The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1884-11-07
NO. Al.

this strange music. They erect themselve
vertically before the player, who at ono
SEXES them by the throat and puts them il
a large basket or bag he carries with hin
for the reception of unwise serpents
What became of the dry snake skin WI
could not tell; we never saw it again.
MARVELLOUS BIRDS.
The next performer was an elderly pa
triarchal looking man, who exhibited two
trained tropical birds, the names OF
which | forget These birds did soms
really astonishing things, and their master
the patriarch, must be a man of infinite
patience. For instance. one actually load
ed small brass cannon set on minia-
ture gun carriage, pushed the charge
home with a small ramrod and fired the
piece off by applying lighted match,
held in its beak, to the touch-hole dis
playing not the slightest fear of the noise
caused by the firing. The other bird,
would, if its master threw any small OBJ
ject into the air, seize the object in midar
and bring it to the bird trainer
Numbers five and six, man and boy, of
the troupe, were circus Wallahs, and gave
native gymnastic entertainment which,
as it did not materially differ from a
British performance in the same line, need
not to be detailed.
Number seven was juggler of divers ac-
complishments He swallowed swords and
put an iron hook into his nOstril, bringing it
out of his mouth. Neither of these feats,
however, though undoubtedly genuine, is
pleasant to look at. He blew fire and
flames out of his mouth without revealing
the origin or cause of the fire, and appa-
rently without burning himself. He took
about half dozen stones of the size of,
say hens egg, out of his mouth; how
they got there, or how his mouth contain
ed them after they got there, was mys-
terry. He was talking just before he be-
gan; but on being asked question in the
middle of this stone performance, he could
not speak. After discharging the big
stones, he wound upby disgorging about
handful of old nails and miscellaneous
rubbish
THE OBEDIEST CORK.
A much more pleasant trick to look at
was the one which followed. He took
cocoanut shell with one end cut off, and
filled it with water. In the water he plac-
ed little piece of cork, having bent pin
on one side and two straight pins on the
other side, so that the cork as it fioated,
roughly resembled lilliputian duck. The
cork lay dead in the water, and it was
difficult to think what magic could posi-
bly, be got out of it. Presently the juggler
sitting about two yards off, took out a mu-
steal instrument and began to play lively
tune Instantly the imitation duck COM
menced to dance violently in the water,
suting its motions to the music. The
dancing continued till the tune was ended;
then the .juggler ordered the duck to sal
aam, and he was at once obeyed. He even
requested the buoyant cork to dive to the
bottom of the water and his request was
Immediately complied with. While the
performance was going on, the cocoanut
shell was standing almost at our feet, and
the performer was not only sitting beyond
reach, but both his hands were employed
in playing the instrument.
One more trick will finish my list. Our
iuggler told native servant, whom he did
not know, to stretch out his arm, palm
upward. Into the out-stretched palm he
placed silver two-anna piece, and, hold
ing out his own bony hand to show us that
it was empty, he lifted the coin from the
servant hand, shut his own fist, reopened
it in the twinkling of an eye, and an enor-
nous black scorpion dropped into the ser
wants palm. The latter fled, shrieking
with terror, for, next to the serpent, the
particular aversion of the Hindoo is the
scorpion.
This finished the performance. In the
foregoing have given as fair description
as can of an Indian juggling entertain
ment; and probably you will agree with
me in thinking that the feats of the poor
Indian iuggler are quite as wonderful as
those of first-class British magician,
while the former suffers from numerous
disadvantages which the latter is entirely
free FROM Chambers Journal.
Among fine minds, men and woman are
more truly felt than seen. We meet PEG
pie of the plainest appearance and most
transformations manner, and yet without
effort they compel us to respect them.
A rill, had it conscious life, would neve
forget the pebble that detected its cours'
| from one ocean to another; human life a