" If the
panther said this to himself, it was a very wise and sensible speech;
and if he did not say it, my little readers may consider me as the
author of it. I am satisfied, whether the panther has the credit of
making the remarks or whether I have it, so that my young friends get
the benefit of the lesson.
In their wild state these animals are very destructive. The same lady
who tells the story about the tame panther, says that in one case a
panther leaped through an open window near her residence, and killed a
little girl who happened to be the only occupant of the house at the
time, except a man who was asleep.
The tame leopard is often used in India for the purpose of hunting
antelopes. He is carried in a kind of small wagon, blindfolded, to the
place where the herd of antelopes are feeding. The reason they blindfold
him is to prevent his being too much in a hurry, so that he might make
choice of an animal which is not worth much. He does not fly at his prey
at once, when let loose, but, winding along carefully, conceals himself,
until an opportunity offers for his leap; and then, with five or six
bounds, made with amazing force and rapidity, overtakes the herd, and
brings his prey to the ground.
I have read a very serious story of an American panther. The lady, who
is the heroine of the story, and her husband, were among the first
settlers in the wilderness of one of our western states.
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