The Democratic advocate., 1884-07-19
Cur 0liu.
Wonderful Feats of Jugglers.

hand by pouring several kinds of wine
called for out of one bottle, "but the best
of us are fooled sometimes. As an amateur
think | can compete with any one in the
black art | have always had love for it;
it comes natural to me, and here he deftly
plueked heavy silver fork from the pocket
of the gentleman next to him, much to that
persons embarrassment. $780," he con-
tinued, II naturally thought could not be
deceived but l was woefully taken in on
at least two occasions. The first time was
at Brighton, England.
TALKING FISH.
Twas strolling along watching the bathers
and their curious machines, when | per
ceived crowd about man, and thinking
it Punch and Judy drew alongside, so to
speak. But the fellow was not Punch.
He was standing on small platform that
was fiat on the ground and made of several
planks, while on single metal prop,
Fgilded, was an aquarium that | should
Judge would hold about two gallons OF
water. 1t was fixed up quite fancifully
with rock work, weeds, etc., and contained
a number of small fish and large one they
call the goby, one of the commonest of all
the fishes on the English coast, that you
always find left by the tide; in fact, they
seem to like being left high and dry. The
man was regular cockney, short, thick
set, with striped suit and cap, the latter
on his right ear, and he was shouting :
Gre you have, gents, the out and outest
show on earth. The knowingest fish wot
swims; heats from yer and; conwerses in
three different languages, Hinglish, Hirish
and Hamerican. You pays yer money and
takes yer choice. Ere you have it.
NOT vENTRILooUIsT.
aOf course" continued the young man
II Joined the circle, and when the shouting
and the curious character Of the perform
ance had attracted goodly crowd, the man
said that the fish would answer any ques-
ton that was asked it. Upon this Lad
stepped up and asked what the fish called
itself, and the words were hardly out Of
his mouth before the goby rose, thrust its
head out of the water an inch or more, and
none of your business was heard as plain
| 10 PoootDAS-
''Was the shouter a yentriloquist p
questioned the writer.
II should have explained replied the
story-teller, ''that the man mentioned that
this might be expected, and had bound 6
handkerchief about his mouth while the
answer was being given, and, moreover
the voice came direct from the water.
got the next chance, and, leaning over the
water, asked who was the President of the
United States The answer came imme
diately, the fish rising right below me, and
the voice coming from its mouth. Oh
course knew it was a trick, but couldn'
see how it was done, and was forced tC
conclude that the man had confederate
in the audience who was a ventriloquist
But ventriloquist was never known who
could throw his voice in such way right
under your nose, and, hating to give it up
l hung around the place every day until
finally discovered the secret.
A DWARF UNDER WATER.
Il happened on the beach one night, and
met a man coming along carrying dwarf
that, as if not short enough, was legless
| followed them, for some reason, into {
public house, and as the man deposited the
atom of humanity in a chair and turned
around | saw it was my friend of the aqua
rum. He recognized me at once, and
with a laugh, said You won't give Us
away? It's the honly way the lad gets
his bread and butter. l told him | would
not, but, as it was afterward exposed il
Belgium, | suppose am not taking mean
advantage in telling it here. You see the
aquarium was more capacious than it look.
ed, and was not entirely full of water, the
lower half being a cavity in which the
dwarf was slowed away, he talking through
a tube that led up to the rock work, where
the mouth was skillfully concealed"
"But the fish p asked one of the lis
teners.
''The fish" continued the speaker, 'wa'
trained to rise at a motion of the outside
man, and as soon as the dwarf heard the
cluek that the fish made when he rose tC
the surface, he answered whatever question
was asked, having heard it, of course
through the tube. Altogether, twas about
the best of the kind have ever seen, ant
the man told me in confidence that most Of
the people believed that the fish actually
talked, and he showed me letter from I;
scientific man stating why fishes could bC
taught to talk"
THE LANGUAGE OF FISHES.
fThey can utter sounds, cant they 2
asked the writer.
"Of course" was the reply. "Over one
hundred species of fish make sounds o
some kind, but hardly think it is used al
language. The cat-fshes groan and cry
and have heard the common dog-fsh on
an Eastern coast utter bark that sounded
just like puppy. Then there is lizzart
shad that makes an audible buzzing sound
Aristotle mentions fish by the name O
choiFos, or pig, as inhabiting the rive
Clitor, IN the Mediterranean, and as beins
one Of the fishes that have the power O
emitting sounds.
deceived by juggler ?" asked some one
after the fish talk.
AN ORIENTAL FAKIR.
'sThat, said the amateur, occurred neal
Lemnock, in the East was younger
then, and was travelling around the country
with the idea in my head that the office o.
Americans was to teach the world, and a:
consequence l often got left, as the Arab
say On this occasion | went ashore tt
spend the night at the native village foul
or five miles inland where it was reported
that a famous juggler lived. We were {
jolly party, all besides myself being sailors
and having a hard time riding on the native
ponies they had provided us with; but after
many capsizes we managed to reach oul
destination, where we found the fakir, and
made up purse of about 81, without
which nothing could be done. Some of hjs
tricks beat anything / ever came across.
DISAPPEARING IN SMOKE.