Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1879-12-05
NIIIni's Revenge.

] was nlleu 10 us rclnOtebt nOOk anu COIueT
with motley, eager throng
A heavy rain had fallen; it ceased about
noon, and all went merry as u marriage bell.
Trade was brisk schnapps flowed freely, all
| sorts Of side shows enhanced the iollity of the
hour. Humblest among these was a small
tent with a loud-voiced owner, who proclaim
ed to all and sundry the surprising merits of
| his troupe. In vain woman with hand
organ had stationed herself right before his
door, and this blousy muse, with her shrill
songs Of love aud murder and her rasping or
| gan notes, proved more enticing to the peas
ant throng than the feats of our old man in
worsted tights and his company, boy Of ten,
a poodle dog and a monkey.
| The boy Arthur, who also wore tights, was
the old mans son. He was well versed in the
grotesquc antics Of his trade, but his face had
a pinched, worn look that told Of hunger and
suffering. He had eaten almost nothing to-
day, his last bit of bread having been shared
with the poodle and the ape his fellow gym
nasts and comedians, who were dear to him
as brothers.
Poor stroling players-father, son, ape and
poodle They had been many seasons to-
gethcr, in fair weather and foul, and now
their fortunes were at the lowest ebb. The
old man, Hermann, had months before fallen
| from the tight-rope and broken his leg. A
! long illness followed and when he rose from
his sick bed the last kreutzer Of his little
hoard had gone for food and doctors bills.
Schuft aud Mimi. the poodle and the ape,
| had shared their masters better days. They
were now his comrades in misfortune. The
dog and the boy had grown up together, and
the ape, who had been purchased of a Ham
| burg sailor for five thalers, had entered into
the new life with the pride Of a true artist.
! Mimi was born comic actor and mimic her
| piquant Turkish costume and her funny an
tics had won much applause for her and some
money for her owner Her accomplishments
were many She could ride spleuddly on the
poodle's back, shoot oi iye-barrclled d reyolv-
err and do many wonderful things.
Night came on. The Hermann troupe had
taken no money. They repaired sad and
| hungry to their inn, TO their bare attic and
bed of straw, with only an old soldiers cloak
for a covering.
Father please buy me Hcrmann's ape and
poodle pleaded the landlords little son,
down stairs in the taproom. ''If you will
manage to secure them for me, l will give you
twenty thalers, said guest.
"DOHe :" returned Shaper, the host.
The next morning Hermann went down to
| the kitchen after bit Of food for himself and
family. The landlord met him at the door,
and declared that he could have nothing un-
til he had paid the three thalers already due
for three days lodging. Hermann replied
| that his business had been dull through the
fair, that he had no money; but h. designed
to give performances before the public houses
to-day, and hoped to pay the reckoning upon
his return at night.
The ape and the dog remain here until you
| pay me, said Shaper
Hermann begged that the two leading
members Of his troupe might not be taken
from him, as without them he could do moth
ing but the landlord was inexorablc. The
| father and son left the inn, boggared and
hopeless. while Mimi and Schuft remained be
hind as surety for the debt. A good break
fast was given them aud then they were shut
up in an out-of the-way room, where it was
supposed they could do no mischief.
ooE95ay o T c RFia R saS Sq 81 MINI Sans ER9 %a sTG AZ G
| loss for diversion. She rode on Schultz back,
| cutting up for her own amusement those va
ried pranks with which she was wont to divert
the public. Schuft could see nothing funny
in the situation he missed his young master;
he also missed the crowds and the applause
which had been the very breath of life to
him he was moody and silent.
Mimi at length seated herself on the win
dow ledge. She gazed across the street and
saw "A man painting the walls of a house. II
can do that, too, she thought, aud she nod
ded her head and winked knowingly at
Schuft
After watching the painter while she ran
to the top of a clothes press. Here the house
wife had stored away some preserved fruits.
| 4 row Of bberry jars arranged in front OBJ
| structed Minis view, and she threw them
down. The glass jars were broken and their
contents dyed the floor deep black. If bill
berries could paint a floor, they could also
paint other things; and. Mimi, who had just
been longing to be a painter, now found the
materials ready to her hand She jumped
from the press, seized a brush that hung be
hind the stove. dipped it in the bilberry juice
and began to make artistic strokes over the
| walls.
Schuft, who had been prowlng around IN
search of some egress ere long found door
in the wall hidden by curtain. He tried the
knob with his fore-paw the door flew open,
! disclosing the state chamber, the finest room
in the house.
Mimi, who had all the curiosity of her spe-
cies, rushed in to examine the room. She
carried the dripping brush in her right paw,
and found to her horror that these walls were
not painted. They were hung with white
| tapestry, the floor was covered with white
mating white curtains were at the windows.
| This would never do In ten minutes, thanks
| to Minis artistic taste and skill, and the bill
| berry syrup, the snowy whiteness of this
dainty guest chamber had taken on the hue of
night and Erebus
A white parrot with yellow crest, who pro
tested loudly against the sacrilege, was quick
ly silenced. Mimi poured a jar of bilberries
over him. and threatened by pantomime he
well understood to wiring his neck if he did
not keep quiet.
Schuft took no part in Minis art decora-
ton he was asleep on the high posted bed
that stood in the shaded aleove Mimi, still
clutching the brush in her fore-paw, lay
down on the beautiful counterpane at his
side.
Hermann and his son passed the night in a
hay loft and dreamed of their lost comrades.
The subject of Schuft's and Minis dreams
We shall never know they were, perhaps, of
dusky forms rising from sable bilberry jars,
of screeching cockatoos with black feathers,
! of hearth brushes endowed with life and stalk
| ing about on demoniac errands.
Morning dawned the ape and the poodle
! awoke refreshed from their slumbers. Schuft
gazed in terror at the Stygiau blackness
around him but Mimi smiled complacently
on her work, and busted herself about other
matters. She had slept royalty; she wonder
ed what made the bed so soft she must find
out. She therefore made a rent in the mat
tress and drew out pawful of downy feath-
ers. 1t was showing outside-the first fall of
snow this season, the first Mimi had ever
seen. "Ah, ha | can make it look in here
Just as it does out there :" she said to herself.
She threw the pawful of feathers in the air.
The effect was charming; even Schuft lifted
his head to wonder and admire. The feather
! bed was soon robbed of half its contents, and
the air within was as heavy with snowy flakes
as the air without.
Schuft now entered into the sport and the
fun began in earnest. He rushed in wild
bounds after Mimi over tables, chairs and
bureau, and threw a costly clock from the
mantel Mimi, in scampering over the keys of
the piano, was so entranced with their duoet
tones that she went to playing with four
hands like true member of the quadrumana
family. Never had such acoords been heard
before this indeed was Wagner's music of
the future The feathers whirled Justify
through the air Schuft danced a schottische
in the biberry juice, the parrot screamed at
the top of his voice. and the landlady, sum