A TRAINER OF MONKEYS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 248, 25 February 1911, Page 9

A TRAINER OF MONKEYS

There are many strange ways of making a living in these competitive times, lmt .Mrs. Hamlyn, the wife of a wellknown naturalist, has chosen one of tVe oddest of them nil. She imports chimpanzees and orang-outangs from the wilds, and trains them as music-hall performers. ''lt. takes about six months to train the ordinary monkey," she said the other day, "and at the end of that time my pupils are- fit to make their debut before the most critical audience in tlie'world. 1 spend my entire time with them, dress them as human beings, and take all my regular meals with them. The big animals occupy ordinary sitting-room chairs, while the little one are provided with the high chairs used by children, so that they cannot fall out. They eat just the same as I do—eggs and bacon for breakfast, chops, cutlets or chicken for lunch, and they have a light fruit meal for supper to ensure them a good night's reßt."

Mrs. Hamblyn is training a little lady monkey from Sierra Leone just now. Doris, as the animal is called, ha.s only recently arrived from there, but is already beginning to learn the trick* of civilisation under her trainer's guidance, and she can now use a knife and fork at table in the most lady-like manner. Monkeys are very like human beings, according to Mrs. Hamlyn, who says she never remembers getting two alike either in face or disposition. Doris bit her new mistress twice on the day of her arrival, but her manners are improving daily, and Mrs. Hamblyn was so satisfied with her a little while back that she decided to take her to the seaside for a' change of air. The proprietors of the hotel where Bhe stayed were afraid their other guests might object, so Mrs. Hamlyn got over the difficulty by dressing Doris as a b:i! - and covering her wizened black face with a shawl.

Recently Mrs. Hamlyn had an alarming experience with a large chimpanzee named Vaul, who has made himself a specialist in drinks. He could dispense a whisky-and-soda for his master or for himself with the best of tliem, and the mystery of the soda-syphon was an open hook to him.

The trouble arose when he first sampled some old port which had been left in an unlocked cupboard in the dining-room, lie reeled about the floor in a gloriously fuddle state for some minutes, and then stalled (o clear the room with wonderful expedition.

'I told liim T should call father, as 1 always refer to my husband," said Airs. TTnnilyn, "but lie only jabbered at me, and beeame more ami more excited. When I made for the telephone hf «ot there before me, and, evidently aware (hat T was Roin« to riner up Mr. Hamlyn, refused to part with the receiver, lie had been used to the instrument, for some time, and often amused himself by making a noi.se into it as if he were talking. Of course, we always disconnected it first. It was only when I called for someone to bring me the whip that he came to his senses, and immediately he ran up to me and threw his arms around my neck to ask for forgiveness."—Sketch.