LIONS 'N TIGERS 'N EVERYTHING: By Courtney Ryley Cooper. (Cape.
7s. 6d.) FEW of us ever quite outgrow our childish love of a circus, and it is difficult to imagine any reader who could fail to be interested in these " reminiscences of a showman." Mr. Cooper, who started lift as a circus boy, and was later associated with Buffalo Bill, has had a wide experience of animal training in America. He is old enough to remember the bad days when fear and cruelty were the trainer's only methods ; and, though he may not persuade us that these are wholly things of the past, at least he makes it clear that they have largely given place to the new system, here described with much fascinating detail, by which the wildest beasts are taught to perform in the hope of receiving " their pay. envelope." Mr. Cooper's pages contain much quaint animal lore and many striking stories revealing " character " in the cages. His style is colloquial and breezy, and, with its pervading sympathy, is in itself a reflection of the fact that the best type of modern showman is no longer the animals' enemy, but their friend.
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