Rollo in Paris Part 14

Rollo, understanding the gesture, though not the words, turned in the direction that Carlos indicated, and saw that there was quite a crowd of men, women, and children at the place, all engaged, evidently, in looking at something or other very intently.

"Let's go and see," said Rollo.

So the boys went along that way together. They soon came in view of a very high and strong palisade, which, though it was half concealed by trees and shrubbery, evidently enclosed quite a considerable area, in the centre of which was a large stone building, like a castle, with projecting wings and towers, and immense gateways opening into it on various sides. This building was the residence of all the _monsters_--the elephants, the giraffes, the rhinoceros, and the hippopotamus. Each of these species had its own separate apartment in the castle; and the ground surrounding it, within the great palisade, was divided into as many yards as there were doors; so that each kind of animal had its own proper enclosure. In one of these enclosures the rhinoceros was walking about, clothed in his plated and invulnerable hide; and in the next there were two elephants. The crowd of people were chiefly occupied in looking at the elephants. The palisade was very heavy and strong, being formed of timbers pointed at the top, and nearly as high as the elephants could reach. These palisades were, however, not close together. They were far enough apart to allow of the elephants putting their trunks through to the people outside, and also to give the people a good opportunity to look. Though these timbers were thus set at some distance apart from each other, they wore still connected together, and all held firmly in their places, by two iron rails which pa.s.sed through them all, one near the top, and the other near the bottom, of the palisade, all along the range. They thus formed a fencing so heavy and strong that even the elephants could not break it down.

The visitors could not come quite up to the elephants; for outside of this great palisade, at a distance of about three feet from it, there was a high paling, made expressly to keep the spectators back. At the time when Rollo and Carlos came to the place the elephants were putting their trunks through to the people, in order to be fed with nuts, cake, gingerbread, and other such things which the people had ready to give them. Sometimes they would order the elephants to hold up their trunks and open their mouths, and then the men would try to toss pieces of gingerbread in. The elephants were always ready to do this when ordered, though their mouths, when they opened them, were so small that the people very seldom succeeded in aiming the missile so that it would go in.

Rollo and Carlos looked about among the crowd that were a.s.sembled at this place to see if Mr. George was among them; but he was not; and so, after amusing themselves for some time with the elephants, they walked along to see what else there was in the garden.

There were a great many people in the garden besides those who seemed to have come to see the animals. There were groups of children, that seemed to belong in the vicinity, playing in the _walks, some jumping ropes, and others_ building little houses of gravel stones. There were women seated on benches in various little shady nooks and corners, some sewing, others taking care of babies; while others, at little stands and stalls, sold gingerbread and cakes. At one place Rollo stopped to look at two little children that were playing in the gravel and throwing the little pebble stones about. Their grandmother, who was sitting near, said something to them in French.

"What does she say?" asked Carlos.

"She says," replied Rollo, "you must not throw gravel in your little sister's face."

The question in this case and the answer fitted each other very well; but it was a mere matter of accident, for neither of the boys understood what the other had said.

Pretty soon the boys came to a place where a great number of people were standing on a sort of parapet, and leaning upon an iron railing, where they seemed to be looking down into some cavity. They hurried to the place, and, stepping up upon the parapet, they looked down too, and found there a range of dens below the surface of the ground, all full of bears. These dens were sunken yards, six or eight feet deep, and enclosed with perpendicular walls all around, so that the bears could not possibly get out. There were iron railings around the top, and a great many people were standing there looking down to the bears. There were four or five of these yards, all in a row; and as there were many great trees overshadowing them, the place was cool and pleasant. Some of the bears were walking about on the stone pavement which formed the bottom of the dens; others were sitting on their hind legs, and holding up their fore paws to catch the pieces of gingerbread which were thrown down to them by the people above. There were a number of little birds hopping about there, picking up the crums that were left, though they took care to keep out of the way of the bears. Rollo and Carlos bought some cakes of gingerbread of a woman who kept a stall near by, and, breaking them into pieces, they threw them down to the bears. They threw the most to a great white bear that was in one of the dens, and who particularly attracted their attention. Rollo told Carlos that he supposed this bear must have come from the north pole. The boys were both by this time rather hungry; but they were so much interested in seeing the bears try to catch the pieces of gingerbread that they did not think to eat any of it themselves, but threw it all down to them, all except one piece which Rollo gave to a little girl who stood beside him, to let her throw it, because she had none of her own. For this kindness the girl thanked Rollo, in French, in a very polite and proper manner.

