The Mt. Sterling advocate. (Mt. Sterling, Ky.) 1890-current, 1894-09-25
A Gagged LION.

In front OF the entrance "Sp1eler"
stood on a starchbox and beat upon
d piece of tin with a stick, and we
wea KY succumbed to his frenzied ap-
pea,s and went inside. We did this,
aLn sure, partly to please the spiel
Ter, who would have been dreadful
ly disappointed if we had not done
SO, but partly, too, to please Toppan,
who was always interested in the
great beasts and liked to watch them.
1t is possible that you may remem-
Der Toppan as the man who married
Victoria Boyden, and in so doing
sthrust his greatness from him and
became bank clerk instead of an
explorer. After he married he came
TO be quite ashamed of what he had
done in Tibet and Africa and other
after awhile very seldom spoke of
that part of his life at all, or when
me did it was only to allude to it as
passing boyish fancy, altogether fool
ish and silly, like calf love and early
attempts at poetry.
USCO " LlAAuh Il was BOlIR W Stb
the world on fire at one time, he said
once. Il suppose every young fell
low has some such ideas. only made
an ass of myself, and I'm glad I'm
we'll out of it. Victoria saved me
from that"
But this was long afterward. He
died hard, and sometimes he would
have moments of strength in his
weakness, just as before he had given
up his career during a moment of
weakness in his strength. During
Che first years after he had given up
his career he thought he was content
with the way things had come to be,
but it was not so, and now and then
the old feeling, the love of the old
life, the old ambition, would be
stirred into activity again by some
light or sound or episode in the con-
ventional life around him.
A chance paragraph in a newspa-
per, a sight of the Arizona deserts of
sage and cactus, momentary panic
on ferryboat, sometimes even fine
music or great poem, would wake
the better part of him to the desire
Of doing great things. At such times
the longings grew big and troublous
within him to cut loose from it all
and get back to those places of the
earth where there were neither
months nor years, and where the
days of the week had no names;
where he could feel unknown winds
blowing against his face and unnam-
ED mountains rising beneath his feet;
where he could zee greatsandy, stony
stretches of desert with hot, blue
khadows and plains of salt and thick
cts of jungle grass, broken only by
the lairs of beasts and the paths the
steinbok make when they go down
to water.
The most trifling thing would re-
call all this to him just as couple of
notes have recalled to you whole |
arias and overtures. But with Top
pan it was as though one had re-
called the arias and the overtures |
and then was not allowed to sing |
them.
We went into the arena and sat |
down. The ring in the middle was
fenced in by great circular iron
cage. The tiers of seats rose around
this a band was playing in a box
overthe entrance, and the whole in
terror was lighted by an electric
globe slung over the middle of the
cage.
Inside the cage a brown bear-to
me less suggestive of wild animal
chan of lap robes and furriers' signs
was dancing sleepily and allowing
himself to be prodded by a person
whose celluloid standing collar show
ed white at the neck above the
green of his Tyrolese costume. The
bear was NANCY, and his steel muz-
gle had chafed him, and Toppan said
he was corrupted of moth and rust
alike, and the audience applauded
but feebly when ne and his keeper
Withdrew.
After this we had a clown elephant,
dressed in a bib and tucker and vast
baggy breeches-like those of par
ticularly big French Turco-who
had lunch with his keeper and rang
the bell and drank his wine and
wiped his mouth with a handker-
chief like a bed quilt and pulled the
chair from underneath his compan-
ion, seeming to be amused at it all
with strange sort of suppressed ele.
phantine mirth.
A8d then, after they had both
made their bow and gone out, in
bounded and tumbled the dogs, bark
ing and grinning all over, jumping
p on their stools and benches, wrig-
fling and pushing one another about,
kiggling and excited, like so many
kindergarten children ON show day.
Z am sure they enjoyed their per-