Transcribed from the 1886 edition , email
A CHILD’S DREAM
OF THE
ZOO,
BY
WILLIAM MANNING
AS RECITEDBY HIM AT THE
Entertainment at the BromptonHospital,
TUESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 16,1886.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
p. 3ADREAM.
If Artists at their easels
Should ever paint the measles,
I hope they’ll try and put the curious dreams in too;
For when I went to bed
With an aching in my head,
And feeling rather red,
I saw the Long-tailed Monkey, and the Keeper from the Zoo.
Wehad a little talk
And they said “we’ll take a walk;
We’ve got a Hastings Donkey that perhaps will do foryou;”
And though the sky was dark
We made for Regent’s Park,
My friends the Long-tailed Monkey and the Keeper from theZoo.
Theysaid “we see no reason,
Though it’s late-ish in the season,
Why a little picnic we shouldn’t try and do!
And if you’ve no objection,
We’ll make our own selection
Of the many Midnight Sports in the Gardens of the Zoo!”
p. 4My word it mademe stare
As soon as we were there,
To see so many pleasant faces that I knew,
It was like a Noah’s Ark,
In the middle of the Park,
With nothing savage left in the creatures of the Zoo!
Thedens were all unlocked,
And yet I was not shocked
To mingle in the throng, though my Donkey gave a bray!
But the Zebra calmed his fears,
And the Wild Ass stroked his ears,
And promised him a Thistle as soon as it was day.
Thekind Angora Goat,
Now brought a little note,
Which he said was sent for me from Madame Kangaroo,
Who “hoped that I was well,
With love from Miss Gazelle”—
But this I did not tell
My friend the Long-tailed Monkey or the Keeper from the Zoo!
Lynxes,Tigers, Leopards,
Were all as tame as Shepherds,
The baby Hippopotamus was playing with the Storks!
The Elephants all hurried,
Though not the least bit flurried,
With Trunks of birthday presents for little Master Fawkes!
p. 5Badgers,Wolves, and Foxes,
All had left their boxes,
And coming up to me said “Johnnie, how d’yedo?”
And then that old Hyena!
I wish you could have seen her,
And the smile of recognition she gave me at the Zoo!
Thetall Giraffes and Camels,
Without their daily trammels,
We