Democratic Sentinel, Volume 17, Number 15, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 April 1893 — Monkey Jokers. [ARTICLE]

Monkey Jokers.

No one will doubt that monkeys have a keen sense of humor which enables them to relish a Joke. It is not to be supposed that they care whether the fun is at the expense of one of their own species of ours. Their jokes are necessarily practical. In the New Review Mr. R. S. Garner describes one of these. In a large cage in the Philadelphia Garden were kept at one time about twenty monkeys. Among them were two big, wise-looking apes with gray beards and hair, and with the mien of stoics. They had very long, straight tails, and a habit of sitting high up from the ground, and allowing their tails to hang at full length. In the same cage were three or four brown Cebus monkeys, who were much devoted to exercise and fun. While the big monkeys would cling to the side of the cage,’or sit on a perch some ten or twelve feet from the ground, one of the little brown monkeys would stealthily creep up to one of them, and suddenly grasp the end oi the long tail and swing with all his might. Of course the “big ’un” could not lift his tail because of the little monkey clinging to it He could only climb down the sideof the cage with his burden until he could reach the floor. During this operation the brown monkey kept swinging until his own tail touched the floor, at which instant he would release his hold and spring to the top of the cage, followed by the outraged monkey amid the screams of the others. By the time he had reached a point where he could attack his little tormenter, who would show some signs of resistance, and cause him to pause for a moment, another brown monkey would seize his long tail and take a swing.