Fort Worth gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1891-1898, 1891-05-24
TO AN ADMiRING PUBLIC.
Alice and Jim Bexar in the New York Park.
An Emotional Afternoon-Music and
Monkeys-Jim's Disagree
able Mischief.


must have some little compenSating draw
back. We went up to Central park last
Saturday to enjoy the fresh loneliness of
the place in its spring suit, and TO see and
hear all that is there to be seen and heard
the Seventh regiment band, the museum,
the menagerie, the crowd, etc.
We passed by q bench in a retired nook
where sat 4 nurse maid with her charge
and d gentleman. The girl was uumistaka-
bly, German. with 4 skin like wild rose,
fiaXen hair and large. gentle blue eyes. 1t
was the face of a simple, ingenious child.
in which every thought and emotion was
reflected from the moment of its birth. Her
color came and went. she rolled the baby
back and forth nervouSly; and alternately
the big blue eyes We're cast down and raised
to those of the man beside her-haif fright
ened. half pleased. He was q good-looking,
elegantly dressed young gentleman; and he
leaned toward her and spoke IL low voice
and in her own soft German.
FAUST AND MARGU EEITE.' SAID I.
ooh, YOU know EN-" inquired jim.
YES | returned. ''when ! see them"
The crowd was enormous. There were
all sorts AMI conditions of folk, and every
Imaginable variety of costume, gait and
bearing. | enjoy this sort Of thing i'm
mensely when alone, but the comments of
the free and fearless Arab at my side lent
q new piquancy and spirit to the amuse
ment.
We went up as close as we could to the
pavilion, where the band was playing some
operatic selection or Il piece OF semi-claSSic
music. | wanted to hear, but II was almost
impossible on account of the restless NOV
ing of thousands of feet and the intermit
tent murmuring of thousands of voices.
The piece ended. After a pause, u note
like the sublimatiOn and GENERALIZATION of
Il bird tone sailed out across the vast crowd.
1t was Il piccOlO solo, Sweet Home,
When the Swallows" or .Suwanee
River: at first the simple air, then
through again and again with every sort of
dainty ornament and fanciful variation.
The crowd pressed noiSeleSSly close, and
listened in rapt silence to the exquisite
strains, with their accompaniment Of swish
-swish-swishing feet, very soft and in
distinct, on more distant walks. | looked
around at the faces near me: all were
touched and melted by the same feeling;
none was so homely, so coarse or evil, but
it showed trace, glimpse, Shadowing
of divine origiQ-itS heavenly nativity. As
for Jim, the big brown eyes were full of
tears; and when the player ceased, he re-
marked that the sun was in our eyeS-we'd
better move
Yes, " said I. I'm mashed as fiat as a
paper doll nOw.''
THE MUSEUM WAS CLOSED
and we went on to the menagerie. AS we
came within SlSuU OF IHc cdfIllNOrd cages
i magnificent lion rose. stretched his head
upward and roared out his uneasiness and
distress again and again. AS looked at
the superb and terrible beast, 4 smaller,
tawny head emerged Il little from behind
his 1t was the lionesS rubbing her cheek
against his in mute tenderness and SYM
pathy. He raised his head again and NUT
tered once or twice, but finally turned MS
eyes upon her, hesitated, then lay down.
che c1anninC beside him with ta,.
cheek nestled beneath his. 1t was beau
tiful picture to the eye, but it was yet
more touching and eloquent to the heart.
How mysterious the might and beauty of
the love God puts in the hearts of his
creatures: the faithful tenderness that
could thus soothe the myseries, of hopeless
captivity and exile for powerful and i'm
periOuS monarch.
Here | heard 4 call from Jim. and went
over TO see what he had discovered
.Why-why, they're buffaloes, aren't
they? Poor, sick looking things; ragged.
an weak, an sorry. They're not much
like the fellows we used to chase out on
the plains.' And, thereupon, he gave me
a brief but dramatic description of how he
ago, up in the territory. while driving trail
cattle. ! enjoyed it very much and the
interest and delight of large and rapidly
augmenting audience We're mbounded.
l had difficulty in getting him away with
out responding to an enthusiastic encore.
jim was more fun than any small boy [
ever personally conducted" out to a cir
Gus. He fairly shed tears of delight over
the monkeys. He pinched the tail of one
that wasn't, looking, at the same time con-
veying the impression that its neighbor
was the guilty party, thereby setting them
to cutting ears and pulling hair with the
utmost spirit and good will.
HE TICKLED THE BEARS NOSES
with a spear of grass and made them
sneeze; he stood in front of the camels and
looked al their half sneering, half apathetic
countenances, till his under lip began to
protrude; he was interested in the iackals.
deer antelope and goats, and told some
hunting yarns that were very popular with
the crowd.
1t was give and take between Jim and the
rest of the animals. and | can't say either
side came out ahead. While i'm was max
ing insulting grinaces at Il naughty and
offiish old camel, the baby elephant reached
ont and felt of his left ear, thus artlessly
making known his wish for more apples:
but when Jim felt the cold touch he leaped
into the air as though an adder had stung
him. and emitted an agoniZed yell. His
sheepish look when he found what had
alarmed him, and saw the poor little baby
elephant SO scared and apologize. was the
funniest thing of the sort ever saw
He offered pretty silver matchbox to
the emu The bird promptly snapped it
out of his hand and swallowed it. TO Jim's
blank establishment and my delight.
He leaned far over the railing that sur
rounds the alligators, and inquired as he
stirred up one of the motionless creatures
with his umbrella, ARE the things aliye?r
And the thing Tipped its tail up as
though il had been suddenly galvanized. al
most knocking Jim down, and sending his
hat over into the seals tank 100 feet
away, and more.
There was one small animal in front of
whose nameless cage Jim stood in openeyed
wonder and away from which
ICoULD SCARCELY DRAG HIM
so great was his interest and curositv. It
was small, neutral tinted animal, about as
large as a coon; it had five or six legs. a
striped tail. extremely flexible and express
sive. ahigh forehead, large almond eyes. a
retrousse nose, a large and somewhat
irregular mouth, furnished with the same
sort of teeth, a retreating chin, and an arch
Pears soap
expression It toed il with all of its five or
six feet. walked with Grecian bend and
an air OF self-consciousness Its manner
and bearing were blending of the diplo-
matte politician and the Sauve and subtitle
society intriguante. There was guile in
the oblioue glance of those Sophisticated
almond ewes hollowness and insincerity all
over the Machiavelian countenance, dis
stimulation in every twist of the facile tail.
The mincing, pigeon-Ioed tread was the
very step Of craft and treachery: and there
was CANNON. rank gammon, in every move