The Red Cloud chief., 1881-01-13
THE ACROBAT.

III W
YES, that's my name; the patent
sclf-acting acrobat: it is painted on my
back. unless the children have pulled
the paper off. They have2 Well, il is
lucky | know the name. | learned it
when stood on a Newark toy-stand,
waiting for some one TO come and buy
me; my spring was all right then, and
l kept turning somersaults all day.
Didn't | get tired?" Not a bit; so
long as the spring was right it never
hurt me. And now it's broken, and
they say j can't be mended, though 1
don't know why. After Jamie was
sick last year, The doctor said he had
no spring in him and must go TO the
sca-shore TO get well. L wished | might
go, too, but they didn't take me; moth
ing went but the creeping doll, and her
spring was right enough. You've been
sick, too, and all the children tell YOU
their troubles; do You think | could be
mended like Jamie-is his spring like
mine? No! ] thought not. His spring
would come back with air and water,
you say. That just settles the matter
in my mind; | know they wouldn't do
me II good, for I've had both; once
when the boys threw me "a of the
nursery window, and | hung by one leg
from the old pcar-trec; and once when
there was a moving, and L fell out of
the basket into a mud-puddle and
wasn't found for two days. NV tum-
bling DAYS are over; but | hope they
won't throw me away; perhaps they
won't, for little Alice that died used TO
laugh at me SO much.
L have given a great deal of pleas
ure? Thank you, ma'am; / wish /
could tumble this once for you. | know
you'd enjoy the performance. It'svcry
pleasant now to think what a good time
1 have helped people to have; | took
great pleasure in being pleasant But
the best time / have TO think about i.
my last day on the toy-stand; may |
tell You about it? Thank yUu, ma'am.
My owner was a toy-dealer, who had
n very nice stand on a leading street in
Newark. l came to him in a package
from New York. about the middle of
December, and began to tumble as soon
as | was wound up next morning, for |
was the latest novelty, and he calcu-
lated that L ought to bring him a run of
custom. | felt there was a great re-
spousibility upon me, for l heard him
tell his wife that l had cost a good deal;
but he hoped l would bring him the
worth of his money, even if | was not
sold. So, in the morning, when he had
put the whole stand in nice order, and
all the dolls, and g~um-balls, and boxes
of blocks, and tin wagons were all set
in array, / vas put on the shelf just
above, and began to tumble my very
best.
We hadn't much company that morn
ing, and in the afternoon it rained; but
the next day was bright and clear, and
the two-headed vocalist gave a matinee
just beyond, and, of course, all the chill
dren and grown people stopped to look
ut me. 1t sounds very vain, doesn't it?
but it does me good to think about all l
helped to do that day, and l should not
have done it if the people had not
stopped 10 look at me.
1t was one of these late hard-times
winters, and my master, finding trade
poor, had a chestnut-roaster as well as
a toy-stand, and the boy who turned
the handle for him was-well, very
poor and in rags, and very seldom with
n clean face. but such a bright pair of
eyes-their glance was like the sparkle
in a mud-puddle. He was greatly
tickled with me, you may believe. and
/ don't think he would have attended
TO the nuts well if it hadn't been that
they wanted his bit of money at home
worse that day than usual. As it was,
/ think it was easier for him to work
with me tumbling beside him: first-class
nonsense does a great deal of good
sometimes
The matinee crowd stopped as they
went and as they came home, and
bought a good many little things. but
among the first people who came after
dinner was a shabby man with gray
hair and a sharp. thin face. who strayed
along the street as if he hadn't any
thing to do, and yet wanted to do some
thing. l think if he passed the stand
once he passed it ten times; then he
asked NV master how / w6fked, and
INV master told him "w1th q spring"
but very shortly, for l think he did not
like the mans looks. He spoke pleas
antly enough, l thought, and by and by
stationed himself in a doorway near by,
and kept looking at me from under his
eyebrows and biting his lip. L think
nv master had a notion that this idle
man might steal me, and was relieved
presently when he saw a pl~easant-look-
ing lady recognize the shabby fellow as
she came out of the book store. She
shook hands with him, too, she did.
that lady; L remember seeing that her
glove was ripping. "How are you get
ting on these days, Jem?' she said, in
o nice, bright voice.
..Not SO very well, Miss Ellen" he
answered.
..Not out of work again. l hopper"
mo. not quite; but only half-work,
and that makes it hard to pay the
rent" -
Miss Ellen looked sober. "Hah-
work is hard, Jem; NJ n knows that
better than ! just now. People haven't
much money to spend for pictures,
and I don't know that they ought to
have; but it is hard on us who paint
them"
= Jem listened respectfully, but as if he
only took part of it in, and Miss Ellen
paye q little jump, as if she had been
talking to herself. '.But what about
the new invention, Jem?"
,Jem's face lighted up. 1--WE wofked
Mt IL a good deal, Miss Ellen; PveNhore
time for it than / wish / had1 hd l