like my twin brother, who used to swing with me in the tangled vines
of my native forests, and pelt me with cocoanut-shells, and chatter to
me all day long under those hot, bright skies, that I wanted to put my
arms around you and hug you; but the looking-glass was between us.
Some day I shall break that glass, and crawl back behind there with
you.

It is a pity that you are dumb and do not seem to be able to answer
me, for if you could talk to me about the old jungle days I would not
be so homesick. Still, it is some comfort to know that you are not
deaf, and I intend to come in here every morning after the children go
to school; that is, every morning that I find the door open. I've had
a very exciting life in the past, and I think that you'll find my
experiences interesting.

Of course I'll not begin at the beginning, for, being a ring-tail
monkey yourself, you know what life is like in the great tropical
forests. Perhaps it would be better to skip the circus part, too, for
it was a very unhappy time that followed, after I was stolen from home
by some men who came on a big ship, and carried me away to be sold to
a travelling showman.

It makes my back ache to this day to think of the ring-master's whip.
I was as quick to learn as any of the other monkeys who were in
training, but an animal who has done nothing all his life but climb
and play can't learn the ways of a human being all in one week. I was
taught to ride a pony and drive a team of greyhounds, and to sit at a
table and feed myself with a silver folk. One half-hour I was made to
be a gentleman, and wear a dress suit, and tip my hat to the ladies,
and the next I would be expected to do something entirely different;