Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1888-06-14

4
authoritative, Il want-Boun-Bou y
| .'B0unl-BOunl?
The poor mother cast wild look at
her husband. What was it the child
| had said? Was he out of his mind
again? Had that fearful delirium re-
turned?
B0um-Bounl!
She did not know what he meant,
and now she was frightened at the
strange word With an obstinacy
which could not be overcome he kept
| on repeating:
'.Boum-Boum, Yes, Boum-Boumi I
will have Boum-Boumn'
The mother seized the hand of JAG
| queS With 4 nervous Grip.
What can he mean. jacques? Oh.
he is loSt lost!
On the fathers face there was visible
| the faintesS relaxation Of the muscles.
| It was like teUtn- >ln Ic III hope
when 4 man condemned 10 death ima@-
ines there is the possibility II 4 re-
prieve.
''Boum-Boumr He remembered Oh
Easter he had taken Francois t. the
circus. In his ear there still rang the
| hearty laugh of the boy. the scream Of
amusementwhen the clown-that beau
tiful clown, all bespangled, with 1 huge
butterfly painted on his back OF motley
had thrown sOmerSaults, then tripped
up the ringmaSter, then had his head
in the sawdust, his feet in the air. or
| next was kicking soft felt hats up to
| the very chandelier and catching them
on his bead again, where they form
ed a pyramid How, after every funny
sally, like Il refrain that made his fun
ny face light up, that clown had shout
ed ''BOum-Boum," the orchestra ac-
| companying him with a grand crash.
"Boum-Boum!n and every time the
''Boum-Boum" came in the whole cir
Gus would roar with applause, and then
would follow the clear, pearly-rippling
laughter of his own little Francois.
''BOum-Boum?" Could it have been
that Boum-Boum? Was it the clown
Francois wanted to hear, to see again?
How could he 90 to the circus and the
poor child stretched there, dying in his
bed? Impossible!
That night Jacques Legrand brought
the child jointed clown, brilliant
with flash and spangles. He had paid
big price for it in the toy shop. 1t
cost about as much as his Wagesin the
machine shop would come to for four
whole days. Had it cost him his work
for u week, a month, the live-long
year he would not have cared, if it on
ywOuld bring back a smile again on
the parched lips of his i'll child.
The boy looked for moment at the
plaything as it lay glittering on the
white sheets and then said sadly:
This is not Boum-Boum. want to
see Boum-Boum. )"
All! If Jacques Iegrand could only
have wrapped up his boy IN the sheets,
coverlids and all, and could have car
ried him to the circus and shown him
the clown dancing in the ring!
What Jacques did was this: He went
to the circus, obtained the address
OF the clown, and sought the house
where the performer lived in the
Montmartre quarters. 1t was a rather
queer proceeding on the part of JAG
ques, but when you think about it do
not comedians sing and play some
times in draWing-rooms? Perhaps,
who knows, that clown, if he only
would, might be induced to come and
say how-do-you-do to Francois. How
would he be received when he came to
see Boum-Boum?
1t was not BOum-Boum. What he
did see was Monsieur NJ, and the ma
chinist met quiet-mannered man,
who ushered him into a study, and
that study, with books on the table
and grave picture on the walls, was as
much like a doctors office as any other
place.
Jacques looked around him and did
not see anything recalling a clown in
the gentleman he was visiting. He
while the other waited. The gentle
man seemed to ask what was wanted.
1t was, after all, presumptuous.
Il ask your pardon; will you excuse
me? Such dear little chap. sir, and
so bright-the first at school in almost
everything; just little backward III
ciphering, but little dreamer, and
and-you will see-Why call nina
little dreamer-becauSe-because--"
and here Jacques broke down and re-
covered himself, and then he blurted
out:
"A dreamer-and the proof is that
he is always thinking about you, and
that you are ever before him like star
that he wants to lay hold Of, and
But Jacques never finished that sem
tence-he could not. Hewas haggard,
trembling, and the great beads OF
sweat rolled down his forehead. He
dared not look at the clown. What
was the clown going to reply? ''Boum-
Boum?" Maybe, taking him for a crank,
he would show him the door.
where do you live?" asked BONN
BOum?"
"Oh-near quite near. Rue DIES
Abbesses."
''AlI right. Your boy wants to see
Boum-Boum does he? Well, then, he
must see Boum-Boum. That's ALL"
As the door opened to let in the
clown Jacques Legrand cried out glee-
fully:
Francois, it's all right now. Look,
here he -Boum-Boumr' The ckild's
face lit up as with a flash of JOY. He
raised himself on his mothers arm and
turned his head toward the visitors. SO
that he might see who the gentleman in
an Overcoat was beside his father.
Yes, that was his father, and the
other? Whose was the joyous face
smiling on him? When they said
That is Boum-Boum'' Francois gazed
ut him for an instant only, then his big
blue eyes dropped and sought the wall
of the room as if in search for the
painted butterfly on the back of Bonn
Boum. as some lover who pGrsues his
dream.