But to return to the lion.  This animal is the largest of the cat family and is found, only in Asia and Africa.  The Asiatic lion is not so large nor so fierce as the African, and has a much smaller mane.  The mane of the African lion is long and thick, and gives the animal a very noble appearance; the female, however, has no mane.  The lion is always of one color, that is, without spots or stripes, generally tawny, though the mane is dark sometimes nearly black.  The lion gets its full growth when seven or eight years old, and lives usually about twenty-five years, though some have been known to live much longer in menageries.

These animals see much better in the night than in the day, so they generally hide away during the day and search for food in the gray dawn of the morning.  They feed chiefly on antelopes, zebras, giraffes, and wild cattle.  It is said that the lion rarely attacks man, only in cases of extreme hunger; indeed, they seem somewhat afraid of man.  Dr. Livingstone says that when the lion meets a man in daylight it will stop two or three seconds to stare at him, then turn slowly round and walk off a few steps, looking over its shoulder, then begin to trot, and when at last he thinks he is no longer seen will bound away like a hare.  The Doctor says also, that the roar of the lion is very like the cry of the ostrich, but the former roars only at night, however, while the latter cries only by day.

Did you not think it wonderful when you saw for the first time, perhaps, a keeper walk boldly into the lions’ cage, when in their natural state they are so very fierce and wild?  Well, we think it is wonderful, although the keepers tell us that they are easily tamed.

In ancient times they were used in many more ways than they are now.  Hanno, the Carthaginian general, had a lion to carry his baggage, and Mark Antony often rode through the streets of Rome in a chariot drawn by lions.  A short time ago we read a story of a slave named Androclus, who, while hiding away from his master in the deserts of Africa, cured a lion of lameness by pulling a thorn out of its foot.  The slave was afterward caught, carried to Rome, and condemned to be eaten by the wild beasts.  He was thrown into a lion’s den, but the beast, instead of killing him fawned upon him and showed the greatest delight at seeing him; Androclus was surprised to find that it was the same lion whose foot he had cured in the desert.  The Emperor, it is said, was so much pleased at the sight that he gave the slave his pardon, and presented him also with the lion, after which he used to lead the great beast tamely through the streets, held simply by a little chain.

In modern times, also, lions have been known to exhibit strong friendship for man.  In 799, two lions in the Jardin des Plantes (Garden of Plants), at Paris, became so fond of their keeper that when he was taken sick they gave signs of the greatest sorrow, and when he recovered and came back to them they rushed to meet him, roaring with joy, meanwhile licking his hands and face.