Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1874-08-27
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A SHoWMAM'S GRATITUDE.

It must have been in or about the
year 1880, that a peripatetic circus
company pitched their tents IN the vii
lage of Stanton, in the Valley Of
Virginia, for the profit to be reaped
from the patronage Of the country
gentry, yokel and plantation hands,
and gave such entertainment Of light
fantastic equestrlapism, athletic con-
tortion and ground and lofty tunbl-
ing as has not yet lost its periodical
zest for rural neighborhoods. The
small village inn and every other
receptacle for trsnsitory, guests in the
place were taxed to give temporary
domicile to the small army of show
people but one there was Of the cav
alcade who. instead of hilleting with
his comrades, took the first opportunity
to slip away from both tent and village
and follow a road winding afar among
retired Plantations.
This was a mere boy, haggard, and
previously ruetnl Of grace and figure
escaping boz sge in which frequent
stripes had not been wanting to make
him something lower than a horse in
nightly feasts of the arena Things
had come to such a pitch in bis NAL
treated young life that he preferred a
future of beggary on foot to the last
counted tinsel on horseback, and upon
reaching the stately Birmingham planta
ton he began his new career by asking
at the door for a glass OF water. The
sight of white boy on the tramp was
novelty for that part Of the country
in those, patriarchal days, and hence
the whole household, with the planter
at their head, we're attracted to the
scene. Upon being kindly questioned
by old Mr., Birmingham, the fugitive
Smike of the circus frankly revealed
his story and situation, and that with
piteous earnestness of speech and
manner which might have extorted sym
pathy from the toughest phase Of hu-
man nature. His response was an Of
fer of immediate refuge and protection
in the good old, hearty hospitable style,
and the whimper with which he accep.
ted did no harm in the estimation Of
his new friends.
Thenceforth the runaway of the ring
was the privileged inmate of the fine
house for year. enjoying every kind
ness that benevolence could devise. A,
the end of that period, when another
circus was tented in neighboring staun
ton and he went there with the throng
to see the influence of the old habit
proved stronger i'll his nature than the
newer ambition, and the boy being nat
urally of sawdust, to sawdust returned
not, however, without something gain
ed for the refinement of his whole fu-
ture life, in sentiment of ardent graft
tude to his benefactors and an ardor t.
excel in his natural lot for the honor d
that benifcent emotion. Only circus
rider was he again, to be sure; but thu
something of better sphere of life will
which he went back to the horses and
clowns was something potential to MAKE
him rise above the creatures of thu
meaner experience.
By skill as performer, sobriety o.
private character, and shrewdness MOI
the less effectual for its honesty, hi
progress through the remaining year.
of his minority was a continual ascent
and in his twenty>fist year he had at
tanned the dignlties of manager ane
proprietor. Many times in those pros
porous days he brought the thriving cir
Gus to Staunton and always improved
the opportunity to present himself at thu
door where simple glass of water ha'
been the lens through which his friend
less boyhood had caught its first view
of the worlds clear face. The same
welcome was there; the same DISPOSE
ton IN his own heart to whimper; and
"God bless you'll" sounded In it al. The
desolation Of war supplanted the ten
of the Snowman with that Of the once
happy valley at last, and Sheridan rode
to slaughter where erst the peaceful
vaultel through hoops had urged hi'
spangled steed in the merry round o.
the ring. -.
While the circus still. gathered gol-
den gain in distant, uninvaded States
fire and sword ragged in tempest around
the home of the Brightinghams unit
smoke blackened chimneys marked the
place where the home. bad been, and
the eharchyard closed upon the aged
most mournfnl for the des.,lation. Not
| mill fh.. s,,r;n,y ~ 1870 rs.ni,IF Inc ,ir