, 1889-05-18
LISTEN TO THE LION.
HIS INFECTIOUS NATURE IS HELD
IN CHECK BY IRON BARS.

but He Has to Stand IT.
AYE, look at mel Crowd about and
stare, you opened mouthed, hard breath
ing mass of poor humanityl Note well
the tawny beauty Of my 1.-the form; the
delicate flneness of my tremuIous whisk-
ers; the languid droop of my long sleek
tail. Mark h powerful ease Of my
stride and leap to the shelf, where l can
lie at all my indolent length, and see you
far better than you can me. Crowd and
crush about my cage"-
"Ahl 1heord you, little girl. Icaught
the sorrowful, half whisper, Poor beast,
he does not like to be shut up Point
with thc rosy finger, half shy, half afraid
of the big, strange animal. You are a
tender morsel, you dimpled darling; but
heard the divine pity of your tone, lit
tie one, and l would not harm you even
If the tiny hand lay on my rebellious
neck. l have had prey almost as dainty.
| have seen the young fawn pant and
struggle and die In my relentless grasp;
| have tasted the hot blood that flowed
from its dappled, wounded side, and,
licking my chops with satisfied tongue,
l have crouched in my deep forest lair
and slept content
Lying snug on n winter night when all
the world was wrapped In snow and bit
er, piercing cold, 1 have heard the
mountains shudder and complain in
their icy winding sheet and the streams
gurgle 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 q full
soft luster the jewellers In these lower
places can never know. have watched
the small denizens of tho bills steal by
On fearful feet to tho air hole in the
winter course below and because of my
great content have let them go unframed
adown the perilous slopes. And now, to
lie on q shelf and DO stared ut Bahi /
hate you all. Gu-r-r-r-r.
You needn't jump, l can't get out; but
II l could, OIL If / couldi how you would
scatter before me like spray before the
windi Do you think l would stay here
In this hot, sitting, curious eyed city,
All, mol l know a better place than this,
far away in tho path of the setting sun.
A canyon 30 cool, so deep and dark that
tapping at midday from the turbulent
L law Cth hlIIOICu
therein the silver stars in the noontide
sky. Ahl that is tho place for mol Steep
and dark are Its sides, 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, a soundlcss car
pet of pine needles and-freedomi
"Sometimes l see the CLEAN of your
lake through my prison bars. do not
care for It l know another, not 30 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. l
SWAN 1t once.
"There is n fort there, but 1 needed
not. l plunged into the pure wave in
tent only on reaching the opposite shore,
but some n saw me, and her what o
fuss they made. They woke the sleep
ing echoes-many tongues in that land
with their clumsy firing. Tho echoes
were frightened. From peak to peak
they called and murmured and reiterated
h startling nows. l did not care.
Down under the blue wave for q moment
or two, and then I rose far beyond their
guns and shouts.
Their were fishers on tho lake. A boat
with three children for crew. Hardy
nestlings of the great eyrie of the west,
they knew not fear, and the bare legged
boys only shouted as l rose beyond them,
and the tousled, curly head and brave
blue eyes of the little girl turned and
stared In wonder ut 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 1 am to meet-at homo
In my own mountains. But here, bahl
SYMPATHY FoR OTHER CAPTTvEs.
81 am told there are two Polar bears
In as dire imprisonment as myself.
Cooped In o 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 homo save q
tiny stream that dashes its puny spray
over the pallid exiles.
"As they sit motionless do they muse
in desperation on the far off icy north,
that wondrous region that defes tho en-
trance of man; that holds In its vast
bosom most of those who dared try
to unlock its mysteries and assail 1t 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 q loaf OF bread tossed and crum-
bling on the sweltering stones compen-
safe for u juicy seal caught mapping or O
white feshed fish drawn from the great
refrigerator OF the universal
81 know there is an eagle here, for once
/ heard him cryi just once, but it was a
strange, sad sound, stiled with captivity,
/ have seen and heard him In our western
home, when with outspread wings and
curving neck he dropped straight from
the imperial vault of the mountain sky
to his eyrie on some bald, SCARED crag
and feeding there the brood of callow
eaglets, gave voice again and again to his
triumphant sense of power and freedom.
II hear 1t all again ut times In my