The Cape Girardeau Democrat., 1896-07-18
ADVENTURE WITH A LION.

Or lovable beast. l have not enjoyed
the pleasure of a personal acquaintance
| with this king of quadrupeds in his ma
tive wilds and solitudes. 1 speak now
| simply from Il home eNperience-from
what | have seen of him in geological
| gardens, travelling caravans and menag-
rries; but, judging from these posts of
observation, l think l have formed
toerably fair estimate of his character
and disposition. The story of the mouse
that nibbled the net, set the captive
! monarch free, and earned the latter's
undy ing gratitude; with that of An
| drocles, picking out the thorn, and dis
covering an old friend years afterwards
in the fierce animal who had been COM
! missioncd to eat him, are all very well,
and pretty and picturesque in their
way, but these were evidently eXcep-
tionally good-natUred brutes. AMI
modern representatives of the genus"
would, fear. have exhibited far less
gcruple and made short work of both.
! have always. from boy, liked to
! stand within a few inches (the bars be-
/ tween us) of one of these majestic Great
ures, and peer into those huge bronze
| eyes, turned scornfully away with that
far-off look as though gazing into the
| depths of distant forests. | was one
| day thus interestingly engaged, when 4
! young artist came. with crayons and
! sketch-book. in the hope of getting Il
! good front view of our tawny friends
| physio%nomy and transferring it after
wards 10 canvas; but the latter, not in
mood to appreciate the compliment,
wheeled deliberately round and sat
down with his back to us. Getting tired
ofthe sulks, however, by and by he arose
and went to quench his thirst at the
trough. Nothing could be better"
cried the enraptured artist. Il wanted
TO catch him at that" and he made Il
splendid picture with Il few mastery
strokes of little bit of charcoal, held
lightly between his finger and thumb
On another occasion l stood watching
a very large lion in the L Geological
gardens. He had finished his dinner
and was lying half asleep in the front of
the cage, with his paws crossed and n
huge well-polished bone between them,
when a handsome young sailor APP
preached, put his hand coolly through,
seized the drowsy captive by the name,
and shook him rs one would 4 tame cat.
The lion awokc quickly at the insult,
and darted forth paw, but pulled the
daring youth back by the collar just in
time to save mis- arm. l shall not soon
forget the rage of the angry beast be-
hind the bars, the lightning flash of his
eyes, and the roar he set up at not being
able to redress the grievance.
Let me now shift the scene from Eng
land to n small settlement in upper
Canada, 100 miles or more north of
Lake Ontario, and not far from one of
my old huntin%-grounds.
Hans Derrick, an enterprising show
man, by dint of infinite pains and per-
severance had brought up his four car
avans of animals into the ''bush" on eX-
hibition. Eeing quite new thing in
that out-of-the-way part of the world,
Dcrrick's collection drew numbers of
people from the neighboring settle
ments, and there was full tent of en-
thusiastic spectators. wild-beast per-
formance being promised as part of
the show. Next to the elephant, who
claimed the largest share of popular
wonder and admiration, the lion
called Gen. Taylor" in compliment to
that military hero who was then earn
ing laurels in Mexico-enjoyed q fair
amount of both. He was prodigious- |
ly fine specimen, and, except now and
then, when something rufiied him ION
which occasion he thought nothing of
eating 4 keeper or two), u beast of toll |
erably amiable department and gentle
manly manners. l was subsequently |
informed that he had bitten off the |
head of young girl who was supposed |
to be a particular favorite of his. Der |
rick, though l detected little anxiety |
on his countenance at times, was able |
to walk into his cage, caress him, and |
do other things that kept the onlook- |
ers' hearts in pleasing state of palpita- |
ton. Having gone through these
everyday feats. he now advanced, whip |
in hand, and invited any person pres
ent to accompany him into the den |
and shake its grim occupant by the
paw.
There was dead silence. No one !
moved.
"Will any gentleman come for
ward?" repeated Hans, gazing round |
the sea of faces. THE. general is in
good humor tonight and receives COM
pany."
Still lilo one accepted his offer. A
ma0 got up from his seat, but sat down
nSaIn suddenly. Two others did the
same, their wives seizing them by their
jacket skirts.
Derrick laughed scornfully. What"
he cried, striking his boot with the
light whip he held, Il see several six
foot-ond-a-half fellows among you, and !