Bent County register., 1888-10-06

when the orcheftrA IN the CHOIR struck up
the-' he fe quite home
It seemed to him like the period called
between the acts at the theatre. Accord
| ~ ne whispered 10 iI.srlIIa tnaI ne
ished to see man around the corner, and
..u-nediately slir,,ed out Of church.
The hall of the church was long and
wide and covered with carpet.
There was no one IN the nail and the op-
| portunity seemed too good to be lost.
Charley Smith proceeded at once to ir-
dulge in series of what il known to the
profession as Catherine wheels, and made
handsprings from one end of the hall to
the other so rapidly that you could hardly
distinguish the parts Of his body.
Unfortunately the sexton came into the
nall, and, having seen the performance,
-ushed for the older deacon.
When, therefore, Charley performed his
| .atherine wheels al:ng the hall for the
ccond time he was observed by the sexton
and The deacon.
When he had reached the end Of the
II the deacon stood there in great dig,
ty. :.
"Young man, said the deacon, 'this is
a circus"
"Well.r said Charley Smith, "there was
young woman who sat behind me crunch
ing peanuts and that misled me-"
He Tipped Glove in hs mouth, and -
the music Of the choir ceased he resumed
his seat by Priscillas side.
She looked at him severely, but as he
smell of cloves just as if he had been see
ing a man around the corner, and as she
did not know what had happened in the
hall. what could she say.
Friday night was the night set apart for
prayer meeting, which was held in tho
basement of the church, and Priscilla and
her lover went.
Of course they took the longest route
and admired the moon and the stars and
--ah, well! everybody has done that sort
OF thing, SO it isn't necessary to describe
their performance
1t was somewhat late when they reached
lhc church, and as the basement was quite
they had to take back seat.
Priscilla's lover behaved very well iA
ome time, but presently he began to groH
lervous. He kept hoping the orchestra
would come in Or that there would be .
break down during which he could go out
and see man, thus getting ten minutes
exercise by springing over the gravestones
in the yard at the back of the church.
He waited in vain, however, for the per-
iformance was like that of q variety show,
a continuous one. The curtain was not
once rung down. A brother would pray,
and then a sister would start q hymn, and
then brother would tell his experience,
and so it went, without skip or q break.
Priscilla's lover fdgeted about in his
seat, and had about made up his mind to
make rush cut and stretch his tired
limbs, even if thereby he burst up the
whole business, when the minister request
ed every one in the room to kneel in prayer.
That was Charley Smiths opportunity,
and he took it.
As soon as the congregation had knelt,
Charley hastened from his seat, and COM
menced to do stunts along the aisle be-
tween the rear seat and the back of the
room.
He stood upon his head and waved his
feet wildly i'll the air, then he stood upon
his hands, and with his legs where his
| head should have been, he walked on his
hands along that rear aisle. Then he stood
on his head once more and did all sorts of
wild antics with his feet He opened and
shut his legs sidewise, then forward pn |
back, and twisted them in all sorts OF -
aicuIous positions. lie kept his ears wide
rpen, however, so that WHOM the minister
should arrive ut the end OF his prayer he
might hurry back to Priscilla's side.
Everything would have gone we'll If 4
had not happened that the minister had
me glass eva-
The minister's IVES the only face which
was turned toward Charley's legs. When
the minister had commenced, his face had
been on the pulpit cushion, but as he had
warmed in his prayer he had slowly raised
up his face Unfortunately his glass eyo
fitted so badly that he could never shut
4 his good eye when the bad one was in its
socket.
| As his face was raised his eye fell on
1 Charley Smiths legs.
Being unaccustOmed to circuses, he had
never seen such performance before, and
Charley gymnastics tickled the old parson
so,.that he snorted several times, and finally,
when Charley twirled and twisted his legs
| into series of concentric spirals, the min
lister burst into a loud aud long shout of
laughter.
Eyerbody sprang up Mt once, and Of
,,o.:rse Charley was seen by all the congre'
CATION.
Some laughed, the deacon was Mortified,
and Charley sneal1ed to his seat with his
! love.
However, the meeting was necessarily
adjourned, and Priscilla talked very SOL
emnly to her lover on their way hack that
evening.
She is not quite certcin yet what to do
about the matter, except that she will not
Givo up her lover.
A girl can get along without church or
Sunday school, or q Dorcas Society,"
thousands OF people do that-but no girl
who can get u lover can get along without
one,
She proposes to make vigorous efforts to
combine her lovers circus gymnastics with
her religion and obscrvances i'll such way
as to interfere with neither.
| If she cannot succeed in that then she
proposes to have private Sunday school
and prayer meeting and Dorcas Society in
her parlor, and to let her lover do his
gymnasts in the hall of the house, with
the parlor doors open no that he can hear
the performant
Fairs This Fall.
Del Mort, Oct. 1912.
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