Bridgeton pioneer., 1885-12-03
WILD BEASTS ASLEEP.
Inc Menagprie Animals Getting Little
Rest After Days Torment.

nest After a Days Torment.
AT sunset every evening Mr. Crow
ley, the chimpanzee, gravely shakes
hands with uperintendent Conklin, of
the Central park menagerie, and
marches off to bed like good little
boy, without ever begging for leave to
sit up 'just five minutes longer" 1t
Is bedtime then for all the other ami
mails, too, and Keeper Potts goes
around and locks all the doors. The
wicked small boy ceases from prodding,
and the weary cinnamon bear is at rest
Tor fourteen good, long hours. Not a
soul disturbs the tomb-like quiet of the
big house devoted to the lions, tigers,
and bears. Big Lincoln, the veteran
lion who likes to eat fat little boys,
poses majestically in the gathering
darkness, as motionless as if he were
carved out of bronze, and if it were not
Tor the wicked CLEAN in his eye you
would take him for a statue What
happy reflection is it makes his yellow
eye shine in the darkness like twin to-
pazes? Big Tom Donahoe knows. He
says that Lincoln's sole occupation by
night is planning practical jokes to be
played on unsuspecting countrymen
next day.
1t is midnight now, and nearly all
the animals in the big brown house are
asleep. Now is the time TO see the ter
rlble ilesh-eaters off dress parade. They
don't look at all blood-thirsty as they
lie stretched at length on their cage
floors. Lincoln's mate, Jennie, re-
cllnes in careless ease beside him, with
ponderous paw thrown lovingly across
his tawny neck. Tom Donahoc thrusts
his arm between the bars and strokes
her head. She likes it hugely, and
licAs his hand with her great, rasping
tongue. 'She's gentle as cow," says
Donahoe. Il keep solid with all of
them, but she's my pet.
In thck-barred cage across the
room is long pile Of black and yellow
fur, out of which four long. thick
strapped legs stick up defantly in the
air That is Adonis, the handsomest
tiger in the United States, and he
sleeps rs if he were doing it on salary.
VINO is that gasping on the G string of
contra-bass? The deep, low murmur
fills the room, and is as full of poetry
as the sound of distant surf, until YOU
find out that it is Adonis-snorino for
dear life.
The dirty-looking brown Hiamalay-
an bear doesn't say much, but he is
full OF business. Donahoe says he is
going to enter him for the belt at the
next six-day walk. Rasp! rasp! rasp!
his claws keep up continuous clatter
all night as he PAGES his close-barred
cell, training for big walk, Tom says.
The thick coat he wears must bother
him much these hot nights, especially
when the doors are all closed and the
cooling preezes cannot by any posi-
blllty blow through his bristles.
"Ihere's the meanest looking cuss, 1
ever saw" remarks Donahoe, pointing
to lank, ragged coated prairie wolf
that sinks into corner and glances
furtively and uspiciously at his visit
ors. His dull, yellow eyes, always
downcast, give him the look of a man
who robs graves for living, and his
keen-pointed nose is always on the
scent for some piece of rascality. As
the visitors approach the big cage in
the upper southwest corner there is a
scamperlng and rafting OF sharp claws
over the pine flooring rs the hyena
scurrles round and round looking for
some darker place to run to. ''Oh,
but you're the fine villain!" is Toms
pleasant greeting to him. ''At o'clock
every morning that fellow sits up in
his corner and laughs and laughs and
laughs. l know well what the wretch
is laughing at. but l wouldn't tell for
It's Il terrible secret" Two
new jaguars, with sleek, black-spotted
coats try to keep up Il reputation for
tierceness by lying awake all night,
crouched as for spring, and snarling
and swapping whenever anyone passes
the building. They are the wickedest
fellows in the house, and they are fully
up to the dime novel mans ideal dong,
lissome, blood-seeking tiends." They
are only new arrivals, and Tom says
they won't be half so fresh after few
months in the show business.
AS the visitors pass out the house is
quietas any dcrrnitory. The only sounds
that break the stiffness are AdoniS' tire
less snoring and the sleepy grunting of
the cinnamon bear. Then comes
short, quick yelp, followed by a long
drawn howl. Presto! change! Here is
a wonderful transformation. There is
a shutfiiug and rafting OF claws, as all
the sleepers wake up and run around
their cages. Then what chorus,
From the deep gur-r-r-r of old Lincoln
to the tiniest squeak of the guinea pig
every throat is busy, The noise shakes
the walls. For full five minutes the
racket keeps up, and then by degrees
subsidies.
At 2 o'clock all is serene again, and
once more Adonis snores sweetly,
peacefully, dreamlessIy.-Ne10 l0r&
[Tor5,1