Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1876-05-31
l
REST AT LAST.

MISCELlLANY.
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| REST AT LAST.
After tile shower, the tranquil sun;
Silver stars when the day 10 done; =
After the snow III. emerald leaves; q
After the harvest, golden sheaves.
After the clouds. the violet sky. l
Quiet woods when the wind goes by.
After the knell, soft silver bells;
j joyful greeting from sad farewells,
After the bud, the radiant rose;
Alter long weeping, swees repose;
Alter the burden, the biissful mead;
After the fnrrOw, the waking seed
After the tempest the lnn OF waves; "a ~
Aiier the battle, peaceful graves.
Over the shadowy river-rest. q -
INDIAN JUGGLERS.
/ Belgfavia: Magazine.
just as luncheon had been finished
the dubash, Rarnaswammy, entered
the room, and announced that the
ljugglcrs were in attendance in the
verandah; upon which Mr.. Gingham
leading the way, the whole party adj.
|journcd to it, and were soon seated
in comfortable fashion, each bctaking
himself to a pipe or cigar as pleased
him best. .5 Nd fs,r
The jugglers' party consisted Of
1.-TWO men, o woman, a lad and a child
of about four years of age. They had
with them large basket. containing
their stOck-in- trade; and, with the
exception of the woman, were but
scantily clad. The latter had small
Indian tabor before her, which she
occasionally snatchcd up and struck
with the tips of her fingers, to add
expression to some Of the wild chants
which were introduced during the
phases of the exhibition. We pass
over the dextcrous manipulation of
the cups and balls-the Whirling of a
dozen oranges in the air, not one of
which ever touched the ground, or
clashed with another-the passing of
the long blade of knife down the
throat-the steadiness of hand and
eve which kept from four to six sharp
knives flashing and circling in the
air, without inflicting scratch on the
performer of the exploit. Wonderful
too, was the performance of the pig
my goat, made of wood or some 9TH
er substance, and covered with tile
skin of that animal, which drank up
pint of water presented to it i'm an
earthen vessel without any visible in
crease of bulk. We mention these
rather as feats of dexterity, though
they excited in no small degree the
admiration of the spectators but
what followed could not apparently
be referred to like cause. ~
For instance, the lad was made to
drink powder dissolved in little
water, at which he made wry face !;
the premonitory symptoms of an at
tack of retching supervened, amid a
choral recitative accompanied by the
rat-tat-tat of the tabor; there was q
spasmodic action of the stomach
body seemed to ascend through the
gullet-the mouth was filled-was
opened-and there dropped out on
the floor large, smooth stone. In
another minute the phenomenon was
repeated; this time the stone being so
large as to pass out with difficulty be-
tween the teeth. Another and anoth-
er, and again another followed, till
some ten stones of different shapes
and sizes, but all smooth, lay on the
floor, weighing in the aggregate
probably about two pounds. -.
A leathern strap was unrolled and
laid on the ground open to view-a
subdued choral incarnation followed
there was slight but perceptible
nervous twitching motion in the strap
when one of the performers cried out,
''Cover him up! cover him up, or he
will bite us r placing large wicker
work basket, called tapah, over it,
and covering it with cloth; then,
selling strange-looking musical in
strument, the body Of which consisted
of a small dry gourd, he produced a
succession of wild droning notes not
unlike the treble of bagpipe. His
companion removed the basket, and
in lieu of the lcathern strap, there
MI NMfass slqea. laA enormous {. m live cobra, hood
its double tongue, and swaying about
a foot of its body from side to side
the rest being arranged in close coil
All drew back their chairs in undis-
guised alarm.
| Meanwhile the snake, though evil
IDENTITY charmed by the music, Kept his
bright eyes directed on the movements
of the party, whom he seemed TO re-
gard as his natural foes. The woman
was the first to attack her ancient
enemy by slyly attempting to nip his
tail. He hissed forth his displeasure
and made a dart ut her hand, but she
was too quick for him. With equal
success the lad and the man who was
not playing continued to provoke the
reptile for minute or two, but he at
length bit the latter in the hand. The
blood trickled slowly from the wound
but the man drew from a small bag
about his person what appeared to be
a small, dark-colored fiat stone, and
pressing it upon the wound left il
there, for ii appeared to have adhesive
properties. In about two minutes the
blood ceased to fiow, and the quasi
stone dropped of. A small basket
was then put before the snake, into
which he quietly glided, and was hid
from sight. - -.ss Ass.s4
The child is seated on the floor.
The father and mother simulate a
quarrel; the former takes up aud
fourishes a sword, and the child, see
ing its mother threatened, yells lusti.
ly; whereupon the fathers rage is
directed toward it. But the mother
seeing its danger, hastily covers i,
with the large basket before used
over which she throws a large cloth
nevertheless, the man thrnsts hi:
sword through it into the basket, and
makes lunge or two. Then the
shrieks of the child are heard, the
basket is moved violently about, and
presently all is still. A small stream
of blood is seen issuing from under
the basket, which is lifted up, and the
apparently dead body of the child il
shown lying face downward. The
mother snatches it up, presses it to hel
bosom, and otherwise handles it, and
after q minute replaces it with an all
of resignation under the basket seem
ingly q lifeless corpse. Meanwhile
the blood has been wiped up by tht
other confederates and short incan
tation follows, at the end Of which tht
basket is again raised, and 10 thu
child is found seated, quite unhurt, it
laughing face indicating the satisfac.
tion it is deriving from the juice of ,
} short stick of sugar-cane which it Il
} crushing between its cleaning teeth
/ One of the jugglers then brough
forth a ball of fine twine, and un
wound about fifty yards of it in col
in his hand: this coil he cut through
with knife, at each end of its diam
eter; then doubling the severa
lengths he cut through them agail
and repeated the operation till tn,
twine had been divided into pieces
not exceeding four inches in length
Taking up these disjecta he put them
into the lads mouth, and bade hin
swallow them, which after some eff
fort, he to all appearance did. Then
asking one of the company for .
sharp penknife, the man obviously
made an incision in the skin Of til,
lads stomach. From this he picked
out, with the point OF the knife, til,
end Of thread this thread he pulled
forth, st first gently, then faster, then
hand over hand, until he had coileG
down on the ground continuous
length of about one hundred yard
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