THE BEST OF MENAGERIES.

My pa's the best menagerie That ever any one did see; I need no pets when he is by To make the days and hours fly, For any bird or beast or fish I want he'll be whene'er I wish. For instance, if I chance to want A safe and gentle elephant, He'll fasten on his own big nose One of my long black woollen hose, And on his hands and bended knees Is elephantine as you please, And truly seems to like the sport Of eating peanuts by the quart. Then, when I want the lion's roar, He'll go behind my bedroom door And growl until I sometimes fear The King of Beasts is really near; But when he finds my courage dim He peeps out, and I know it's him. And he can meow just like a cat— No Tom can beat my pa at that— And when he yowls and dabs and spits, It sends us all off into fits, So like it seems that every mouse Packs up his things and leaves the house. Then, when he barks, the passers-by Look all about with fearsome eye, And hurry off with scurrying feet To walk upon some other street, Because they think some dog is there To rush out at 'em from his lair. And oh, 'twould make you children laugh When daddy plays the big giraffe. He'll take his collar off, you know, And stretch his neck an inch or so, And look down on you from above, His eyes so soft and full of love, That, as you watched them, you would think From a giraffe he'd learned to blink. 'Tis as a dolphin though that he Is strongest as it seems to me, And I don't know much finer fun Than sitting in the noonday sun Upon the beach and watching pop, As in the ocean he goes flop, And makes us children think that he's A porpoise from across the seas. And when he takes a tin tube out, And blows up water through the spout, The stupidest can hardly fail To think they see a great big whale! And that is why I say to you My pa's a perfect dandy zoo, The very best menagerie That ever you or I did see, And what is finest, let me say, There never is a cent of pay! Gaston V. Drake.