gent of face, and, it may seem strangely, remarkably gentle and quiet of manner. He loves his animals, and although he has retired upon a competence, cannot rest inactive, and still, from time to time as the inclination seizes him, goes among the tigers and lions again—for amusement.
As may be assumed in the case of any person attaining such eminence in a particular calling, Mr. Cooper has an inborn genius and aptitude for his profession. From his very birth animals have been his passion, and he was promoted from white mice and rabbits to larger game at a very early age, actually becoming a lion-tamer at twelve! At ten years of age, having lost both parents, little John Cooper ran away from Birmingham, his native town, with Batty's Circus. Now one of the Battys was proprietor of a menagerie, and the lad's strong inclination towards everything to do with animals soon led to his being transferred to this service from the circus, and being apprenticed to the business of an animal showman.
"The little boy walked calmly up to the big lion."
The first occasion of the many on which he distinguished himself—after losing the top of a finger at the bars of a wolf-cage—took place when he was twelve. The show possessed an awkward piece of stock in the person of a very large and very savage lion. Nobody could approach this animal, and as he made a regular amusement of breaking through the sides and back of his cage, he was always secured by a strong collar and chain, which was let down through the roof. At Leeds, one day, he managed to get loose from this collar, and at once began high festival by breaking up first the fittings, and then the side of his residence. All the attendants stood helplessly by, unable to do anything. But young Cooper—who, of course, at his age, was never allowed in any cage, let alone this one—without a word to anybody, quietly went round behind, and was next seen inside the bars. The lookers-on were terrified, and Mrs. Batty fainted outright. But the little boy calmly walked up to the big lion, and fixed on his collar again, coming out unscratched. When Mr. Batty arrived upon the scene—he had been out on business—his first impulse was to spank his apprentice for foolhardiness, and this impulse he acted upon. But, on consideration, and when it became known that the lad really could handle the animals well and fearlessly,
