The Marietta journal. [volume] (Marietta, Ga.) 1866-1909, 1889-07-18
LISTEN TO THE LION.
HIS INFECTIOUS NATURE IS HELD
IN CHECK BY IRON BARS,

Looking Through Them at His Captors in
Calm Disdain he INDUCES in Retrospect
tiOD-Conhuement I'm q Den Is Irksome,
but He Has to Stand 1t.
AYE, look at mel Crowd about and
stare, you opened mouthed, hard breath
ing mass Of poor humanity! Note well
the tawny beauty of my 1.-THE form; the
delicate fineness Of my trenulous whisk-
ers; the languid droop of my long sleek
tail Mark the powerful ease Of my
stride and leap to the shelf, where can
lie at all my indolent length, and seeyou
far better than you can me. Crowd and
crush about my cage
"Ahi Iheard you, little girl. Icaught
the sorrowful, half whisper, 'Poor beast,
he does not like to be shut up Point
with the rosy finger. half shy, half afraid
OF the big, strange animal You are
tender morsel, you dimpled darling; but
heard the divine pity Of your tone, lit
tie one, and would not harm you even
If the tiny hand lay on my rebellious
neck. 1have had prey almost as dainty.
have seen the young fawn pant and
struggle and die in nay relentless grasp;
have tasted the hot blood thai flowed
from Its dappled, wounded side, and,
licking my chops with satisfied tongue,
havecrouched in my deep forest lair
and slept content.
Lying snug on a winter night when all
the world was wrapped in snow. and Bit
or, piercing cold, have heard the
mountains shudder and complain in
their icy winding sheet and the streams
Gurgie and battle chokingly under their
heavy frozen letters. have seen the
stars in the violet sky shine out like
great globes Of fire, almost within reach,
burning in the glorious arch with a full
soft luster the jewellers in these lower
places can never know. have watched
the small denizens of the hills steal BY
on fearful feet to the air hole in the
water course below and because of my
great content have let them go unframed
adown the perilous slopes. And now, to
lie on shelf and be stared at Bah!
hate you all. Gu-r-r-r-r.
"You needn't jump, can't get out; but
if could, obi if I couldl how you would
scatter before me like spray before the
wind! Do you think I would stay here
in this hot, sitting, curious eyed city?
All, mol l know better place than this,
far away in the path of the setting sun.
A canyon SO cool, SO deep and dark that
tapping at midday from the turbulent
mountain stream have seen mirrored
therein the silver stars in the noontide
sky. Ahl that is the place for me! Steep
and dark are its sides, murmurous with
the whispering of the great pines, fra
grant with balsamic smells, and alive
with stealthy, gliding forms and whir-
ring wings. There are messy caverns
and flashing waterfalls, soundless car
pet of pine needles and-freedomi
Sometimes I see the CLEAN of your
lake through my prison bars. do not
care for it. know another, not SO vast,
but thrice as lovely. Bluer than yours,
too, and cool and calm and clear, fed by
silent springs that steal through the gold
veined heart of the mountain; encom-
passed by wooded slopes that hide many
of my kin in their tangled depths. I
swan it once.
There is fort there, but I needed
not. Iplunged into the pure wave in.
tent only on reaching the opposite shore,
but some one saw me, and then what a
fuss they made. They woke the sleep
ing echoes-many tongues in that land
with their clumsy firing. The echoes
were frightened. From peak to peak
they called and murmured and reiterated
the startling news. did not care.
Down under the blue wave for q moment
or two, and then rose far beyond their
guns and shouts.
There were fishers on the lake. A boat
with three children for crew. Hardy
nestlings Of the great eyre of the west,
they knew not fear, and the bare legged
boys only shouted as rose beyond them,
and the tousled, curly head and brave
blue eyes Of the little girl turned and
stared in wonder at the great cat swim
ming the lake
Doubtless they were gathered close
to the maternal bosom when the adven-
ture was recounted and duly told what
q fearsome thing am to mee:-at home
in my own mountains. But here, bahi
SYMPATHY FOR OTHER CAPTIvEs.
II am told there are two Polar bears
in as dire imprisonment as myself.
Cooped in rocky cage fenced in with
iron bars, they who have known the
wide, white silences of the frozen sea
have no hint of their lost home save a
tiny stream that dashes its puny spray
over the pallid exiles.
"As they sit motionless do they muse
in desperation Or the far off icy north,
that wondrous region that defes the en-
trance Of man; that holds in its vast
bosom most Of those who dared try
to unlock its mysteries and assail it in
its might Do they dream and long for
the sullen roll of the icy sea, the crash
and grinding Of the great white floss,
the pale phantoms of towering berg, and
the wondrous radiance Of the Polar
lights2
"Does a loaf Of bread tossed and crum-
bling on the sweltering stones compen-
safe for juicy seal caught mapping or o
white fieshed fish drawn from the great
refrigerator of the universe?
81 know there is an eagle here, for once
heard him cry; just once, but it was a
strange. sad sound. stified with captivitv.