“Lions!” exclaimed Mary Jane.
“Yes, hurry up!” called Betty and she and her brother who were quite familiar with the park because of many previous visits, ran on toward a big brick house near by.
Mary Jane wasn’t afraid, but all the same she thought it would be more fun to hold her father’s hand and even though they were a bit behind, they got into the lions’ house in time.
Here the dinner was of meat, great big chunks of raw, red meat that the keepers tossed into the cages. And it was so funny to watch! Just before the keeper appeared, the lions and tigers and jackals and leopards were pacing up and down their cages with such weird roars and grunts and growls that Mary Jane held tightly to her father’s hand and didn’t go very close to the iron bars. But when the keepers appeared with the meat there was a wild scramble, and then silence except for the crunching and smacking of eating. It certainly was different, oh, very, very different from anything Mary Jane had ever seen before!
“Let’s not wait here any more,” suggested Alice, “let’s show Dadah the monkeys.”
“Yes, and the foxes—the white ones,” said Mary Jane, “they’re my favorites of all.”
But before they had had time to show Mr. Merrill every single creature they had seen, the Holden boys announced that they were hungry and that it was long past dinner time. And sure enough! Even though it wasn’t really long past dinner time, it was half past five—the time they had agreed upon for dinner. So a very jolly party seated themselves at a big round table on a second story porch of the Park restaurant. That was the nicest place to eat Mary Jane had ever seen—unless perhaps a diner on a train. For after they gave their order, she discovered that they could look right down on a small lake where ducks and geese and swans lived. The children got so interested watching the pretty creatures that for once they didn’t have time to think the waiter was slow!
They stayed there eating and watching the birds, till the sun set back of the trees. Then, when there wasn’t another scrap of cake or teaspoonful of ice cream left, they gathered up wraps and hats and started for home.
“I know one thing,” said sleepy Mary Jane as they waited for the bus that was to take them to their train. “I know there’re a lot more animal folks in the world than I thought for—oh, a lot more! And I think I’d better come again to see them all.”