All the large cities have their Zoölogical gardens, where wild beasts of many kinds are kept on show, and in villages and small towns and cities the travelling menagerie carries such wild creatures around where everyone may see them.
Here, in strong cages, we may look at the lordly lion, with its splendid mane, and its gaping jaws, filled with cruel teeth, and the tiger, fierce and sly, pacing round and round its narrow cage on silent feet, and at times stopping to glare with savage eyes at the lookers outside. It may have seen and made a meal on such beings in its native wilds.
Then there are the snarling hyena, the spotted leopard, the wild-eyed wolf, the American panther and wild-cat, the growling bear, and many others. Greatest among these are the huge and savage rhinoceros, the ugly river-horse, or hippopotamus, and the noble elephant.
These are only a few of the animals that are kept for show, among them many of the tameable ones, as the playful monkey, the slender deer or antelope, the large elk and moose, the wolf, raccoon, opossum, kangaroo and many others of the smaller animals.
Man is able to make friends of the most of these. In fact there are daring men and women who are ready to go into the cages of the fiercest of these beasts and make them go through the tricks they have been taught. They have been even found bold enough to put their heads into the lion's mouth. This is always a foolish thing to do, and sometimes it has ended in the lion's closing his great jaws and smashing the man's head as one would smash an egg-shell.
With all this we are not here concerned. It is only the animals that serve us as friends and helpers that we are dealing with. But man at times makes use of certain creatures that usually are only seen in a wild state, so it is well to say something of the wild animals that at times are made to serve us in some way.
THE DANCING BEAR
You have seen, no doubt, the dancing bears, clumsy, ugly brutes that men lead around the country, visiting the summer resorts, and making the animals go through some awkward movements on their hind legs, which they call dancing.