LONDON BEADS 
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ance. Unless this is carried out according to rule, the 
bear descends and sits on the floor, waiting until it gets 
the sugar thrown to it without further trouble. But 
if the lump is slowly waved round in circles from right 
to left — the opposite direction is not considered fair, 
and the animal “ won’t play ” if it is persisted in — the 
bear also turns “ coach wheels ” slowly on the bars. 
His old elbows stick out and his paws turn in, but he 
still feels equal to almost any number of turns if the 
visitor is exacting. When rewarded with the sugar the 
bear “ makes it last,” like a nasty little boy with a 
sugar-plum, only far more ingeniously. “ That was 
a white sugar-plum I gave you,” says the horrible 
child in Mr. Du Maurier’s picture — “ it was pink once” 
The bear is not really nasty, but it has discovered an 
ingenious process by which loaf-sugar can be converted 
into honey. It first wets its fore-paws, and then cracks 
the sugar into two pieces, and puts one on to each paw. 
It then rubs the bits on with its nose, and next pick- 
ing each up again cracks it, and lays two well- moistened 
pieces on to each paw, as before. It then licks these 
off again, and if any is left again deposits them on 
the backs of its well-moistened sticky knuckles. 
Finally it licks them quite clean, and turns slowly 
head over heals, as an acknowledgment of the treat. 
A regiment of Life Guards recently owned a large 
brown bear, which ultimately found a home in the Zoo 
after giving proof of the wisdom of the keeper’s 
opinion. It was a pet of the regiment, and was taken 
from Knightsbridge to Windsor, and later to the 
