Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1900-12-22

In huge barn away out on Western
row, which seemed to have been built
to fit it. y good big room was parti-
toned off for me in one front corner.
The cages were ranged along the side
walls, with runway behind them, and
in box stalls across the farther end
were the zebra, the elephant. the cam
el and the sacred COW. \ monster red
hot stove stood in the middle of the
central space, with large bunch light
over it. Altogether it was as warm,
bright, clean and CHEEKY a place as
you'd want to see, as everybody said
who saw it. and we had good many
visitors.
Gagged animals become restless If left
alone, and | never went out more than
an hour or two at a time, but even at
that ! took n good many long walks
for exercise and to see the city, leaving
black SAMMY helper-and the two
cage cleaners for the animals to look
at. But as time ran along to near
Christmas | seemed to lose heart for
going out much. Something in the
air made me feel myself. more than
ever before, hopclessly lonesome
homeless total stranger.
The stores were brighter and gayer
than ] had ever noticed their being
before; the streets full of happy faced
people carrying bundles of Christmas
presents; the windows of homes adorn-
ed with evergreen festOons and Christ
mas wreaths; the shOpmen's wagons
busy delivering good things for Christ
mas dinners and Christmas trees.
The Lord knows | didn't begrudge
anybody's happiness. but it all made
me feel unutterably sad In all the
world | knew of no one whose eyes
would brighten or lips smile n welcome
for my coming. AS for sharing in the
general JOY of the Christmas season, l
might as well have been that ornary
camel-the meanest dispositioned beast
alive, to my thinking-as a man with
heart to feel his loneliness. Every
other man had friends, even poor old
black Sam.
And what made 1t harder to bear
was that home and love belonged in
my past and | could not forget them
When | came back to New York after
winter engagement with "Bentlcy's
Aggregation" in the West Indies and
South America, | found my dear wife
Lizzie had been run down by a Broad
way stage and killed. And what had
become of my sweet little baby girl
Jennie, only 4 years old, nobody could
tell me. That was dozen years back,
but never since have | felt any less
heartsick and lonely than when my
Srlef was fresh, and in the winter
along about Christmas. | always feel 1t
most
The animals as sat brooding by the
stove, seemed to know | was in trou-
bic and feel sorry for me. They would
stand still long time looking at me,
and the elephant, I'm sure, tried to ask,
by his little sQueals, what was the mat
ter Only that mean camel screwed
up his nose scornfullike, as If he didn't
care cuss who felt bad, which he cer-
tainly didn't.
Friday morning. the third day before
Christmas, Jack Henderson, a young
reporter, dropped in. as he often did,
and happened to remark: ut seems
hard to be imprisoned for life without
nm occasional happy day to vary the
monotOny. Gagged animals ought to
have holidays"
That set me thinking after he was
gone, and made up my mind the men,
agerie under my charge should, for
once anyway, have a Christmas | con-
sidercd what every bird and beast in
the lot liked best and mostly never
got, and all those things meant they
should have on Christmas day. That
afternoon went out buying and laugh
ed to myself when thought | was ac-
tually purchasing Christmas presents
for lot of folks who would be sure to
appreciate them.
] got for the birds all sorts of choice
fruits, nice seeds, ants eggs, meal
worms, and so on, according to their
several tastes, and for the monkeys
more fine fruit, fig paste, candy au1