REMINISCENCES FROM THE MELBOURNE ZOO. 
235 
sell it for a possible future of misery, but would have it painlessly 
destroyed. It would have brought from £10 to £15 easily, but she was 
adamant, and insisted upon its being killed while she was there. She 
refused to leave the place until she heard the gun go off, and then she 
so nearly fainted that she caused a great deal of trouble for the officials 
in trying to bring her round again. The poor woman’s misery was so 
real that it was easily seen that she had only done what was done in 
obedience to the wishes of her dead husband, and that her faithfulness 
to his wishes had cost her more than she even guessed it would. Another 
A Quarter’s Visible Supply. 
old lady came up in a hansom cab one day, with a groom following and 
leading a splendid pair of carriage horses that would have brought £40 
to £50 at Kirk’s Bazaar. She said she had no further use for them 
now her husband was dead, and she feared they would be ill-treated if 
turned out, and if sold might follow so many horses down from one life 
to another until they reached hawkers’ carts, and she was not going to 
risk it. She was completely overcome when led away from the gardens, 
although she bravely maintained that she was satisfied she had done the 
right thing. It seemed a useless sacrifice of splendid material, and it 
cost the Zoo authorities more than one pang to see them slain. It was 
