Minnie's Pet Monkey

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  Transcriber's Note

  Obvious typographical errors have been corrected. A list of correctionsis found at the end of the text. Oe ligatures have been expanded.

  MONKEY IN CHURCH. Page 88.]

  MINNIE and her PETS. BY MRS MADELINE LESLIE. MINNIE'S PET MONKEY.]

  MINNIE'S PET MONKEY.

  BY

  MRS. MADELINE LESLIE, AUTHOR OF "THE LESLIE STORIES," "TIM, THE SCISSORS-GRINDER," ETC.

  ILLUSTRATED.

  BOSTON: LEE AND SHEPARD, SUCCESSORS TO PHILLIPS, SAMPSON & CO. 1864.

  Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1863, by

  A. R. BAKER,

  In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the District ofMassachusetts.

  ELECTROTYPED AT THE BOSTON STEREOTYPE FOUNDRY.

  TO MY YOUNG FRIEND,

  HENRY FOWLE DURANT, JR.

  =These Little Volumes=

  ARE AFFECTIONATELY INSCRIBED

  BY THE AUTHOR,

  IN THE EARNEST HOPE THAT THEY MAY INCREASE IN HIM THAT LOVE OF NATURE AND OF RURAL LIFE WHICH HAS EVER EXERTED SO SALUTARY AN INFLUENCE IN THE FORMATION OF THE CHARACTERS OF THE WISE AND GOOD.

  MINNIE AND HER PETS.

  Minnie's Pet Parrot. Minnie's Pet Cat. Minnie's Pet Dog. Minnie's Pet Horse. Minnie's Pet Lamb. Minnie's Pet Monkey.

  MINNIE'S PET MONKEY.

  CHAPTER I.

  JACKO AND HIS WOUNDED TAIL.

  Did you ever see a monkey? If you have not, I suppose you will like tohear a description of Jacko, Minnie's sixth pet.

  He was about eighteen inches high, with long arms, covered with shorthair, which he used as handily as a boy, flexible fingers, with flatnails, and a long tail, covered with hair, which seemed to answer thepurpose of a third hand.

  Though monkeys are usually very ugly and unpleasant, from theirapproaching so nearly to the human face, and still bearing so stronglythe marks of the mere brute, yet Jacko was a pretty little fellow.

  He had bright eyes, which sparkled like diamonds from beneath hisdeep-set eyebrows. His teeth were of the most pearly whiteness, and hemade a constant display of them, grinning and chattering continually.But I ought to tell you about his passage in uncle Frank's ship.

  On one of Captain Lee's voyages, he touched upon the coast of Africa,where he saw the little fellow in a hen-coop, just about to be carriedon board a whaler. The gentleman had often thought he should like tocarry his favorite niece a little pet; but as she already had a parrot,he did not know what she would wish.

  But when he listened to the chattering of the monkey, and heard thesailor who owned him say what a funny little animal it was, he thoughthe would buy it and take it home to her.

  On the voyage, Jacko met with a sad accident. The hen-coop in which hewas confined was too small to contain the whole of his tail, and he wasobliged, when he slept, to let the end of it hang out. This was a greataffliction to the poor animal, for he was very proud of his tail, whichwas indeed quite an addition to his good looks.

  It so happened that there were two large cats on board ship; and onenight, as they were prowling about, they saw the tail hanging out whileJacko was sound asleep; and before he had time to move, one of themseized it and bit it off.

  The monkey was very indignant, and if he could have had a fair chance athis enemies, would have soon punished them for their impudence. It wasreally amusing to see him afterward. He would pull his bleeding tail inthrough the bars of the hen-coop, and give it a malicious bite, as muchas to say,--

  "I wish you were off. You are of no use to me now; and you look terriblyshort."

  When they reached New York, at the end of their voyage, Captain Lee tookJacko out of the hen-coop, and put him in a bag, which was carried intothe depot while he was purchasing his ticket. The monkey, who must needssee every thing that was going on, suddenly poked his head out of thebag, and gave a malicious grin at the ticket-master.

  The man was much frightened, but presently recovered himself, andreturned the insult by saying,--

  "Sir, that's a dog! It's the rule that no dog can go in the cars withoutbeing paid for."

  It was all in vain that the captain tried to convince him that Jackowas not a dog, but a monkey. He even took him out of the bag; but in theface of this evidence, the man would persist in saying,--

  "He is a dog, and must have a ticket before he enters the cars."

  So a ticket was bought, and Jacko was allowed to proceed on his journey.

  The little fellow was as pleased as the captain when he arrived at theend of his journey, and took possession of his pleasant quarters in theshed adjoining Mr. Lee's fine house. He soon grew fond of his littlemistress, and played all manner of tricks, jumping up and down, swingingwith his tail, which had begun to heal, and chattering with all hismight in his efforts to please her.

  Mr. Lee, at the suggestion of his brother, the captain, had a nicehouse or cage made for Minnie's new pet, into which he could be put ifhe became troublesome, and where he always went to sleep. The rest ofthe time he was allowed his liberty, as far as his chain would reach.

  Jacko came from a very warm climate, and therefore often suffered fromthe cold in the northern latitude to which he had been brought.

  Mrs. Lee could not endure to see a monkey dressed like a man, as theysometimes are in shows. She said they looked disgustingly; but sheconsented that the little fellow should have a tight red jacket, andsome drawers, to keep him comfortable. Minnie, too, begged from her someold pieces of carpeting, to make him a bed, when Jacko seemed greatlydelighted. He did not now, as before, often stand in the morningshaking, and blue with the cold, but laughed, and chattered, and showedhis gratitude in every possible way.

  Not many months after Jacko came, and when he had become well acquaintedwith all the family, Fidelle had a family of kittens, which she oftencarried in her mouth back and forth through the shed. The very sight ofthese little animals seemed to excite Jacko exceedingly. He wouldspring the entire length of his chain, trying to reach them.

  One day, when the kittens had begun to run alone, and were getting to bevery playful, the cook heard a great noise in the shed, and Fidellecrying with all her might. She ran to see what was the matter, and, toher surprise, found Jacko sitting up in the cage, grinning with delight,while he held one of the kittens in his arms, hugging it as if it hadbeen a baby.

  Cook knew the sight would please Minnie, and she ran to call her. Butthe child sympathized too deeply in Fidelle's distress to enjoy it. Shetried to get the kitten away from Jacko, but he had no idea of giving itup, until at last, when Mrs. Lee, who had come to the rescue, gave him apiece of cake, of which he was very fond, he relaxed his hold, and sheinstantly released the poor, frightened little animal.

  Fidelle took warning by this occurrence, and never ventured through theshed again with her babies, though Jacko might seem to be sound asleepin his cage.

  Jacko had been at Mr. Lee's more than a year before they knew him tobreak his chain and run about by himself. The first visit he made was toLeo, in the barn, and he liked it so well that, somehow or other, hecontrived to repeat the visit quite as often as it was agreeable to thedog, who never could endure him.

  After this, he became very mischievous, so
that every one of theservants, though they often had a great laugh at his tricks, would havebeen glad to have the little fellow carried back to his home in Africa.

  I don't think even Minnie loved her pet monkey as well as she did herother pets. She could not take him in her arms as she did Fidelle andTiney, nor play with him as she did with Nannie and her lamb, and hecould not carry her on his back, as Star did.

  "Well," she said, one day, after discussing the merits of her animalswith her mamma, "Poll talks to me, and Jacko makes me laugh; but if Ishould have to give up one of my pets, I had rather it would be themonkey."