"Oh, ho, ho!! _I_ know! It's that boxing kangaroo you bought from
Barnum's circus!" and a charming girl was doubling up in a wild storm
of giggling, ignoring old Pat's scowls.
"Ah! That's him, all right," said Gadsby. "So, Pat, just put him in a
burlap bag and ship him to this zoo."
"Who? _I_ put him in a burlap bag? Say, boss! If I can pick up about
six husky guys around that station; and if I can find a _canvas_, not
a burlap, bag; and put on a gas mask, a stomach pad, two shin-guards,
and----"
But that crowd at Sarah's Arch was shouting for Gadsby to cut that
ribbon so old Pat had to bag that Australian tornado; and in a way
that would not hurt him; for kangaroo actors cost good cash, you know.
So that crowd of kids got in, at last! Now zoo animals can think, just
as humans can; and it was amusing to watch a pair of boys staring at a
pair of orang-outangs; and a pair of orang-outangs staring back at a
pair of boys; both thinking, no doubt, what funny things it saw! And,
occasionally, both animal and boy won a point! Now if you think that
only young folks find any fun in going to a zoo, you probably don't
go to zoos much; for many a big, rotund capitalist had to laugh at
simian antics, though, probably figuring up just how much satisfaction
his cash contribution brought him. Many a family woman forgot such
things as a finicky child or burning biscuits. All was happy-go-lucky
joy; and, at two o'clock, as Branton Hills' Municipal Band, (a part of
Gadsby's Organization of Youth's work, you know) struck up a bright
march, not a glum physiognomy was found in all that big park.
Gadsby and Lucy had much curiosity in watching what such crashing
music would do to various animals. At first a spirit akin to worry
had baboons, gorillas, and such, staring about, as still as so many
posts; until, finding that no harm was coming from such sounds, soon
took to climbing and swinging again. Stags, yaks and llamas did a bit
of high-kicking at first; Gadsby figuring that drums, and not actual
music, did it. But a lilting waltzing aria did not worry any part of
this big zoo family; in fact, a fox, wolf and jackal, in a quandary at
first actually lay down, as though music truly "hath charms to calm a
wild bosom."
At Gadsby's big aquarium visitors found not only fun, but opportunity
for studying many a kind of fish not ordinarily found in frying pans;
and, though in many lands, snails form a popular food, Lucy, Sarah and
Virginia put on furious scowls at a group of boys who thought "Snails
might go good, with a nut-pick handy." (But boys always _will_ say
things to horrify girls, you know.) And upon coming to that big glass
building, with its boa constrictors, alligators, lizards and so on,
a boy grinningly "got a girl's goat" by wanting to kiss a fifty-foot
anaconda; causing Lucy to say, haughtily, that "No boy, wanting to kiss
such horrid, wriggly things can kiss us Branton Hills girls." (Good for
you, Lucy! I'd pass up a _sixty_-foot anaconda, any day, for _you_.)
In following months many a school class was shown through our zoo's
fascinating paths, as instructors told of this or that animal's habits
and natural haunts; and showing that it was as worthy of sympathy,
if ill, as any human. And not only did such pupils obtain kindly
thoughts for zoo animals, but cats, dogs and all kinds of farm stock
soon found that things had an uncommon look, through a dropping off in
scoldings and whippings, and rapidly improving living conditions. But
most important of all was word from an ugly, hard-looking woman, who,
watching, with an apologizing sniff, a flock of happy birds, said:--
"I'm sorry that I always slap and bawl out my kids so much, for I know,
now, that kids or animals won't do as you wish if you snap and growl
too much. And I trust that Mayor Gadsby knows what a lot of good all
his public works do for us."
Now this is a most satisfactory and important thing to think about, for
brutality will not,--_cannot_,--accomplish what a kindly disposition
will; and, if folks could only know how quickly a "balky" child will,
through loving and cuddling, grow into a charming, happy youth, much
childish gloom and sorrow would vanish; for a man or woman who is ugly
to a child is too low to rank as highly as a wild animal; for no animal
will stand, for an instant, anything approaching an attack, or any form
of harm to its young. But what a lot of tots find slaps, yanks and
hard words for conditions which do not call for such harsh tactics!
_No_ child is naturally ugly or "cranky." And big, gulping sobs, or
sad, unhappy young minds, in a tiny body should _not_ occur in any
community of civilization. Adulthood holds many an opportunity for such
conditions. Childhood should not.
Now just a word about zoos. Many folks think that animals in a zoo know
no comforts; nothing but constant fright from living in captivity.
Such folks do not stop to think of a thing or two about an animal's
wild condition. Wild animals must not only constantly hunt for food,
but invariably fight to kill it and to _hold_ it, too; for, in such a
fight, a big antagonist will naturally win from a small individual.
Thus, what food is found, is also lost; and hunting must go on, day by
day, or night by night until a tragic climax--by thirst or starvation.
But in a zoo, food is brought daily, with facility for drinking, and
laid right in front of hoofs, paws or bills. For small animals, roofs
and thick walls ward off cold winds and rain; and so, days of calm
inactivity, daily naps without worrying about attack; and a carting
away of all rubbish and filth soon puts a zoo animal in bodily form
which has no comparison with its wild condition. Lack of room in which
to climb, roam or play, _may_ bring a zoo animal to that condition
known as "soft"; but, as it now has no call for vigor, and its fighting
passions find no opportunity for display, such an animal is gradually
approaching that condition which has brought Man, who is only an
animal, anyway, to his lofty point in Natural History, today. Truly,
with such tribulations, worry, and hard work as Man puts up with to
obtain his food and lodging, a zoo animal, if it could only know of our
daily grind, would comfortably yawn, thankful that Man is so kindly
looking out for it. With similar animals all around it, and, day by
day, just a happy growth from cub-hood to maturity, I almost wish that
I was a zoo animal, with no boss to growl about my not showing up,
mornings, at a customary hour!