Show EARAIXG A MENAGERIE I How Arcliic Dirt It By An Th Graeme JIcKeozie i This particular menagerie stood on i Uncle Saths library mantel i i It was A wonderful piece of art The I hah theeyes the attitude of the aift I xnals onfe und all were perfect Their cages were ol polished wood with bright brass rods The keeper in fancy I costume whip in hand stood in a little I room behind red curtains looped back I with gap > gold ord A small silk flag I waved above all i Aithie thought the sight a dream of i beauty 33e said on one of his visits i Oh if ft were only mine that I might take it home and see it every day how happy would be Uncle Seth Uncle Seth did not act upon the hint j But there came u merry twinkle in his eyes when one day Apchie shyly remarked re-marked Uncle Seth dont you think you are Almost too big to play with a I j toy menagerie I The act was Uncle Seth had purchased pur-chased this menagerie In New York for I Archie But he had a peculiar way of bestowing gifts and as this was both a costly and instructive toy he wished Archie to gain possession of it in such a manner as to appreciate its value He replied 1 see Archie you want my meiiBgerie badly I will make this bargan with you If you will learn a quotation in verse about each animal and recite it to me with the name of the author and the name of the poem I I I I will give you the animals as fast us you earn them I Archie was only 9 J years old and not particularly fond of books but he declared r clared it would be easy I Perhaps so said his uncle but you i I must search for the quotations yourself and i ask any person to aid you 1 Archie hastened home and began on the books i his own little book case I He took down his schoolspeaker in which he was sure he remembered something about a lion In his eagerness eager-ness he passed by it as he hurriedly turned leaf after leaf At length with a shout < jf joy he bounded off to his r th uncles house Uncle Seth had not expected him back so soon Before he could speak Archie i i I shouted 4To beard the lion in his den From Sir Walter Scotts ilarmlon i Canlo Sixth The Battle Give me my lion S lionHis His um4e got up and unlocked I the nWir g 1 dal i lions cage and presented the animal i Archie troked the golden tawny mane of the miniature king of beasts all the way home gazing into his glowing amber am-ber eyes and feeling as triumphant as I i Barnum ever could have felt i Then the began to think about the I I hear Fftr bruin he searched long to 1 i find any quotation at all When he did discover one he thought it a very queer I one but rushed off with it to his uncle i The bear none too wise now so valiant and bold From the legend Why the Bear Is StumpyTailed For therociginal of this legend see Da cent Tales from the Norse Benjamin Hathawa His uncle was at dInner but got up and gave him the bear I An hour later Uncle Seth was sitting dozing an the porch when he was I aroused by a shrill voice at his side I The Assyrian came down like the wolf on the fold From The Destruction of I Sennacherib Lord Byron Bless the boy ejaculated Uncle S < th Hes rusher and oif he hobbled hob-bled to set the wolf It was a whole week before Archie put in another appearance He said he had been hunting tigers and had had a hard time But here he is A couchant couch-ant tiger seemed to fall From Snowbound Snow-bound John Greenleaf Whittler I Archie got his royal bengal a big silky fellow striped perfectly and felt well paid for his hard search After this he took the animals fast He called for the leopard next morning morn-ing before his uncle was up and disturbed dis-turbed him at breakfast with demands for both the fox and the elephant The whole village got Interested in the little bookborrower but he rejected every offer of Information He looked over some seventy volumes of poems it Is said Saturday night of the second week saw him the possessor of every beast and bird in the menagerie cages showmen and all And besIdes such a collection of authors names In his head |