The Hickman courier., 1882-11-10
Playing Clroals

--------------- y &
Playing Circa
The circus came throi, ssllr toSglf
three weeks ago, and mess Tom Mo-
Ginnis went to it Wessf9ssIfl 90 III
gether. for went with fslf fzFr. aud Pom
helped the circus men waf&Athe horses
and they let him in for nelszilig. Isa hak
said that eircuses were 7filllS
moralizing, unless they Riere Al tiaz'ss1
with wild animals, and flIal the sse5ls.l
why he took me to this ssslis
was that there We're eiephan<s ii5est and
the elephant is Scripture animal. ifis
my, and it can not help ba5 ini pros q
your mind to see him. aFeed with
father. Ii my mind had Z i'm 81 a.
| thought going to the circus would be
n good way to do it.
We had just an elegant time. Ir0fle
on the elephant, but il wasn tmu Ii f111
for they woudn Let me driveshfm. The
trapezc was better than anything else,
though the Central African Chariot
Races and the Queen Of the sArona. who
rode on one foot were ..,s -.
trapeze perfor1nafl 'eS Nvefe dOfle -bS. Tie
Patagonian Brothers. and you'd think
every minute they were going to break
their necks. Father said it was a most
revolving sight and do st down and
keep still Jimmy or | can't see what s
going on. l think father had "A pre- ty
good time. anee impro ell his mind a
good deal, for he was lust as nj IS he
Could be. and gave ME a whole pint OF
peanuts.
Mr. Travers says that the Pataoon an
Brothers live on their trapezes, and new
er come down to the ground except
when a performance is going to begin
They hook their legs around it at night,
and sleep hanging with their heads
down just like the bats, and they take
their meals and study Their lessons sit
ting on the bar, without anything to
lean against. | don believe it; for
how eouid they get their food brought
up to them? and it's ridi ulous to sup
pose that they have TO study lessons. 1t
grieves me very much 10 say so. but |
am beginning to think that Mr.. Ira ers
doesn' { always tell the truth What did
he mean by telling Sue the other night
that he loved cats, and thIt her cat was
perfectly beautiful. and then when she
went into the other room he slung the
cat out of the window clear over into
the asparagus bed, and said get out YOU
brute? We can no. be too careful about
always telling the truth. and never do
ING anything wrong.
Tom and | talked about the circus all
the next day. and we agreed wee have
a circus OF our own, and travel all over
the country, and make heaps o money.
We said we wouldn' let any OF the oth
er boys belong to it, but we would dc
everything ourselves, except the Gle
plants. So we began to practice in Mr..
Mc5innis' barn every afternoon 4 ter
school. ! was the Queen OF the Arena,
aud dressed up in one 0 Sues skirts,
and won't she be mad when she finds
that | cut the bottom OF of iti-Only
certainly meant TO get her new one
with the very first money / made.
wore an old umbre la under the skirt,
which made it stick out beautifully,
and l know | should have looked sp en-
did standing on Mr. McGinnis old
horse, only he was so slippery that
couldn stand on him without falling
of and sticking all the umbrella rib
into me.
Tom and l were the Madagascar
Brothers, and we were going to dc
everything that tn Patagonian Broth
ers did. We practiceA standing on each
other head hours ut a time, and did il
pretty well. only Tom he slipped once
when he was standing on my head, ans
sat down on it so hard that I don
much believe that my hair viii ever
grow any more.
The barn floor was most too hard tC
practice on, so last Saturday Tom saic
we 90 into the parloT, where there
was soft carpet, and we put some
pillows on the lloor besides All Tom
folks had gone out, and there WASH
/ -
the kitchen. So we went into the par
| lor, and put about dozen pillows anc
a feather-bed on the floor. II was ele
giant fun turning somersaults backward
| from the top of the table; but / say j
ought to be spelled summersets, though
Sue says the other way IS right.
We tried balancing things on Our fee
while we lad on our backs on the floor
Tom balanced the musical box for eve
| so long before it fell; but / don't thinl
it was hurt much. for nothing excep
| two or three little wheels were smashed
/ And l balanced the water pitcher, ant
/ / shouldn't have broken it if Ton
/ hadn't spoken to me at the wron.
minute.
We were getting tired. when though
| how nice it would be to do the trapez
/ performance on the chandeliers Their
was one in the front parIor and one il
the back parlor. and | meant to swim:
on one of them, aud let go and catcl
the other / swung beautifully on tn
front-parlor chandelier, when, just as
was going to let 90 of it, down it cam
with an awful crash. and that parlo
was Just filed with broken glass, ant
the gas began to smell dreadfully.
AS it was about supper-time, an
Toms folks were expected home,
thought l would say good-by to Tom
and not practice any more that day. 5
we shut the parlor doors, and | wen
home, wondering what would becom
o. Tom, and whether had done ATTIC
gether right in practicing with him i
his parlor. There was an awful SINE
of gas in the house that night, and whe
Mr.. McGinnis opened the parlor doc
he found what was the matter. II
found the cat, too. She was lying o
the floor. just as dead as she could be.
I'm going to see Mr.. McGinnis to-da
and tell him broke the chandelier.
suppose he will tell father. and then l sha
wish that everybody had never bee
born; but / did break that chandelie
though | didn't mean to, and I've e
to tell about it. Jimmy Br01osa," 4
Hdrper's Yousg People.