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11117
STRANLD A AGAZTNI.
slow camel ; nothing more than the “hairy scary oont” sung by AMr. Kipling. In DMr. Kipling’s ballad Mr. Atkins is made to call the camel many things, bhut never a ship ot the
desert. Contrarwise,
o the commissarint caan-u-el; when all s sald and done,
0% a devil, an’ o ostrich, an”a orphan child 1 one.
There you have the character of the camel I a dozen words.
Two attendants have the camels 1n the Zoo, Mr. Self and Mr. Toots. "The former is the officially appointed keeper, with the regular badge and unmforin. IHe has been master of the camecls for more than forty ycars, and knows a family (hu- man) infant representa- tives of which he has led round on camel-rides for threc
as g g e i Ty \ . N T — What Scli - - doesn’t
TIHE CAMLEL KEKPER, lll)(')l.lt
the little facls and fancies of “the hairy scary oont” there is nobody to tell hm Fle is a wary and observant person, is Scll. When a man has been forty years watching the affably -snuling camel, and looking out to avoid being suddenly jammed to death against a wall, or having his face Ditten off and his fect viciously trodden on, wary observation begins to be natural with him.
Mr. Toots occupics quite a different position m life from Mr. Self, being a cat. Mr. Toots, as fits his name, is a quict and reserved cat. Bob and Rose arc quite friendly with Mr. Toots, and will, if possible, avoid stepping on him, which is an astonishing degrec of amiability in a camcl; but, of course, so far as Rosc is concerned, she is an unusually amiable camel. Mr. Toots 1is a noticeable, carroty cat, and you can't deceive cither Bob or Rosc with a substitute. Once Mr. Toots was unwell, and a tabby was installed, as a temporary experiment, in his place. Bob was determined to suppress all spurious mnita- tions, and the last worldly sensation ol that unhappy tabby was conveyed through the medium of Bob’s fantastic toc. Thercfore Mr. Toots stll maintuns his monopoly, and may sit among Bob’s or Roses feet with confidence. Tom, however, docsn’t know him, and won’t. So that Mr. Toots, with the wiscly accommodating spirit of his namesake, says = Oh, 1Us of no consequence, thank you--no conscqucnce at
venerations.
MR, TOOTS.