Wichita eagle., 1889-01-23

clothes which, at a remote period, had been
of the Understandable cut affected gen.
orally by gamblers, sports and successful
fakirs. The silk stove-pipe hat which the
man wore had also, IN by-gone days. basked
in the sunlight of prosperity, but was now
somewhat shiny and misshapen as the re-
suit of exposure to various and sundry
transforms and showerS-whlle the erSt-
while raven blackness had become meta
morphosed, by reason Of sun-stroke 40 hb-
itum, to a very dingy brown. The fakir
was evidently, for the time being, on the
underneath side of his cups and DOWNS"
both socially and financially. Not alone
were his clothes the worse for wear; there
was an air of sadness about the man which
would have been apparent to the most
superficial observer of human nature.
But the men, women and children of
Hunkeyville were not even casual observ-
ers Of humanity, however, and in this queer
specimen of human being, who had struck
their town within the past few days, could
perceive nothing Of guinness behind the
merry twinkle of his eye; nor were they
discerning enough to note the occasional
culver of the lips which ratified of, for their
benefit and his own, the funny and lively
Invitations to purchase his wares.
The fakir stood upon small platform that
was all of piece with the little tray or
counter before him, and he looked not alto
gether unlike camp-meeting preacher,
spouting from rough-and-ready pulpit.
His homeIy humor, his ready wit-or that
which passed for wit in the Hoosier towns
and villages which he chiefly frequented-
and his unfaihng good nature beguiled many
nickles from the citizens of Hunkeyville,
many of whom turned out evening after
evening, quite willing to expend five cents
merely for the pleasure of hearing the man
proclaim, with what seemed to them such
marvellous originality, the merits of his
wares. Alarge smoky flame from huge
naphtha torch illuminated the proceedings
On the otherwise dull Main street.
+" Now 'ere we go agen! There's no flies
On Fakir Jim, nor yit On this yere wonder
full conglomeration Nv onmitigated bargains,
nor yIt there amt on the intelligent an lib
eral-Ininded citizens Nv this yere go-ahead
city Nv Hunkeyville. Hunkeyville! You
kin jist bet it's hurlkey; every things
hunkey, an every thing goes!
"'Ere, ole man, 'ere's prize fer the ole
lady an prizes fer the kidsl Ere, you fine
young fellers, wot's got best girls, wot's
the matter with investjn' a nickel fer the
benefit Nv the young ladys Prizes fer gram
mothers an gran daddles, fer boys an girls
an babbiess Step up ively-come one,
come all, fer they're all prizes an no blanks,
you KIN bet yer Sunday shoes!"
So he kept on, until he got down to de-
scribing more particularly each of the
trinkets and notions which he had for sale,
and until the nickels were handed up in a
lively style for so sleepy place as was
Hunkeyville IN its normal condition.
On the outside of crowd Of hundred
or more people stood a solemn-visaged man
attired in very somber, Quaker-like coat,
with hat in excellent keeping with his
clothing. He was an elderly man, perhaps
twenty years older than the fakir who kept
the crowd so well amused.
Evidently this sober-minded citizen was
not entirely pleased with the performance,
and yet be stood there for several moments.
The fact was, he remained with the crowd
for the sole benefit of little miss, perhaps
five years old, who held his hand She was
a fair, golden-haired child, and was evident
ly delighted with the, to her, novel enter
tainment afforded by Fakir Jim. She
laughed heartily and repeatedly and asked
the gentleman who held her hand to ''buy
me a prize, will you, gan'paa Buy Dot
prize, please dor'
But "ganpa had already gone as far as
his conscience, his nerves and the sense of
his own dignity would permit, in thus stand
ing by as a spectator; he possessed and
cherished a holy horror for tramps, ped
dlers, fakirs and their ill, and felt that he
could by no means encourage them with his
\ &