After being satisfied with seeing the bears, the boys wandered on wherever they saw the most to attract them, until at length they came to what is called the palace of the monkeys, which pleased them more than any thing they had seen. This palace is an enormous round cage, as high as a house, and nearly a hundred feet in diameter, with a range of stone buildings all around it on the back side. These buildings have little rooms in them, where the monkeys live in the winter, and where they always sleep at night. They go out into the cage to play. The cage is formed of slender iron posts and railing, so that the people standing outside can see the monkeys at their sports and gambols. They play with each other in every possible way, and frolic just as if they were in their native woods. They climb up the smooth iron posts, pursuing one another; and then, leaping across through the air, they catch upon a rope, from which they swing themselves across to the branch of a tree.

Some of these branches have bells attached to them; and the monkey, when he gets upon such a one, will spring it up and down till he sets the bell to ringing, and then, a.s.sisted by the return of the branch, he bounds away through the air to some rope, or pole, or railing that he sees within his reach. The agility which these animals display in these feats is truly astonishing.

Rollo and Carlos watched their evolutions with great interest. There was an excellent place to see, for the land opposite the cage ascended in such a manner that those more remote could look over the heads of those that were nearer. Besides this, there were quite a number of chairs under the trees, at the upper part of this ascent; and Rollo, perceiving that several of them were vacant, sat down in one, and made a sign to Carlos to sit down in another. They could now look at the monkeys, and rest at the same time. Presently a woman came along and said to Rollo, in French,--

"Please pay the chairs, sir."

Rollo recollected immediately that at all such places in Paris chairs were kept to be let, those who used them paying two sous apiece for the privilege. So he took out four sous and gave the woman.

"I did not think of there being any thing to pay for these chairs," said he to Carlos. "But then, I don't care. It is worth four sous to get a good rest, as tired as I am. I'm pretty hungry, too. I wish I had not given all my gingerbread to the bears."

Carlos made no reply to this suggestion; though there is no doubt that he would have readily a.s.sented to what Rollo said, if he had understood it. The boys remained some time looking at the monkeys, and then strolled away into other parts of the garden. Very soon they came to a place where Rollo spied at some distance before him, under some immense old trees in a sort of a valley, what he thought was a restaurant.

"See these monstrous big trees!" said Carlos; "and there are tables under them."

The boys made all haste to the spot, and found to their great joy that it was a restaurant. There was a plain but very picturesque-looking house, antique and venerable; and before it, on a green, under the spreading branches of some enormous old trees, a number of small tables, with seats around them.

"Now, Carlos," said Rollo, "we will have some bread and b.u.t.ter and a good cup of coffee."

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE RESTAURANT.]

So they sat down at one of the pleasantest tables, and very soon a waiter came to see what they would have. Rollo called for coffee and bread and b.u.t.ter for two. In a short time the waiter came, bringing two great cups, which he filled half with coffee and half with boiled milk.

He brought also a supply of very nice b.u.t.ter, and a loaf of bread shaped like a stick of wood. It was about as large round as Rollo's arm, and twice as long. The waiter laid this bread across the table for Rollo and Carlos to cut off as much from it as they might want. This is what they call having "bread at discretion."

The boys enjoyed this banquet very much indeed. Besides the coffee, they had water, which they sweetened in the tumblers with large lumps of white sugar. They talked all the time while they were eating, each in his own language, and laughed very merrily. "After all," said Rollo, "this is the very best place in the whole garden. Feeding the bears is very good fun; but this is infinitely better."

After remaining for half an hour at the table, and eating till their appet.i.tes were completely satisfied, they concluded to go back and see the monkeys again.

In the mean time, Mr. George and his friend, with Jennie, had been engaged in an entirely different part of the garden; for the whole enclosure is so large that it takes many days to see the whole. On one side, bordering on a street, there is a long row of houses and gardens, occupied by professors, who give courses of lectures on the plants and animals which the garden contains. On another is a magnificent range of buildings, occupied as a museum, containing endless collections of dried plants, of minerals and sh.e.l.ls, of skeletons, and the stuffed skins of birds and beasts. Then there is a very large tract of level land, between two splendid avenues, all laid out in beds of plants and flowers, forming a series of parterres, extending as far as the eye can reach, and presenting the gayest and most beautiful combination of colors that can be conceived. Jennie was very much delighted with all these things, as she walked about in these parts of the garden with her uncle, though she was somewhat uneasy all the time because she could not see any thing of Rollo.

