The daily phoenix. [volume] (Columbia, S.C.) 1865-1878, 1868-01-24
THE CIRCUS QUEEN.
CONCLUDED.


CONCLUDED.
In little while the clown came up
to the group of women outside the
door, and leaning in all attitudes
against the sides and steps OF. the wa
gon. .,t~-t
"Well, has he Gomez"
Eyes, he hos been in this quarter
of an hour" tf
"What does he say?"
"Oh! she'll do, he says, didn't hep"
said one of them, turning to another
for confirmation. 'tt-
He soon left. and his voice was
heard shouting some old witticism of
the ring, as though there were no
such things as sick wives and doctors
in the world. In a tow minutes more
he came again, quite of breath, from
last somersault, the appreciation
Of which was still heard. Seeing the
door partially opened, he entered, and
his face looked joyous as the wall of
child greeted him.
(which is it? A boy?"
eyes" said Jenny.
The answer was unheard by him,
lay the mother. Contrary to the
doctors expectation, the accident
and premature delivery had caused
her death. ".
Yes! There she lay; the hollow,
sunken eyes--made unnaturally bright
by the traces of rouge upon her
cheeks-the jaw fallen. Death was
evidently there, and he saw it. She
with whom he hoped to share all the
cares and joys of life; now that the
only difference they had ever had
was removed. She was deadl The
man seemed stunned. A strange
pair they looked-he, in the motley
dress and paint of his calling-she,
dead!
Bear up, Bill" said Jenny, ap-
proaching him with the child; sit's
boy, Bill; and she wanted it to be
called after you."
The man seemed not to hear, but
walking up to the bed, and taking
one of the dead hands in his, kissed
it gently, as though afraid of waking
her; and then, as though his loss had
just been realized, muttered, "Dead!
deadl' and lay down, his face close
to hers, kissing the fast cooling lips
with frantic earnestness.
"Dead-dead-deadr still came
between his choking sobs. To him
the women, moving to and fro in
Offices about the child, were not: to
him, useless was the doctors farewell
sDead-dead-dead!' and the heav-
ing chest and bursting eye balls found
relief in tears.
''There, don't take on so, Bill"
said one, trying to raise him; "don't
take on 30 hard, Bill"
She might as we'll have spoken to
the box on which he half sat, half
leaned, as he hung over his dead
wife. They then tried to get to close
the staring eyes, but look which
appalled, them shook their nerves too
much to allow of second trial A
noise outside now attracted them to
the door.
"What's the matter now?"
"Matter enough!" said u harsh,
grating voice. 'Here's Chapman SO
drunk he can't 60 in, aud Bills
skulking because his wife's sick.
lulu uONCi ICllOW Ill Uuo 1lDQ
worse treated than L am"
''She is dead, Whips" said one,
pointing with her thumb back to the
wagon.
"Deodl" said he.
eyes; and he's there, too
"Well, if that amt too bad" said
he; "here's the last scene before the
quadrille, and no clown; it'll ruin the
circus. The second n:yi:, 700; her
lust nights jump has filed the place
there amt standing room-and
they've been calling for her all the
evening. Dead!" said he, again, as
though his loss were caused by her
neglect. Who'd have thought it?
What's to be done?"
Cant you make Chapman do?"
''No, he's fool any time to Bill,
and now he's drunk he's no use at
all. What's to be done. 1 don't
know"
Here he was obliged to leave. for