The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1878-11-06
Our Circus,


We wanted to go to the circus, Sister
Dot and I, but mama said the weather
was too hot, and there were better ways
o. spending u money; 81 we went out
on the piazza, to think up something
else to do.
We had seen the street parade in the
morning, and couldn't think of anything
but tho elephants, and ponies, and, best
of all, the great chariot. with the "God-
dess of Liberty" riding on top; so I said
q am Dots brother Dick, you see, and
we are eight years old, and twins),
"Let's play circus" Dot clapped her
hands at that, and we ran in to ask
mama. She was reading, but stopped
to listen, and laughed, and told us where
to find An old bed.tick for a tent, besides
giving us five cents to buy peanuts with
you know circus people always eat
peanuts.
While Dot went round the corner to
buy the peanuts, I set up the tent in the
front yard, under the poplar tree. I
printed "Circus" in big letters on a
piece of white paper and pinned it on
the side of the tent. next the street, and
put up q flag over the end re went in at.
When Dot came she said it looked
"splendid !" and we called George and
Eva Barbour, who live across the street,
to come over and play with US. They
came, and we took our black dog "Dom
Pedro" for the elephant, Dots kitty for
q tiger, and Eva's for a bear. We put
the cats in strawberry boxes for cages,
and tied "Dom Pedro" to n of the
tent poles. We had Dots doll, dressed
in q pink dress and yellow sash, for the
"Goddess of Liberty" and she rode in
my red cart, with a little flag tied in her
hand.
George stood ut the "e~ntrance," and
took pins for pay, and I was the "keep-
er Of the animals, and Eva and Dot
we're the visitors.
But the elephant broke away and
wouldn't come back, and the tiger and
bear upset their cages, and knocked the
poor "goddess" and her chariot"
both over.
So George said as the animal part was
such a failure, We must make the circus
part good, so we went outside the tent
to where my turning pole was, and had
some PERFORMANCES" there. George
hung by his feet, andturned somersaults
till he tore his trousers, which were his
best ones, so he stopped. Then I tried
to walk across the turning-pole, with a
croquet mallet in my hand for O balan-
cing:pole, but fell off and broke the
mallet, besides hitting my head on the
Ratchet, which I had left there when I
pounded down the tent stakes.
I thought I should have to- cry, but
George called out, "Circus fellows
don't mind bumps" 80 I didn't ; but it
hurt for a good while.
We tied "Arabella st. James" (the
name we saw on the bills, SO we gave it
to the dolly, by one arm to the turning
pole, and swung her till the arm came
out, and she fell down and broke her
nose off, when Dot cried, and we con-
cluded it was time for the circus to
close. So we stood in a row (all but
Dot, who cried so she couldn't), and
sang Yankee Doodle ; afterward George
blacked his face with some SCOT from an
old stove-pipe in the backyard, and sang,
"Once I loved a gal, her name was
Nancy LiIl." Then we bowed, and
waved our hands F.; and George and Eva
were going home, when Dot remember
ed the peanuts she had left in the tent ;
but when she went for them Dom Pedro
had been in there, and eaten them al
most up. We found by tasting them
that they weren't baked, so we told
mama, who just then came out to pick
some pansies, and she gave us some
ginger-snaps, fit for a king to eat, 80 we
liked them.
And that was the end of our circus.