| Show A STUFFED EMPEROR valerian conquered by the wa int to aber use in diplomacy the art of taxidermy is now practiced by thousands of naturalists natura lists and ornithologists and many sportsmen have become so adept at it that they are no longer obliged to send the specimens which they wish to have preserved to a professional but can prepare and mount them themselves in the way they wish to have them and in aliis way many amateurs have secured most valuable collections serving as excellent souvenirs of many a delightful days shooting and many an exciting hunting adventure one of the most remarkable stuffed skins on record was that of valerian emperor of rome who was taken prisoner and afterward kept in chains by king of persia he was either killed in a tumult or by order of his conqueror who was perhaps fearful of losing his valuable living trophy in the year the body of the dead roman emperor was treated with no more delicacy alian when it had held the immortal spark of a living one it was skinned the hide after being tanned was stuffed painted red and suspended in the chief temple of the capital it remained here for many years and was the popular spectacle for holiday makers and visitors from the country but it was put to more important ends than this it was made a diplomatic engine of much significance and efficiency in after times it often happened that the roman envoys at the persian court had misunderstandings more or less serious with the government to which they were temporarily accredited when these ambassadors from rome grew arrogant in their demands it was the custom to conduct them into the presence of the stuffed skin of the old ex emperor of rome where they were asked if humility did not become them at sight of such a spectacle |
