human
It is a great bore for more than two to try to keep together in this place. Don’t you think so?
gpt
It is very difficult, certainly, agreed the girl.
human
Isn’t it strange to look about this wonder-world of a street and realize that it is just the Midway Plaisance? Recall the old driveway at this hour.
gpt
Yes; early evening was its most populous time too; but even then, how quiet it was. What a wild idea it would have been to expect to see Turkish dancing-girls, half-naked Dahomeyans, and all the rest, living in those still, green fields. Have you been in to Hagenbeck’s and seen the marvelous trained animals?
human
Yes; but it is a rather creepy pleasure to watch lions, tigers, bears, and leopards walking around that one solitary man and hissing threateningly at him even while they obey.
gpt
The one moment when I found my breath short was when the trainer made five lions lie down on the ground, and threw himself on his back upon them as though on a rug. He flung his arms out and caressed their great noses. I tell you, I didn’t like him to let those beasts out from under his eyes.
human
That was thrilling, I remember; but I felt for the lions sometimes, too. I didn’t like to see them demean themselves. When one had to hold the end of a rope in his teeth and swing it to let a hound jump, it seemed rather small business to demand of the king of the forest.