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188
The Speech of Monkeys
·
R. L. Garner
51
Her
voice
would
range
from
pitch
to
pitch
and
from
key
to
key,
and,
with
her
arms
folded,
she
would
glide
across
the
floor
of
her
cage
with
the
grace
of
a
ballet
girl;
and
I
have
seen
her
stand
with
her
eyes
fixed
upon
her
keeper,
and
hold
her
face
in
such
a
position
as
not
to
lose
sight
of
him
for
a
moment,
and
at
the
same
time
turn
her
body
entirely
around,
in
her
tracks,
with
the
skill
which
no
contortionist
has
ever
attained.
[Sidenote:
MONKEYS
SHED
TEARS]
During
these
orations
I
have
observed
the
little
tears
standing
in
the
corner
of
her
eyes,
which
indicated
that
she
herself
must
have
felt
what
her
speech
was
intended
to
convey.
These
little
creatures
do
not
shed
tears
in
such
abundance
as
human
beings
do,
but
they
are
real
tears,
and
are
doubtless
the
result
of
the
same
causes
that
move
the
human
eyes
to
tears.
It
has
been
my
experience
that
these
sounds
appeal
directly
to
our
better
feelings.
What
there
is
in
the
sound
itself
I
cannot
say,
but
it
touches
some
chord
in
the
human
heart
which
vibrates
in
response
to
it.
It
has
impressed
me
with
the
thought
that
all
our
senses
are
like
the
strings
of
some
great
harp,
each
one
having
a
certain
tension;
so
that
any
sound
produced
through
an
emotion
would
find
response
in
that
chord
which
is
in
unison
with
it.
Indeed,
I
have
thought
that
our
emotions
and
sensations
may
be
like
the
diatonic
scale
in
music,
and
that
the
organs
through
which
they
act
may
respond
in
tones
and
semitones,
and
that
each
multiple
of
any
fundamental
tone
will
affect
the
chord
in
unison
with
it,
like
the
strings
upon
a
musical
instrument.
The
logical
deduction
thence
would
be,
that
our
sympathies
and
affections
are
the
chords,
and
our
aversions
and
contempt
the
discords,
of
that
great
harp
of
passion.
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