Page:Gadsby.djvu/73

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GADSBY

can't you build walls around a part of City Park, and——"

Gadsby saw that this was an addition which nobody had thought of, until now; so, grasping his young visitor's hand, joyfully, said:—

"It's a fact, Lucy!! And, as you thought of it, I'll call it,—now wait;—what shall I call it? Aha! That's it! I'll call it 'Lucy Zoo'. How's that for quick thinking?"

"My! That's just grand; but what will Papa say?"

Now Gadsby had known Lucy's family from boyhood, so said:—

"You inform your dad that at any sign of balking by him, I'll put HIM in Lucy Zoo, and pay a boy to prod him with a sharp stick, until his approval is in my hands." This brought such a rollicking laugh that a man mowing City Hall lawn had to laugh, too.

Now, (Ah! But I can't avoid saying it!) our Organization was out again; but, now having grown a bit from such childish youths as had, at first stood in its ranks, a boy, now approaching manhood, and a girl, now a young woman, could solicit funds with an ability to talk knowingly in favor of any factor that a hanging-back contributor could bring up in running down such a proposition. You

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