St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 49

BSk tiii 1f II. I. t. Published ELverq Dai Wcek-dau-1 and Junda-iir in the ST. LOU IS POST-DISPATCH PART FOUR ST.

LOUIS, FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 27, 1953 PAGES 1-8D EE Paralyzed Veteran in Solo Flight Do Animals Think? Speculation on Why Chipper Left Home By Leonard Hall OFTEN as we work and play with our an-mals, we wonder what Is going on inside their minds; what thought processes govern their actions. The scientists who work with an. r- mmmmm WW lmais only in the laboratory may say that all or most of these actions are governed entirely by instinct and conditioning, and not at all by consciousness, understanding and the thing we call reason. Yet as Joseph Wood Krutch noted recently in a delightful essay called, "Not As Dumb As You Think," when we begin by deny- intf oil A A'i I I S'Jls'i I ft' JAMAICA CHILDREN GREET QUEEN Queen Elizabeth II and her husband, the Dule of Edmburah. rids in the Bnhuh version nf a Jeep, a land rover, as they see end are seen by more than 2000 youngsters assembled at Sabina park, Kingston, Jamaica, for the royal visit there yesterday.

Continuing their round-the-world tour, Elizabeth and the Dub today were to board the liner Gothic for the trip through' the Panama canal and on to the Fii islands in the South Pacific. AAMOCIated Pre Radlogioto. Special sling chair is used to lower Sammy Gregono, paralyzed veteran of World War II, into the airplane in which he made solo flight at Richmond, yesterday. His instructor, Hunter Jones, works th chain hoist. Gregorio, a Veterans Administration hospital patient, ii technically a quadraplegic but retains the use of one weak muscle in each arm, sufficient to enable him to pilot the specially equipped plane.

I'ipss Wirppholo. II 5h iTnnTTIlntn- -rrmj and understanding to animals, we are likely to end by denying them also to human beings. Thus when the Russians start out with Pavlov's "conditioned" dogs, they eventually arrive at the equally "conditioned" human victims of the purge trials. In doing this they have proved that wide variety of living creatures may be ronditioned by various unpleasant techniques. But I doubt they have proved at all that either dogs or men arc altogether lacking in sensibility or Intelligence.

THE TI11XG WHICn STARTED this train of though was speculation about our lost Chipper. On hundreds of occasions when we have left the farm, sometimes for an hour and sometimes for a day or two, both Chipper and Mike have dutifully stayed at home, granted It has always been with a melancholy countenance. In fact, Chipper has seemed to mind being left behind much less than Mike. Thus on the scientific grounds of "conditioning," when we returned that Sunday morning after an hour's visit with a neighbor, we'd have found the little black cocker waiting for us on the front porch. It is true that the routine on this particular Sunday varied slightly from most other occasions.

I was carrying in a sack, a stray tabby cat which had grown fat drinking milk In our chicken house and which the Bufords wanted for a mouser around their barn. Ginny had in her arms the new Irish setter pup, just six weeks old, with which both older dogs have shown little patience. SINCE WE KNOW that on this particular morning Chipper attempted to follow the car for the first time In nine years, she must have reasoned that for the first time she was really being left alone. It was a wrong conclusion, but it could hirrdly have been arrived at through instinct or conditioning. The fact that we took the new dog with us probably added weight to the idea in her mind.

Our first thought was that someone must have come to the house and left their car open when they knocked at our floor and that Chip had climbed into the back of their car and had been driven away before they discovered her. It seemed unlikely she'd be stolen, for who would want a little dog that was turning gray around the muzzle and was obviously past her prime? But then we found a neighbor who'd been at the house a half-hour after we left and had commented on the fact that Mike was there to greet them, but no Chipper. A DOZEN PHONE CALLS about stray cockers came from St. Louis In answer to our advertisements and Ginnie drove in and made the rounds of all lhat sounded like possibilities, but to no avail. The first news came after a week.

George Rcitzcl wrote from St. Louis that on the Sunday In question he was driving home from his deer hunt and saw Chipper trotting up the road, a mile north of the farm. Then on Saturday, almost two weeks after Chipper was lost, came our first real word. Buster Kcaton, who drives one of the Wallen busses between Ironton and St. Louis, read our notice in the Mountain Fxho.

