Thomas County cat. [volume] (Colby, Kan.) 1885-1891, 1888-03-29
ovPsY-FAIR IN SURREY.

Magazine.
GYPsY-FAIR IN SURREY.
Days Devoted to Horse-TradinS. Gam
bling and FrolickiaK.
| Along the middle of the street the
main business was horse-dealing, and
: Gypsy hostler would trot out q sue.
cession of the weediest old screws that
ever kept out of the kennels. with the
parade and precaution due to so many
mounts for Mazeppa. while one-eyed
man. with swollen. wrinkled hands,
like red toads watched their PAGES
with critical attention. and probably
bought by the pound. Higher up.
ponies and cobs of better appearance
were strung together by the head, as
slough they were fish. and ate hay and
kicked one another by the curbstone,
while their vendors conversed in the
road with dash of mutual suspicion.
Coming back to the stalls again. was
attracted by loud hyena laugh OF
highly mechanical merriment and
found that it proceeded from the pro-
prietor of little game of chance. who
was experimenting its results with a
great show of interest and hilarity. 1t
was slOping Chinese billiard-board.
where a marble was propelled by a
spring. and prize was awarded of a
value varying according to the COM
partment into which the ball rolled.
At right angles to the main street was
a broader hilly one, where the shows
and shooting-galleries had been erected.
Here was Tommy Atkins shooting
down tube. or instructing his young
woman. as she dropped over the stock
of the gun, limp from prolonged gig
Cling. in the art of aiming. 1t must
be regretfully confessed that Tommy
Atkins himself did not uphold the rep
utation of his service for marksman-
ship, for he fired away at least fifteen
pence without making the bell ring
once. and excused himself to the young
woman with the friz and Melted hair
who presided by observing that shoot
ing was "not in his line"
The merry-go-rounds. or, as they
prefer to call themselves. the {" steam
circusses. were of course represented.
There were two of these institutions
side by side. though one was complete
~ cast into the shade by its more gor-
geous rival The former was literally
one-horse," or rather one pony,
concern. for patient little quadruped
plodded round in the center, when he
was required to set his dingy and tail
less wooden brothers in motion, to the
strains of wheezy hand-organ. The
rival worked by steam, and all the
horses had glass eyes and gilded
Names and lordly names painted on
their shoulders. while the organ to
which they revolved worked by steam
too, and blared through double rows
of trumpets. and even had three little
plaster figures in front of it, which
jerked in paralytic manner at inter-
walls. It was good to see the gallant
way in which the boys sat these steeds
with the vermillion nostrils, like those
of Browning's Rowland;
like pits full of blood to the brm
And with arches of red for the eye-sockets'
RIM
One hand these cavaliers laid jauntily
on their hips, the other restrained the
impetuosity of their fiery chargers.
while envious and dismounted friends
attempted to tickle the horsemen's legs
as they swung by. and were cut at in
true light cavalry fashion.
Then there was nice old motherly |
lady, rather of the Peggotty build,
who, just as the machine was starting,
was intrusting a pasty little nephew to
the care of his vacant-looking elder
sister, whose eyes were as CLASSY and
uninteresting as those of her horse,
and who was obviously not to be
depended upon to put out SO much as
a finger to save her small brother
should he turn giddy and threaten to
topple over. Whereupon. at the last
moment. that noble woman ducked
between the wooden legs. and hand
bag, umbrella and all, climbed to the
vacant saddle on the other side of the
boy. where she swept round. with
that uncomfortable martyrs smile
which one frequently observes on a
steamboat as it gets outside the
harbot. Girls of all ages were going
round, some with half-closcd eyes and
an air of dreamy ecstasy; others rather
red. and smiling in deprccatory way
at acquaintances in the crowd; others
pale. and evidently beginning to make
uncomfortable calculations as to the
powers of endurance of
the engine and themselves. ~ A,sstey.
in Harpcr's Magazine
The Endless Railway. II
A successful application of an old
idea has lately been made by Mr.. Will
lam Fender. of Buenos Ayres. By
means Of certain improvements he
claims to have overcome the difficulties
in using an endless rail-