n obscure trouble of mind when, the last thing,
four or five ponies were brought out with as many monkeys tied on their
backs, and set to run a race round the ring. The monkeys always looked
very miserable, and even the one who won the race, and rode round
afterwards with an American flag in his hand and his cap very much
cocked over his left eye, did not seem to cheer up any.

The boys had their own beliefs about the different animals, and one of
these concerned the inappeasable ferocity of the zebra. I do not know
why the zebra should have had this repute, for he certainly never did
anything to deserve it; but, for the matter of that, he was like all the
other animals. Bears were not much esteemed, but they would have been if
they could have been really seen hugging anybody to death. It was always
hoped that some of the fiercest animals would get away and have to be
hunted down, and retaken after they had killed a lot of dogs. If the
elephants, some of them, had gone crazy, it would have been something,
for then they would have roamed up and down the turnpike smashing
buggies and wagons, and had to be shot with the six-pound cannon that
was used to celebrate the Fourth of July with.

Another thing that was against the show was that the animals were fed
after it was out, and you could not see the tigers tearing their prey
when the great lumps of beef were thrown them. There was somehow not so
much chance of hooking into a show as a circus, because the seats did
not go all round, and you could be seen under the cages as soon as you
got in under the canvas. I never heard of a boy that hooked into a show;
perhaps nobody ever tried.

A show had the same kind of smell as a circus, up to a certain point,
and then its smell began to be different. Both smelt of tan-bark or
saw-dust and trodden grass, and both smelt of lemonade and cigars; but
after that a show had its own smell of animals. I have found in later
life that this is a very offensive smell on a hot day; but I do not
believe a boy ever thinks so; for him it is just a different smell from
a circus smell. There were two other reasons why a show was not as much
fun as a circus, and one was that it was thought instructive, and
fellows went who were not allowed to go to circuses. But the great
reason of all was that you could not have an animal show of your own as
you could a circus. You could not get the animals; and no boy living
could act a camel, or a Royal Bengal