The Last Day of the Holidays.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XXVI, Issue II, 12 January 1901, Page 95

The Last Day of the Holidays.

Through all the sunny morning anyone familiar with their habits would have noticed that a sort of gentle melancholy seemed to brood over the jhvol of the alligators. There had been five or six wrestling bouts, but they had been conducted in a half-hearted wav as if simply indulged in to assist digestion. There was no go and dash about the performance. Finally even these hollow attempts at play were given up. and a rippleless silence took possession of the pool. All the alligators, big and little, arranged themselves in a row, and. shutting their eyes, just rested the points of their long noses on the bank. They might have been so many pieces of green bronze. Some people think that alligators can’t count: but even the smallest alligator knew the day of the month, and that this was the last day in that outdoor pool. To-morrow they would be pushed and shoved and prodded and poked into winter quarters. For the little alligators that spelled s-e-h-o-o-1. horrid word! For the older alligators it meant a long stretch of days with no nice hot sun. no niee big pool, nothing to do but sleep and eat! And for the oldest alligator of all it meant teaching!

Was it any wonder they were all greatly depressed? But it is absurd to spend the last day of vacation in vain regrets. So when the oldest and largest ’gator crawled slowly out of the pool to the centre of the pen. all the rest opened their eyes at once, just as if he had said. “One, two. three, wake up!” When he had stretched himself at full length, he opened his mouth and made a sound like escaping steam. “Come on, all of you.” he said. “Let's have one more game of pyramid.” ’ Pid you ever see alligators play pyramid? It is the oldest game in the world, invented by the first alligator that ever lived. He taught it to his children long ago in the land of Egypt, and they in turn taught it to their children. Only the alligators and crocodiles, their cousins, know how to play it properly. When the oldest and largest alligator had stretched himself at full length, the next largest in the crowd crawled on top of him. with his head turned toward the big one’s tail. Then both together gave the same steamhissing sound, and then the next largest crawled up. and the next and the next, until on the top of the pyramid sat quite a little ’gator, with eight larger fellows underneath, all head to tail. Then they all let off steam together to attract the attention of the other pyramids, none of which was larger than seven ’gators high. Then began the really difficult part of the game. Old Samson Alligator started to crawl slowly round the pen. If there were any hillocks in his path, or stones or uneven places in the ground, he did not avoid them, as one might suppose, but even went out of his way to go over them. As he felt the load slipping to one side or the other, he would let off a little steam, which is the way alligators laugh to themselves. At the fourth jump, alligator number eight, who was next to theh top. fell off. But little ’gator number nine just managed to keep his seat. That pleased him very much, for it is the rule of the game that the top ones should fall first, and as number eight had fallen before him. he could stay on his hack and ride round until all the rest were shaken off. This, naturally, took some time, and as all the rest fell off in regular order, number eight was in a bad humour at his mishap. “Oh. you’re terrible smart. T know!” he said, ill-naturedly, to little number nine. “Just you wait till to-morrow, when you begin school! Perhaps you 11 find you don’t know so much, after all!" But at the very mention of school his ill-humour vanished. After all. misfortune makes one kinder. He. too. had to go to school. When the keeper brought supper he had entirely recovered, and good-naturedly made a place for the smallest ’gator next to himself, and did not gobble more than four-sixths of the food that came their way. “To-morrow’s full of trouble.” said the keeper to a friend. “We’ve got to move all these alligators. It’s a job! J here are so many now that we will ? se P ara te 'em. Take out some >f the big ones and put ’em in a separate corner.” At this all the little alligators near-

ly died of excitement. Suppose the teacher would l>e taken? They scarcely slept all night, and those that did' dreamed of a tank where there wasn’t a teacher, and it was always vacation. HENKN DICK.