Affections--A little Flirtation--Some of my personal Friends.
Nellie had spent much of her life in captivity and had been used to the
society of children, for whom she showed the greatest fondness, and
rarely ever betrayed the slightest aversion to any of them. She
delighted to pat their cheeks, pull their ears, and tangle their hair.
One of her favourite pastimes was to pull the hairpins out of my wife's
hair so that she could get hold of it the better to play with, and my
wife has often remarked that Nellie would make an excellent lady's-maid.
She would clean one's finger-nails with the skill of a manicure. She
would pick every shred, ravelling, or speck from one's clothing. Her
aversions and attachments were equally strong. She was not selfish in
selecting her friends, nor did she seem to be influenced by age or
beauty.
[Sidenote: MONKEYS SHOULD HAVE TOYS]
To let her out of her cage and give her something to play with was
happiness enough for her, and I almost think she preferred such a life
to the freedom of her Amazon forests. But you cannot afford to turn one
out of the cage in a room where there is anything that can be torn or
broken, as they enjoy such mischief in the highest degree. Nellie would
beg me so piteously to be taken from her little iron prison that I could
not have the cruelty to refuse her, even at the cost of some trouble in
preparing the room for her; and as we retain these little captives
against their will, and treat them worse than slaves by keeping them in
close confinement, I think we should at least try to amuse them. It is
true they do not have to toil, but I think it would be more humane to
make them work in the open air than to confine them so closely, and then
deprive them of every source of pleasure. As an act of humanity and
simple justice, I would impress upon those who keep such little pets how
important a thing it is to keep them supplied with toys. They are just
like children in this respect, and for a trifle one can furnish them
with all the toys they need. It is cruel, absolutely cruel, to keep
these little creatures confined in solitude and deny them the simple
pleasure they find in playing with a bell, ball or marbles; and besides
this, a trifling outlay in this way will very much prolong their lives.
A monkey is always happy if he has something to play with and plenty to
eat. [Sidenote: NELLIE WITH THE MATCH-BOX] I do not know of any
investment of mine which ever yielded such a great return in pleasure as
one little pocket match-safe which cost me twenty-five cents, and which
I gave to Nellie one evening to play with. I had put into it a small key
to make it rattle, and also some bits of candy. She rattled the box, and
found some pleasure in the noise it made. I showed her a few times how
to press the spring in order to open it, but her little black fingers
were not strong enough to release the spring and make the lid fly open.
However, she caught the idea, and knew that the spring was the secret
which held it; and when she found that she could not open it with her
fingers, she tried it with her teeth. Failing in this, she turned to the
wall, and standing upright on the top of her cage, she took the box in
both hands and struck the spring against the wall until the lid flew
open. She was perfectly delighted at the result, and for the hundredth
time at least I closed the box for her to open again. On the following
day, when some friends came in to visit her, I gave her the match-box to
open again. On this occasion, however, she was in her cage and could not
reach the wall through its meshes, and hence had nothing against which
to strike the spring to force it open. After looking around her in all
directions and striking the box against the wires of her cage a few
times, she discovered a block of wood in her cage about six inches
square by an inch thick, and this she took and mounted her perch.
Balancing the block on the perch she held it with the left foot, while
with her right foot she held on to the perch, and with her tail wound
through the meshes of her cage to steady herself, she carefully adjusted
the match-box in her hands in such a manner as to protect her fingers
from the blow. Then striking the spring against the block of wood the
lid flew open, and she fairly screamed with delight, and held the box up
with pride, wanting me to close the lid again, in order that she might
open it.
Finding that the late hours which I kept were beginning to tell on
Nellie, and that during the day from time to time I would catch her
taking a little nap, I concluded to use some curtains around her cage to
avoid disturbing her rest. I drew them around the cage, lapped them
over, and pinned them down in front. Then I turned down the light and
kept quiet for a while to allow her to go to sleep. After the lapse of
a few minutes, I slowly turned up the light and resumed my writing. In
an instant I heard the curtains rustle, and looked around, and there I
saw her little brown eyes peeping through the folds of the curtains,
which she held apart with her little black hands. When she saw what it
was that caused all this disturbance, she chattered to me in her soft
rich tones, and tried so hard to pull the curtains apart that I removed
them from her cage so that she could look around the room. To see her
holding the curtains apart in that graceful manner, turning her head
from side to side, peeping and smiling at me, and talking in such low
tones, was so much like a real flirtation that one who has not seen the
like cannot fully appreciate it. And only those who have experienced the
warm and unselfish friendship of these little creatures can realise how
strong the attachment becomes. When once you enjoy the confidence of a
monkey, nothing can shake it, except some act of your own, or one at
least which they attribute to you. Their little ears are proof against
gossip, and their tongues are free from it.
[Sidenote: THE LOVE OF MONKEYS]
Among the little captives of the Simian race who spend their lives in
iron prisons to gratify the cruelty of man, and not to expiate some
crime committed or inherent, I have many little friends to whom I am
attached, and whose devotion to me is as warm and sincere, so far as I
can see, as that of any human being. I must confess that I cannot
discern in what intrinsic way the love they have for me differs from my
own for them. I cannot see in what respect their love is less divine
than is my own. I cannot see in what respect the affections of a dog for
a kind master differ from those of a child for a kind parent, nor can I
see in what respect the sense of fear for a cruel master differs from
that of a child for a cruel parent. It is mere sentiment that ascribes
to those of a child a higher source than the same passions in the
dog--the dog could have loved or feared another master just as well; and
filial love or fear would have reached out its tendrils just as far with
all the ties of kindred blood removed. It has been said that one is able
to assign a definite reason _why_, and that the other is a vague
impulse; but I am too obtuse to understand how reason actuates to love,
and instinct to a mere attachment. I cannot believe that in the
essential and ultimate nature of these passions there can be shown any
real difference. Whether it be reason or instinct in man, the affections
of the lower animals are actuated by the same motives, governed by the
same conditions, and guided by the same reasons as those of man. I shall
not soon forget some of my monkey friends, and I am sure they will not
forget me; for I see them sometimes after months of absence, and they
usually recognise me at sight and show every sign of pleasure at my
return.