Matinee To-Day.
Admission:
Grown Animals 50 cents.
Cubs, Puppies, etc. 4 dollars.
Jimmieboy laughed. "That's funny. They charge less for grown animals
than they do for baby animals."
"Not so funny as your plan, mister," said a gruff voice at Jimmieboy's
side, very respectfully however.
Jimmieboy looked around to see who it was that spoke and was a little
startled at first to see that it was a fine specimen of a tiger that had
addressed him.
"Don't shrink," said the tiger, seeing that the little boy was somewhat
frightened. "I won't hurt you. I'm wild, but I'm kind. Let me show you
my smile--you'll see what a big smile it is, and some day you'll learn
that an animal with a fine open countenance like mine is when I smile
can't be a bad animal. But to come back to what you think is a funny
scheme. We charge more for cubs than for grown animals because they are
more trouble. We talked it all over when we started the show and we
found that there was ten times as much mischief in a cub or a puppy as
there is in a grown up bear or dog, so we charged more; only as we don't
mind a little mischief we make the babies pay only eight times as much
as the others. It's simple and very natural, I think."
"That's true," said Jimmieboy. "It isn't so odd after all."
And then they went inside, where Jimmieboy was received by the mayor, a
very handsome lion, and his wife the lioness. All the other animals
cheered and the little boy soon came to feel that he was surrounded by
friends; strange friends perhaps, but faithful ones. He sat in the front
of the mayor's box and watched the cage-enclosed ring in which the
Hagenbecks were to perform. A monkey band played several popular tunes
in the gallery, after which the performance began.
First a baboon came out and announced a performance by six trained
clowns, who he said would crack jokes and turn somersaults and make
funny grimaces just as they did in their native lair. The monkey band
struck up a tune and in ran the clowns. To Jimmieboy's eyes they were
merely plain everyday circus clowns, but the way the baboon made them
prance around was wonderful. One of the clowns was a trifle sulky and
didn't want to crack his joke, but the baboon kept flicking him with the
end of his whip until finally he did crack it, although he might better
not have done so for he did it so badly that he spoiled it.
After this a pelican walked out and announced with a proud air that he
would now exhibit his flock of trained dudes, who would dance and sing,
and wear beautiful clothes and put the heads of their canes in their
mouths as intelligently as though they were pelicans and not dudes.
Jimmieboy was delighted with them, for after all he was quite like other
boys and was accustomed to lavish a great deal of admiration upon such
things as chewing gum and dudes. The most interesting feature of the
dude exhibition was their chrysanthemum drill. It must have taken the
pelican a long time to teach those dudes to pick up their
chrysanthemums and place them in their little button-holes with such
military precision as they displayed. Everybody applauded this wildly
and a great roar of laughter greeted the dudes' acknowledgment of the
applause, for the magnificent way in which they took off their silk hats
and bowed was truly droll.
"It's hard to believe they are merely human!" said the tiger to
Jimmieboy. "Their intelligence is more that of the pelican than of the
human kind."
"With a slight mixture of the monkey mind I should say, too," said the
elephant. "I'm told these dudes are very imitative."
"The Jumping Billikins!" cried the manager of the exhibition.
"What on earth is a Jumping Billikins?" asked Jimmieboy, who had never
heard of an animal of that kind before.
"Wait and see," said the tiger, with a laugh. "Most people call him a
nerve centre, but you wouldn't understand that, so I say wait and see."
As Jimmieboy could do nothing else he waited and in a minute the jumping
Billikins appeared, followed by six men. The jumping Billikins was
nothing more than a pretty little boy, about five years of age, and what
he did chiefly was to jump. The six men would put sofas about the ring
and the jumping Billikins would jump from one to the other as easily as
though he were a real chamois-skin goat. Then he gave a remarkable
exhibition of his hopping powers. He hopped up and down on one leg for
twenty-eight minutes, much to the wonderment of the elephant, who strong
as he was couldn't hop on one leg at all.
"Now watch the men," whispered the tiger. "The jumping Billikins is
going to have a romping match with them, and you'd hardly believe it
but he'll have them worn out in less than five minutes and yet he'll be
as fresh as a rose when he gets through."
Jimmieboy watched, and such a romp as followed he never had seen before.
The jumping Billikins was everywhere all the time. One second he'd be
riding pickaback on one man, the next you'd find him sitting on another
man's head trying to put his feet into the vest pockets of the third and
fourth men, while with his hands he'd be playing tag with the others.
There was no describing that romp, but as the tiger had said, before
five minutes the men were exhausted and the jumping Billikins, fresh as
ever, was bowing his thanks to the audience for their applause. Then he
walked proudly from the ring and the worn-out men were carried off by
the baboon's assistants.
The next thing on the programme was a talking contest between a parrot
and a chatterbox, but this Jimmieboy never saw, for a sudden shriek
from the engine waiting with the train at the station for his return
called him away. The animals expressed their regret at his early
departure and requested him to come again sometime, which the little
fellow promised to do.
"_I_ doan tink yo'll go again, mistah," said the porter, with a smile,
as the train drew away from the station.
"Why not?" asked Jimmieboy.
"Because----" said the porter. "Be-cause----"
And then, strange to say, he faded out of sight and Jimmieboy, rubbing
his eyes, was astonished to find that he wasn't on a railway train at
all but in his papa's lap, where he had been all along.