Thenhesaid：\"Idon’tcontendthatitisintellectual，butIsaythatitisoftencleverandcharmingattheten—centshows，justasitislessoftencleverandcharmingintheten—centmagazines。Ithinktheaverageofproprietyisratherhigherthanitisatthetwo—dollartheatres;anditismuchmoreinstructiveattheten—centshows，ifyoucometothat。
Theotherday，\"saidmyfriend，andinsquaringhimselfcomfortablyinhischairandfindingroomforhiselbowonthecornerofmytableheknockedoffsomebooksforreview，\"IwenttoadimemuseumforanhourthatIhadbetweentwoappointments，andImustsaythatIneverpassedanhour’stimemoreagreeably。Inthecuriohall，asoneofthelecturersonthecurioscalledit——theyhadseverallecturersinwhitewigsandscholars’capsandgowns——therewasnotagreatdealtosee，I
confess;buteverythingwasveryhigh—class。Therewastheinventorofaperpetualmotion，wholectureduponitandexplaineditfromadiagram。
Therewasafortune—tellerinathree—foottentwhomIdidnotinterview;
therewerefivemacawsinonecage，andtwogloomyapesinanother。OnaplatformattheendofthehallwasanAustralianfamilyagooddealgloomierthantheapes，whosatinthecostumeofourlatitude，staringdowntheroomwithvaryingexpressionsallverginguponmelancholymadness，andwhogavemesuchapangofcompassionasIhaveseldomgotfromthetragedyofthetwo—dollartheatres。Theyallowedmetocomequitecloseuptothem，andtofeedmypityupontheirwilddejectioninexilewithoutstint。Icouldn’tenterintoconversationwiththem，andexpressmyregretatfindingthemsofarfromtheirnativeboomerangsandkangaroosandpinetreegrubs，butIknowtheyfeltmysympathy，itwassoevident。Ididn’tseetheirperformance，andIdon’tknowthattheyhadany。Theymaysimplyhavebeenthereethnologically，butthiswasagoodobject，andthesightoftheirspiritualmiserywasaloneworththepriceofadmission。