"I don't believe," said she at last to her uncle, as they were standing on the margin of a beautiful little artificial pond, full of lilies and other aquatic plants, "I don't believe that we can find him at all in such a large garden."

"Yes," said Mr. George; "there'll be no difficulty. There is one universal rule for finding boys in the Garden of Plants."

"What is that?" asked Jennie.

"Go to the places where they keep the monkeys and the elephants," said Mr. George; "and if you don't find them there at once, wait a few minutes, and they'll be pretty sure to come."

It was as Mr. George had predicted; for, on going to the palace of the monkeys, there they found Rollo and Carlos laughing very heartily to see a big monkey holding a little one in its arms as a human mother would a baby.

The party, when thus united, went together once more over the princ.i.p.al places where the two divisions of it had gone separately before, so that all might have a general idea of the whole domain; and then, going out at a different gate from the one by which they had entered, they went home, all resolving to come again, if possible, at some future day.

CHAPTER IX.

AN EXCURSION.

ONE day, about one o'clock, after Rollo had been in Paris about a fortnight, he came into the hotel from a walk which he had been taking, and there found his mother and Jennie putting on their bonnets. He asked them where they were going. They said they were going to take a ride with Mr. George.

"May I go, too?" asked Rollo.

"Why--yes," said his mother, hesitatingly. "I suppose there will be room. Or you may stay at home here with your father. He is asleep in his room."

It is generally the case with children, both boys and girls, when they are young, that if they can get any sort of consent, however reluctant, from their parents, to any of their requests, they are satisfied, and take the boon thus hesitatingly accorded to them as readily as if it had been granted to them in the freest and most cordial manner. With gentlemen and ladies, however, it is different. They generally have more delicacy, and are seldom willing to accept of any favor unless circ.u.mstances are such that it can be granted in a very free and cordial manner. They will scarcely ever, in any case, ask to be permitted to join any party that others have formed; and when they do ask, if they perceive the slightest doubt or hesitation on the part of their friends in acceding to their proposal, they infer that it would be, for some reason or other, inconvenient for them to go; and they accordingly, at once, give up all intention of going.

Rollo, though still a boy, was beginning to have some of the honorable sentiments and feelings of a man; and when he perceived that his mother hesitated a little about granting his request, he decided immediately not to go and ride. Besides, he liked the idea of staying with his father.

"Well," said he, "I will stay here. My father may wish for something when he wakes up."

"I don't suppose, however, after all," added his mother, "that it is really necessary for you to stay on his account. His bell is within reach; and Alfred will come immediately when he rings."

"But I should _like_ to stay," said Rollo; "and besides, I can get ahead one more day in my French."

Rollo was writing a course of French exercises, and his task was one lesson for every day. The rule was, that he was to write this exercise immediately after breakfast, unless he had written it before; that is, either on the same day before breakfast, or on a previous day. Now, Rollo desired to be free after breakfast, for that was a very pleasant time to go out. Besides, there were often plans and excursions formed for that time, which he was invited to join; and he could not join them unless his lesson for the day had been written. So he took pains to write his exercises, as much as possible, in advance. Whenever there came a rainy day he would write two or three lessons, and sometimes he would write early in the morning. He was now nearly a week in advance.

Instead of being satisfied with this, however, he began to be quite interested in seeing how far ahead he could get. This feeling was what led him to think that he would take this opportunity to write a French lesson.

Accordingly, when his mother and Jennie had gone, he seated himself at his table and began his work. The writing of the exercise took about an hour. When the work was finished, and while Rollo was preparing to put his books away, he heard a movement in his father's room. He got up from his seat and opened the door, gently, saying,--

"Father, are you awake?"

"Yes," said his father. "Are you there, Rollo?"

Rollo found his father sitting up in a great arm chair, by the side of his bed. He had a dressing gown on.

"How do you feel, father?" said Rollo.

"I think I feel better," said Mr. Holiday. As he said this he put on his slippers, and then stood up upon the rug that lay in front of his bed.