THE TRAVELLER.

Otago Witness, Issue 1975, 26 December 1889, Page 36

THE TRAVELLER.

HASTY PAPERS ON A TRIP TO THE HOME COUNTRY. THE ZOO. We have spent so much time in buildings and pacing the streets that a visit to the Zoo .would be an agreeable diversion. Let us take our way thither, and be'snre we are accompanied by a goodly number of children. Who has not heard his mother or father, his uncle or aunt, relation, or friend dilate upon the manifold joys of. this enchanted spot 1 : We enter and- make straight for the monkey house, there to behold big monkeys and little monkeys, brown monkeys and grey monkeys, frolicsome monkeys and doleful monkeys, old monkeys and young monkeys. "Wot larks!" Out on to the paths again with nine small youngsters in a high state of glee scampering round as our own contingent, and who shall say how many more the respective compliments of the. hundreds of maters and, paters who swarm' everywhere. Here comes a lumbering elephant with a dozen, or more youngsters on his back,- like a living tramcar. As he tramps soberly along he' coils up, his trunk and thrusts- it out from side to f side begging alms. His confidence, lam sorry to' say, ds often abused. A paper bag, must be a poor apology for the expected bun,; and if 'he consumes every day as 1 many as .upon the afternoon of our visit he runs a, good chance of 'suffering from an impaired digestion. After him come several frowsy and dejected-looking camels, also in theomnibus business, to' the intense delight of the small fry. Now we come to the parrot house, and recognise some of oar compatriots among the captives- there ; but " it is impossible to remain here long— the chattering is too dreadful, worse even than a ladies' sewing committee ! . After that we inspact the English residences of the rhinoceroses and see the 1 hippopotamus. It takes ■ some time to make out whether he is a real animal or only a vast mass of stone, bearing' a grotesque resemblance to some monster. He is hideous, worse than his portraits. The giraffes arenot by any means so graceful as represented in 7Us portraits. They stood in melancholy guise tbrusting their long necks oyer. ; their enclosure palings as if< appealing to our compassion, — strangers in a strange land—they* seem far from 'acclimatised, and what must they feel in winter, be

they ever so well horfsed and clothed and 'fed. I "I noticed that the public are strictly forbidden to give hint paper bags. The stately lions and " KonesSe* next demand our attention. One majestic fellow sat with' calm, dignified air as if posed as a model for a : lion couchant that might adorn a royal palace. He seemed to have a highbred obliviousness for the frivolous scenes passing before him. Another paced his cage, evidently expressing the noble rage of an imprisoned monarch*. Caged there, indeed 1 to make a British holiday! He lashed his stiffened tail, evidently much out of harmony ■with his environment. One instinctively looked at those iron bars hoping they were treally as secure as they looked, picturing what would follow it they were not. 'He would no doubt of it " doe the nexte thynge." The tigers were upon 1 a somewhat smaller scale than generally pourfcrayedj nevertheless they are formidable brutes, making the timid beholder shrink involuntarily as he passes along. I remarked one chap within the house wearing a very contented expression, stretched out with his chin on his I- fore paws like an over-grown torn cat in his i own particular domicile. | Last of all we visit the reptile house. I Dear ! dear ! what images of evil it contains ! Is anything so infamous as the python 1 and what a wild, venomous beast is the cobra— that most sylph-like of snakes I j How are Ahose creatures kept so clean, and ' provided with food and fresh water for i drink and bath ? Great ingenuity must be employed, surely, to enable their keepers to escape uninjured. I We remarked one fellow in the act of casting.his skin, coming out from the old slough 3leek< and shining, as fat as greasy frag-r ments of the old integument sticking to him in patches, and hanging from him here and j there in shreds like tissue paper from a roll of butter 1 Was it uncharitable that when regarding him I was reminded of a sleek Anglican shaveling who talked smooth things to me in one of our great He, too, it seemed to me, in this genial Romish springtime was qnietly casting his skin. Oh the Zoo! the Zoo! There is more 'than natural history to be studied within the; limits of its enclosures. By the I way, Phil Robinson has written a charming i.book entitled (I think) " Afternoons in the Zoo 1 " Young New Zealanders might as well have the benefit of it as their cousins in London. I In the metropolis, besides the privilege of seeing famous buildings and places, we have that of seeing and hearirg oelebrated men. We take an early opportunity to hear Spurgeon. We were living in: Kensington, and itj | took about an hour and a-half'td reacli thej Tabernacle. We are familiar wjith its appear-; ance both within and without, from the! numj&rous faithful prints in circulation. As, we<pass through the gateway an envelope is ,pufc,"into. our- hands, and we are requested to drop our donation,' if we will give any, into a small box fastened to. tne wall. Having done this we enter and are placed in an obscure corner, until the regular attendants are in their places, then- we were brought out and allowed to choose places for ourselves in the. body of the building. We obtained a.central position not, far from the pulpit, a few minutes before it was occupied by the longknown but hitherto unseen Spurgeon. That the sermon was good goes without saying, yet it did not equal many we have read emanating from the same heart and head. It was a temperance discourse, and contained a large amount of- practical advice. Theremark : that many men were completely knocked down by the thing they called a " piok-me-up " was greeted by not only a visible smile but" an audible laugh. It was a little strange to. hear a (Congregation laugh outright at any remark made in a pulpit, though why they should not I do not know. Surely a man may be witty as well as wise— if he can. It was interesting to see this vast building (oval-shaped) encircledby two roomy galleries well filled; indeed, the ground floor was packed, seats being .placed in the aisles. When preachers and office-bearers of all denominations are lamenting that they cannot fill their churches, that the people are ceasing to be church-goers,, and charm they never so wisely, with organ music, with quotations from heathen mythologies, and scientific writers and philosophic poets, and novelists still the masses prefer to stay at home and read the papers, or to walk out and* have a peep at the fields to going to' church. All sorts of means aye devised to reach the masses. Pastor Spurgeon seems to manage it. We did not remark any individuals present who were of the class called "fashionable." Some might have been there, but they were not conspicuous. The "common people" seem to hear him gladly; perhaps he follows more closely than others the great Master's style of preaching. Certainly he has no lack of [ heareis. "He has a great reputation," some, say, " and that draws." Well, but he couldn't ; have had it always. How did he get it ? I He has a fine voice under thorough control, and he uses it to preach Christ and talk common sense. After all, if preaohers would only believe it, people would rather hear that ,than a learned lecture upon political economy or a scholarly -analysis of Robert! ! Ellsmere. . AScotsman, John M'Neil, too, is filling a : big church in Regent* square. He is from Edinburgh, and seems , to .be "a round man in a round hole." Some other London preai chers £ must. mention at a future date. .

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