And he recalled that on his noon trip on the Sunday in question, he had slowed down just opposite our farm to pull around a groen pick-up truck which had stopped ahead of him. There were two children In the back of the truck, which was headed north, and a woman was out at the side of the road picking up a black cocker spaniel which had just started through the fence, heading toward our house. So now we at least have the consolation of knowing that Chipper wasn't killed or injured and are hoping that in some way we may come into contact with the people who "rescued a little stray dog," as they certainly must have felt they were doing. GETTING BACK AGAIN to the matter of animal intelligence, the point is not whether a cat or dog, a horse or deer or fox or codfish "thinks" in human terms. Although all of them, even the codfish, have a great deal in common with people the same vital organs and senses, for example it is not necessary that all their mental processes should be the same as ours.

And certainly we know that many of their senses are far more acute, just as their reactions are often more intense. What member of your family, for example, shows quite the unfeigned joy when you come home from the office In eve-ring that is shown by your cocker spaniel? We need not go to the extreme of crediting every wild tale we hear or read about the supposed wisdom and intelligence of animals. Yet neither need we try to interpret the song of the cardinal singing in a tree-top in purely mechanistic terms. This is, after all, to apply a human yardstick to a bird and who are we to say that the cardinal get no joy out of his iinging? ADVERTISEMENT FIRE DEPARTMENT GETS t'A new urriucto I I. it i i I josepn m.

uarsT, cny register, ana men ot the Fire Department enpy the occasion as new captains and battalion chiefs are sworn in at City Hall today. J-. 4: t. crt? In group (from left) are: Kalph fc. Lowe, Joseph Boschert, Joseph C.

Flndlay, Philips T. Nix. Harrv Wilcox, James J. Malley, Harvey E. Talbott.

Joseph L. Nixon Frank J. Becker, Grant Beraer. Chief Walter H. Kammann, Joseph P.

Sestric, direc- tor ot public safety, and Lowe and Findlay are the new battalion chiefs, others are captains. Bj PM1.DlM)tlch 11 "1 4 sa MAYOR AIDS DYSTROPHY DRIVE A worthy cause and radiant onlookers make for easy giving as Mayor Raymond R. Tucker makes his contribution today to the Muscular Dystrophy Association fund. Girls are Joan (left) and Jean Corbett, movie twins who are touring the country in aid of the drive. Accepting the contribution is James Heifz, officer of -the letter carriers' union whose members are devoting free time tonight to the pickup of donation envelopes on their routes, Br a Cost Di-walch 1'hotoaraiilipr.

PRESIDENT TURNS MOVIE MAKER President Eisenhower gets in the spirit of the occasion and makes use of motion picture camera as reporters and press photcgraDhers were shown the presidential cottage at Augusta National Golf Club Wednesday. Dubbed Mamie's Cottage," the dwelling turned out to be something more than a cottage. Erected by members of the club for vacation use by the President and his family, the house has two living rooms, four bedrooms, each with bath and dressing room, kitchen facilities and a communications room in addition to accommodation for 1 i llllllllllIWMIIllMIIIIMiMimiiifiif-'fl''f't Secret Service men. AssncUlpd Frfsa Wlrfphnto. (mt) nationally gSP, FAMOUS FOR il n) fj) fffl PalsUff Prwfni Cflrp ft, Lfluil.

Mo i Jv OmH, Ns Orleans. Li San Jan, Calif. MISS PAGE ONE CROWNED Miss Bonnie Brennan as she assumed her place as Miss Page One at the annual Page One Ball of the St. Louis Newspaper Guild at Hotel Chase Wednesday night. An employe of Post-Dispatch television station KSD-TV, Miss Brennan is the daughter of Mr.

and Mrs. Charles Brennan, 4054 South Spring avenue. In group (from left) are: Charlotte Sipp of KSD-TV, queen's attendant; Mrs. Marian Dunk of the Globe-Democrat, last year's ball queen; Miss Brennan, Caniff and Pat Keady of the Globe-Democrat, an attendant. The flower girl ii Linda Stevens, daughter of Mr.

and Mrs. Edward Stevens, 1920 South Twelfth street. Bf rMt-Dlnpuch rtwtntrntAw. THANKSGIVING DINNER AT HARBOR LIGHT Ma. John Potter cf the Salvation Army serves one of the 900 persons who enjoyed Thanksgiving dinner at the organization's Harbor Light center, 915 Market street, yesterday.

Elsewhere, residents of the St. Louis area observed the holiday at family gatherings and church services, with high school football games sharing the afternoon spotlight with traditional turkey dinners. Pr Post-Dispaich ruotograithar..