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Show No Love for the Turtle. "The only living thing In this place that nobody ever tries to pet is the turtle," said the animal dealer. "There are certain tones of the voice, certain pats and punches that all animals ani-mals are especially responsive to. Parrots Par-rots like to be rubbed at a certain spot on the top of the head, a magpie is happiest when somebody Is scratching scratch-ing him under the wings, and certain other birds have a preference for tickling tick-ling under the chin. The dogs, the cats, the mice and the snakes are partial par-tial to a particular kind of love making, ma-king, and every day we have visitors who know enough about natural history his-tory to pet each bird and beast according ac-cording to Its likes everything, that is, but the turtle. Nary a pat nor a punch nor a tickle does anybody bestow be-stow upon him. Sometimes I feel sorry sor-ry for the poor old chap floundering In his pool In solemn loneliness. Touched to compassion by the affecting af-fecting picture, the visitor extended a hesitating hand. "How do you pet a turtle, anyhow?" was asked. "Give it up." said the dealer. "I never got very Intimate with 'em my-self." |