The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1874-10-29
A snownAN,s oRArrrUDK.

Il must have been in or about the year
1880 that . peripasstie circus company
pitched their tent 10 the village Of Staunton,
in the Valley Of Virginia, for the profit to
be reaped from the patronage Of country
gentry and plantation hands, and gave
such entertainments Of light f.nta tic eques-
sriaoism athletic contortioo and ground and
lofty tumbiing as has not yet lost its peri
odicHl -est for rural neghborhoods. The
small! village inn and every other receptacle
for sransitory guests in the place we're tsy.
ed to give temporary domicile to the small
army Of show people; but one there Was
Of the ealalc.de who. instead of billetins
with his comrades. took the fret opportuni-
ty to slip away from both tent and village
and follow n road winding afar among the
retired plantations.
This was . mere boy, hsggard and pre-
coc:ousIy rueful of glance and figure, e.
Gaping from q bondage in which frequent
stripes had not been wrnting to make him
something lower than Aborse 10 nightly
feats of the arena. Things had come tn
such pitch in his maltreased young life
that he preferred future Of beggary on
foot to the last countered tinsel Of the beg
gar on horseback, and upon reaching the
stately Britinghata plantation he began his
new career Of asking at the door for glass
of water. TIE SIGHT of whi.e boy on the
| tramp WAS novelty for that part Of the
country in those patriarchial days, and
hence the whole household, with the plan
tiers at their heads, were attracted to the
scene. Upon being kindly questioned by
old Mr.. Birmingham the fugitive Smike of
the circus frankly revealed his story ard
situation, and that with piteous earn.st
ness of speech and manner which might
have extorted sympathy from the toughest
phase Of human nature. His response was
an offer of immediate refuge and protection
in the good old, hearty, hospitable style,
and the whimper with which lie accepted
did him nc harm in tho estimation Of his
Lew friends.
Henceforth tie runaway Of the ring was
q privileged inmate of the 6ne house for a
year, enjoying every kindness that benevo
lence could devise: but ut the end Of that
period, when another circus was tented in
neighboring Staunton, and he went there
with the throng to see, the influence Of the
old habit proved stronger in his natule,
than tho newer ambition, and the boy being
naturally of sawdust to sawdust returned,
not, however, without something gained
for the refinement of his whole future life,
10 q sentiment of ardent gratitude to his
benefactors and an ardor to excel in his
natural lot for the honor of that bene6cens
emotion. Only circus rider MAS he again,
to be sure, but the something o! q better
sphere of lite with which he went back to
horses AID clowns was . something poten-
tial to rise above the creatures of mesner
experience.
!, By skill us a performer. sobriety Of pri
vnte character, and shire Tdness not the
less effectu,l for its honesty, his progress
through the remaining years Of his minority
was a continual ascent, and 10 his twenty
FIRST year he had attained the dignities oi
manager and proprietor. Many times in
these prosperous days he brought his thriv-
ing circus to Stanton, and always improv
cd the opportunity to present himself at
the hospitable door where a simplc glass of
water had been the lens through which his
fr,endles, boyhood had caught its 6rst view
Of the worlds clearer face. The rame vel,
con . was there It'll; the same disposition
in bis own heart to whimper; aud "God
bless you!' sounded in i: all. The desola-
ton Of war supplanted the tent Of the show
mao with that Of the soldier in the once
happy valley at last, and Sberiln, rode to
slaughter where srst the peaceful vnulter
through hoops had urged his spsngled stesl
in 'he merry round Of the ring.
While the circus still gathered golden
gain 10 distant uninvaded states, FIRE and
sword ragged IN tempesss around the home
of the Brittingham., until smoke blackened
chimneys marked the place where that
home bad been, and the churchyard closed
upon TIE aged eyes most mourniul for the
desoiation. Not until the spring OF 1870,
could the circusman, now we'll advanced In
years himself, hear aught of the surviving
family that, upon the destruction to their
homestead and the death OF their chief. had
wandered away from the old plantation.
At the time mentioned, when the new
mammoth equestrian enterprise was giving
entertainments in Kansas, a poorly dressed,
hollow checked man applied for some
unskilled employment about the tsnts.
"Your name," said the rich sho man,
"is Brittiagham."
There could be but one answer, Ieluct
antly given:
Yes"
With a strange look the rich proprietor
grasped both hands OF the other in his
own.
"Then," said he, "you are the sou of the
best man that ever lived, and thank God
that you have come to share in all that your
father has Il mortgage upon for eternity.
Take my tent. my people, my horses, my
bank book, and then you'll have just the
interest of the one uupaid debt of my life"
Here Was good feeling and no mists ke,
the kird of feeling that needs sone sort Of
unexg ectedness of origin to make it per
fectly sublime, and just enough of the com
monness Of common natures about it to ex
cuse natures common way of betraying Its
simplest effect. The two men cried over
each other without the slightest regard to
sex, and then the soutberner begged of as
we'll AS he could by finally conserving TO &C
Dept loan-only that-of 5000 Tor the
purchase of the farm
The Ysntee would not "let up o. him.
to use his own words, q cent cheaper, and
added q season ticket to the show for the
whole family. Two years later the afore-
said out and out, double twisted, dyed in
the wool down Eastern was at Washington