long before the Christian
era, prohibited the making of war with cannon and
guns or any kind of firearms. Qumtus Curtius informs us
that Alexander the Great met with fire weapons in Asia,
and Philostratus says that Alexander's conquests were
arrested by the use of gunpowder. It is also written that
those wise men who lived in the cities of the Ganges
overthrew their enemies with tempests and thunder
bolts shot from the walls." Julius Africanus mentions
shooting powder in the year 275. It was used in the
siege of Constantinople in 668 by the Arabs in 690 at
Thessalonica in 904 at the siege of Belgrade, 1073 by
the Greeks in naval battles in 1098 by the Arabs against
the Iberians in 1147, and at Toulouse in 1218. It appears
to have been generally known thruout civilized Europe
as early as 1300, and soon thereafter it made its way into
England, where it was manufactured during the reign
of Elizabeth, and we learn that a few arms were pos
sessed by the English in 1310, and that they were used at
the battle of Crecy in 1346.
Ted Knew the Time.
The Little Chronicle.
On Teddy's sixth birthday his grandfather presented
him with a "really truly" watch, but the boy had not
yet mastered the art of telling time. He pulled the watch
from his pocket during the birthday dinner.
"What time is it, Tedf" asked the grandfather.
For a moment he was puzzled, then, glancing at the
waitress who had just entered, replied quickly, "time for
dessert.''
A Natural Compass.
In the tropical northern territory of South Australia
travelers need not carry a compass. Nature has pro
vided a living compass for them. The district abounds
with the nests of the magnetic or meridian ant. Tho
longer axis of these nests or mounds is always in a per
fect line with the parallel of latitude pointing due north
and south. Scientists cannot explain this peculiar orien
tation.
Novelties in Wells.
A well recently drilled in Canada produces sand in
stead of water. The sand comes up in a fine stream like
a fountain. The force by which it is driven to the sur
face from a depth of a hundred feet has not yet been dis
covered. A magnetic well was discovered recently in New
Guinea at a depth of 600 feet. Anything made of iron
or steel and dipped into the water at once becomes mag
netic
An Eskimo Bible.
The Eskimos now have their own translation of the
Bible, which has taken 150 years to complete. The Nor
wegian pastor, Hans Egede, who went to Greenland in
1721, began the work, which is completed and published
by the Bible society of Denmark.
Summer in Venezuela.
In midsummer the towns of Venezuela seem deserted
during the day time. The sun is so hot that exposure to
it without a hat for-only fifteen minutes usually results
in illness and death within a day or two.
BASEBALL NAMES OF JUNIOR ATHLETES.
The Little Pirates.
Fred Hohage, Manager, 714 Sixth Av. N,
Philip Bobie, "Sug."
Clarence Grant, "Petta."
Fred Hohage, "Higgie."
Leslie McKean, "MeKean."
Harvey Kistler, "Ching."
George Gardner, "Gander."
Walter Kistler, "Wawo."
Harry Elingberg, "Pappy."
Gordon Witte, "Skin."
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