New Orleans daily crescent., 1866-06-05

i The FENTRILoQUIST AND THE BEAR,-On fine
/ afternoon in autumn, large crowd, composed of
men, women and children, were seen advancing
the principal streets of Hopefeld, small village
| in England In the midst of them. was black
bear, which walked unconeernedly along con
Quoted by his keeper.
This man wore O dzab surtout, large enough to
admit two persons Of his dimensions within its
4 folds; waistcoat much too short, boots which
A only lacked the sides, and hat grown gray with
time. a young boy, with tamished look,
| marchedintront blowing on ttageolet, and thumb
1 ing a tanborine.
| When he had arrived in front of the Red Lion,
4 the only tavern in the village, the bear leader
| stopped, and forming ring around him, ordered
/ bruin to stand up. After brandshing stick above
1 the head of the animal, he commenced dancing
| with him. and throwing himself into the most lud
crous attitudes which bruin initiated in style
truly picturesque. The inhabitants OF Hopefeld
appeared delighted, and the crowd laughed with
good will and loudly.
ventriloquist of joyous mood, who happened
to be at the Red Lion, beheld from window this
ludicrous scene. Having arrived that morning at
HOpefeld, he had already formed a just estimate
of the ignorance and oredality Of its inhabitants
and the idea occurred to him to amuse himself
little at their expense.
He left the window and joined the crowd of
spectators, and availing himself of cessation of
the shrill fageolet and noisy tamborine, he APP
preached the Snowman.
" Your bear can, doubtless, speak2 said he,
with a serious air.
The Snowman looked at him cunningly, shrugged
his shoulders, and answered roughly "Speak to
him yourself and you'l soon find OUT
This was just the reply the Ventrioquist expec-
ted. He approached bruin, and assuming most
comica expression, he said to the bear, in droll
tone OF voice:
Allow me to compliment you, Mr.. Bruin; you
are as graceful as an opera dancer. What country
claims the honor Of your birth ~
a voice which seemed to issue from the grisly
| Jaws of The bear, replied
1.-THE Alps. in Switzerland
We viii not attempt to describe the amaZement
otthe crowd; every one was struck mute with
fear and astonishment; but the surprise Of the
Snowman would have offered an admirable subject
for the pencil of Hogarh, surrounded by all those
faces in which CONSERVATION was so strongly de-
pieted. His eyes seemed starting from their sock
cts he stretched wide his toOthless mouth, and
remained aghast and motionless as if his feet had
taken root where he stood.
The ventriloquist turned to him and said;
Your bear speaks very good English, and has
little remains Of the Helyetic accent
Then turning again to bruin, he observed, in a
kind tone:
You look sad are you not weIl?n
" The fogs Of England have given me the
spleen, 2 replied the animal.
Here the atfrighted crowd began to move.
!" Is it long time since you belonged to this
master~
"Qute long enough for me to be tired of him. y
\ g Is he not Find to you, brnin2"
| "Oh yes-as kind as the hammer is to the
anvil
6 viii you not seek revenge some day ~
Assuredly-one of these mornings l will eat
him like a radish, for my breakfast
At these words, the crowd, whose curiosity had
urged them, in spite of their fears, gradually to
approach, now suddenly fell back on each other
and great was the confusion that ensued. The
Snowman had heard enough and forcibly drew the
cham Of the ANIMAL to enforce his control but the
wearied hear growled fearfulIy.
The yentriloquist, perfectly satisfied by this ex.
pertinent, turned suddenly about aud hurried to-
ward the tavern This augmented still more the
fears Of the spectators, ana each one took to his
heels, as if the bear were in pursuit of them.
The ventriloqust, having arrived at the inn
laughed heartily to see the simple villagers flying
in every direction, whilst the mperturbable brui1
remained seated on his hind legs, seeming to con-
template with unconcern the terrors he had ex.
cited.
During the evening, the yentriloquist stood al
tho door of the tavern, around which many OF the
inhabitants had gathered. The theme Of conyer.
sation was, naturally, the adventure Of bruin. i
was commented upon, and exaggerated, according
TO the various degrees Of the fears of the be
! holders.
The yentriloquist, thinking that the joke has
| been carried far enough, explained how he hat
| played upon their ereduity.