.. and
they had six lions in a cage ... advertised as Nubian lions, the largest
and fiercest of their kind ... their trainer never going in among them
except at peril of his life. A gold medal was offered to anyone who
would go in among the lions alone, and make a speech to the audience
from the inside of the cage.
I negotiated with the management, but asked for the medal's equivalent
in money. I was offered twenty-five dollars if I would go in, and repeat
my speech, each one of the three nights the show would be held.
I was to go in for the first time that very night ... to clinch my
lagging resolution, the story was printed in the local papers....
"JOHN GREGORY TIRED OF LIFE
------------------------
KANSAS POET TO TALK AMONG LIONS,"
Jack Travers was at his facetious best.
Considering myself heroic, and thinking with inner joy how Vanna Andrews
would be there, I spent the day in committing to memory the salient
points on the nature and habits of lions, from the Encyclopedia
Britannica....
People looked at me both with amusement and admiring amazement as they
saw me about, late that afternoon....
"Now tell me the honest truth about the lions," I asked of the trainer.
"They're a pretty bad lot."
"Come on. I've made up my mind to go in, and I'm not afraid."
"--though lions are not as bad as leopards and tigers .
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