Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 August 1916 — ANIMALS IN MEN’S JOBS [ARTICLE]

ANIMALS IN MEN’S JOBS

_____. st’ 23 ’? 9 . 1 _ _ War’s Call for Britons Results in Odd Makeshifts. Many strange and unexpected cases are on record in which animals and birds have proved themselves useful to mankind, very often serving their masters more reliably than many human beings would do under similar conditions.

At times of stress like the present, such dumb servants have proved themselves particularly useful, a good instance in point being provided by the case of a gentleman in the west of England and who recently lost his gardner through the man enlisting. His master was confronted by the problem of his lawn, about which he had always been very particular, for the grass quickly threatened to make his once trim grounds look very much like a wilderness.

Then he hit upon a brilliant idea. Wiring off the ground he turned in a dozen guinea pigs, who promptly proceeded to nibble away at the grass as evenly and neatly as any mowing machine could have donJb, much to their master's delight. Similarly an East End tradesman lately found himself short-handed owing to the war,* and, after some thought, this man hit upo na solution to the problem.

He happened to possess' a pet parrot, and this bird he placed in the outer part of his shop and trained it to call “shop!” whenever any one entered by way of the street door. The parrot very quickly learned its lesson, with the result that its master was no longer obliged to spend all his time on the lookout for customers, but could attehd to other matters, knowing he could count upon his new assistant to warn him of anybody’s approach. The intelligence of dogs is known to every one but a dog as a golf caddie is somewhat of a novelty, you will admit. Nevertheless, the animal is no imaginary character, but a real caddie, who w’orks on the links of a certain widely known course. Besides carrying clubs, this dog proves himself very useful in the matter of discovering lost golf balls, nosing about until he is successful. But the war has made one strange spectacle possible in England. In Sheffield an elephant may be seen drawing heavy loads along the streets. It is claimed for this particular animal that he can empty a nine-ton wagon of coal in two journeys. Camels have also been employed by the same firm, but as draft animals cannot be compared with the elephants.—Answers.