t
touching but graceful manner go through with the most indescribable
contortions; she would sway her body from side to side, turn her head in
the most coquettish manner, and move her folded hands dramatically,
while her face would be adorned with a Simian grin of the first order,
and the soft, rich notes of her voice were perfectly musical. She would
bend her body into every graceful curve that can be imagined, move her
feet with the grace of the minuet, and continue her fervent speech as
long as the object of her admiration appeared to be touched by her
appeals. 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.

CHAPTER VII.

Interpretation of Words--Specific Words and Signs--The Negative
Sign and Sounds--Affirmative Expression