Will Cuppy Tonight: "The Lemur" from "How to Tell Your Friends from the Apes"

Index note: The "Thurber (et al.) Tonight" index has (finally) been updated, and should now be current!

"The Lemur sleeps all day long and nobody tells him that he is a tramp. When disturbed he sort of squeaks."


Tonight we conclude our survey of the second section of How to Tell Your Friends from the Apes, "How to Tell Your Friends from the Apes, or A Monkey a day," having already covered "The Chimpanzee," "The Gorilla," "The Orang-utan," "The Gibbon," "The Baboon," and "The Howling Monkey." -- Ken

The Lemur

THE LEMUR IS ONE WORSE than the Monkey. He is often mistaken for a Squirrel, a Rabbit, an Agouti or anything but a Lemur. He has been described as a state of mind or ectoplasm. The Lemur is a Primate because people say so. The Lemur sleeps all day long and nobody tells him that he is a tramp. When disturbed he sort of squeaks. Most Lemurs live in Madagascar but they are never quite warm enough. The Ring-tailed Lemur or Madagascar Cat¹ is caught by sailors who have enough Parrots already. The Gentle Lemur is devoted to his human keeper and often bites him severely. The Aye-aye has large movable ears caused by listening for Grubs. The Potto is rather peevish. The Spectral Tarsier of the West Indies is uncanny. He has huge bug-eyes, elongated ankles and knobby toes. He is sometimes confused with Delirium Tremens. Lemurs comb their hair with their lower front teeth. They mature almost instantaneously. In a way we came from Lemurs because they are also descended from an extinct Tree Shrew something like a large Rat. From the Tree Shrew to the Dogfish is but a step, which practically brings us to the Amoeba. So perhaps the Lemur is to blame for it all.²

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¹Lemur catta.
²Aristotle would not have known a Lemur if it came up and bit him. He had enough to keep track of, without Lemurs.


IN TOMORROW AND SATURDAY NIGHT'S SUNDAY CLASSICS PREVIEWS: Mahler's military songs


SUNDAY IN RING LARDNER TONIGHT: Yes, "The Busher Returns"!!! It's Part 1 of You Know Me Al II


THURBER TONIGHT (including BENCHLEY, WILL CUPPY, WOLCOTT GIBBS, RING LARDNER, BOB AND RAY, E. B. WHITE, JEAN SHEPHERD, and PERELMAN TONIGHT): Check out the series to date

As noted above, after an unfortunate period of sloughing off, I've finally updated the "Thurber (et al.) Tonight" index, and will try to get back to keeping it current. I've even put the "et al." authors in alphabetical order! Is this an elite reference tool or what?

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