Morning journal and courier., 1889-08-16

l. go to hear me sing Hot COLLINS and ertn.
: pesy Wltchet;' aye, and got a treble encore
9 tUl EN- every night, too-as you know, sir.
can tell you 'Io~ns hs ms; gone to nowadays. srs
TO the workus, sir; that's where thev,ra
. gone. Why, there's three on us here To-
tne music halls that did 1t. II the puhlic
sees clo"ning all the year round there. and
% %onoommonly bad olowninc, too, they deai
want to see it at Christmas: s-ssyad mon
sere; nan in the aon1 little house in Ho1-
%; and We were to be married in week.
Lima and I. The pantomime had only three
more nights to run, aud Luke the Labourer
and sThe Murder at the Red Barn were
billed for the following Monday. 1 had
big Jump through clock face In the second
scene of the harlequinade. was very
proud of my jumps; they were longer ana
higher than those of any other man In the
| profession There was no fakement, no hid
l den spring board or dodgery about 1t.
| took an honest run from the footlights, and
I used to GO clean through that clock face,
though it was seven feet from the ground,
head first, every night; and four supers
nsed to catch me in a blanket the other
eide. She was on at the time; for when l
had taken my jump, which always brought
tdown the house, she used to dance the
varsoviana, which was new thing m then, men,
with old Brown the harlequin. The beer
for the supers used to be a pretty heavy
tax: and If one didn't pay for it 1t meant
getting knocked about or breaking ones
!, i neck. Ny tour chaps were always pretty
| regularly. If hadn't been quite so Mbe.
| raj it would have been better for me. That
| night sir, those four supers were stuploiy
. drunk. 1 took my jump, and as ! new
| through the clock face heard the begin
MING of the tremendous shout which came
from the front of the house; ana tnen.
instead Of being caught in the blanket,
q shot head first into the brick wall at the
n and of the theater Those four chaps had
IS FORGOTTEN all about me, and were talking
o tooether. with the blanket In their hands;
because, as tell you, they were stupid
a drunk.
a came to myself; and then was in bed IN
ID Bartholomew's Hospital, and L was hgnt-
n headed and as weak as child Ihe next
day was Wednesday. Wednesday is visitors
~ day at the hospital, and Lima she came te see
= me: and she sat by my bedside and she
ID | cried as though her heart would break. And
~ then she told me how it all happened: and
+ how she loved me-; and how must make
a. haste to get we'll, that We might get mar
ried, as we were under engagement 10 90.
-, And then she cried fit to break her neart. art
~ !, She looked prettier than ever, poor thing
IL IL | And every Wednesday she'd come and try
no | to cheer me up, and say how hard 1t wal
70 70 that our wedding had to be put OF. She
,a1 na | was a good girl, she was.
| and all: for was cripple-a cripple 10
aid life, mind you, and as weak as chl1a. N:
. memory came back right enough. But hoy
was I to get my living as clown when wa
only miserable cripplea 1t was l wn
md broke off our engagement, sir; 1oE
w. wouldn't have been fair on Lima TO nav
: is held her to her word. People used to sa
srs | that Lima had chucked me over, and that 81
her was heartless mink. But did 1t, Sir, n'
De- cause hadn't the heart to hold her to i
and suy honest man would have done II
ing same. They were very good to , me a. I; =
ent sBird,' and they gave me a check takers el
Inv. | let at fifteen bob week; and kept tn
,me billet for nigh on to twenty years. used
To oct a look at the Era; and week by week
but read how Lima Fenton got on, and now 81
,ver got to the very top of the tree. used
oad cut out the favorable notices and paste .
hich in book; and was as prouo OF em, y =
him as if they'd been my own. And then u
Iur- Bird, was sold, as you know; and that's NJ
aim, lost my billet-for the Salvation - Arr
Pm didn't want to pay any money to the likes
7ez," me; and then / came in here. Ana Ina
that my story, Mr.. Nibbs."
yez I never saw Molino alive again. 1 OIL
Faix, | met Lima afterward. She was always al
,ses, - BILE and nice; and, somehow or other, one
Oh of WAYS mas sneaking tenderness for ones
MIR. love; and though she is much over forty
am the happy possessor of handsc
wife and half dozen children, still tn
Lima Fenton the fairest and most fascinat
woman whom 1t has ever been my good
tune to meet Her magnificent golden b
is strsaked with gray now, the soft blue O.
are not perhaps 80 bright as they once we
but she is a charming woman still.
Igot note from her one morning ask
me to call at ner house. She was evider
in great tribulation. She wept bitterly wi
she saw me, and then she told me that
), clown was dead. And she asked me to g
~ his funeral. We went to the workhouse
. NJ: gether; and all the way to Kensal Green
poor thing sat and sobbed at my side in
mourning coach.
"You knew him, Mr.. Nibbs," she 8
work. "you remember what good fellow he y
a.. 80 and what q handsome fellow. lost sigh
y him after his accident. He dropped out
and my life but 1t was his doing and not mil
We There were four mourners at the gr
after side-two paupers in holden gray and
-. buttons, Lima Fenton and myself. w
'a'eui they had flung the earth upon his coffin.
After I had handed Miss Fenton into the coacl
d lust shook hands with the two mourners from
tobac- Giles, and as I did so I pressed sover
into the hand of each. They touched
IS pre- hats to me; and one Of them mumbled
4 the allusion to the dead man whom he had
,tehed scuffled into the grave, "He waan't
IN sort, sir"
AZ 1t was the poor clowns epitaph.