GROWING OLD 



239 



in fact, any of the things on which you set such a 

 very exaggerated value, from our point of view. 

 But, taking the bad with the good, 1 think that I 

 may fairly advise you, if you are fond of pets, 

 to give some of my family a trial. 



If, however, you do not care to go so far as this 

 in the matter of making yourself better acquainted 

 with us, and yet would like to see for yourself what 

 sort of creatures we really are when seen face to 

 face, you may go to a place called the Zoo, if you 

 can manage to find out the way. Personally, I 

 have never been at all anxious to discover where- 

 abouts it is, if all the stories which I hear about 

 it are true. I am told that it is a place where 

 there is a home for snakes which have lost their 

 way and have come over to England. I suppose 

 that really they have been arrested and imprisoned 

 as troublesome aliens, because I feel pretty sure that 

 you do not want any more in England. At any rate, 

 they are there, so I am told, whatever may be the 

 reason of their coming — they are there, and they are 

 hungry, and the kindly keepers of the house, after 

 casting about for a cheap and yet savoury food 

 with which to satisfy the appetites of their prisoners, 

 or guests (call them which you will), have come to 

 the inevitable conclusion that there is nothing like 



