The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1891-09-17
soothed my grief as best he might, and
offered to adopt me as his own child,


ted me on the head, and said should
have some book learning, and should
share his daughters studies
This pleased me extremely, for I had
a passion for books, and l loved Inez
with my whole soul. And this study
ing together would be so delightful!
AS the years went on my attachment
for Inez grew and strengthened, and if
my lessons were all learned perfectly,
and if got on wonderfully well with
my studies, as our tutor said, it was al
together owing to the fact that her
presence made all things easy and de-
lightful for me.
had my own place in the circus, and
was called good "artist"-for our
names were somewhat lretentious-
but my heart was not in it. The dream
of my life was to make fortune,
marry Inez and take her to Italy, and
there under the skies of perpetual sum-
mer let life slip away in love and
peace. A very useless. and romantic
sort of life, suppose you will say, but
the prospect was delightful to me. 1
think it was none the less so to Inez,
for had often spoke to her about it,
and we had no secret from each other.
When Inez was about sixteen, Mr..
show. A couple of lions, three tigers,
an Arabian camel, several monkeys
and an elephant
The elephant was trained one, and
could do lots of amusing tricks, and the
lions had been tanned, and were consid-
cred perfectly harmless
With the animals came their keeper.
His name was Carl Andrus. 1 believe
he was of Spanish parentage, but he
was American born, and we'll educated.
People called him extremely hand
some, and ladies who came to see the
animals went wild over the keeper;
but, to my mind, Andrus was an evil,
sinister-looking fellow, and from the
first distrustcd him.
OF course, you have anticipated that
he fell in love with Inez-indecd, it
could not well have been otherwise;
for lnez was so lovely and bewitching
that all who came within the sphere of
her influence were fascinated
She gave him no encouragement, for
the dear girl was no coquette, and in
the world she loved only me.
Andrus exercised certain sort of in
fluence over her, owing, perhaps, to the
strong mesmeric power which was his,
and to which no doubt he owed much
of his success in subjecting wild ami
mails to his control.
He had not been fortnight with our
troupe before he declared his love for
Inez in. the most passionate terms, and
was very quietly rejected. He was
angry, and charg cd her with loving me,
and she proudly confessed it.
At first Andrus was very cross and
sullSy; but after time he rallied, anC
was very sweet and complai SAINT to both
Inez and myself
By and bv he offered to teach her his
art of lion tanning. Mr.. Page caught
at the idea greedilv, for although q
good man in other respects, he was
ready to do almost anything tc
make money, and he foresaw thai
female lion tanner would be g
, great acquisition to bis exhibition
An announcement that a young and
lovely woman would enter the den OF
wild beasts would draw thousands!
lnez loved her father, and was quite
ready to do anything to please him,
and besides, there was a wild spirit Of
| adventurous daring in the girl, which
made the idea of danger attractive
to her. When first heard the project
mentioned l was filed with dire appre
hension. l d:strusted Andrus more
than distrusted the wild beasts. As
for the lions, they seemed harmless
enough, but lion is lion and car
| never change his nature.
l besought lnez with all my powers O.
| persuasion to give up the mad project
but she only laughed at what she called
my nervousness. And when l woult
have forbidden her, by right of tn
love bore her, from thus putting he
life in peril. she kissed me, and said
was cross old tyraut, and ran away
to tell Andrus that she was ready fol
her first lesson. So it went on fol
several weeks. Inez entered the der
with Andrus, and under his tuition
was becoming very expert at the bust
ness of lion tanning. The animals were
really getting quite fond of her, ant
she was losing all fear of them very
fast
No exhibition had yet taken place il
public, but Mr.. Page decided to adver
tise the new attraction forthwith; ant
in spite of my wild entreaty that h,
would no longer risk his child's lif,
among those savage brutes, the bill
were printed.
AS we had all expected, the bait tool
with the public, and on the night ap
pointed for the debut of Inez the vas
tent was filled to overflowing. 1 hav'
never seen such crowd at any show
before or since.
Just before I was to go into the rim.
in some Of my acrobatic performances
Inez sought me out, and flinging he
| arms around my neck, kissed me pas
sionately.
| dear old Tom, said she, don
look so cross. am going to make al
our fortunes. Kiss me, dear, and wisl
me success"
l snatched her to my breast, an,
kissed the sweet mouth, the soft cheek
the shining hair, and once moro be
sought her not to risk. the feat she wa
about attempting.
Pit she was firm, and let her 60
:eeling much as the mourner feel
when he sees the coffin lid shut dowr
over all that he loved.
went about my duties with littl,
heart and no spirit. did not car,
whether I pleased the crowd or not
More than once heard the whisper go
ing around:
tom Crestmore is failing fast
About played out" ETC.; but what di,
l care?
Such a burst of applause as rent tn
air Wien the curtain which conceale,
the wild beasts was drawn up! Sucl
whispering and sly joking among tn
young men, and such coarse speeche
with reference to the fair 6e1utante-
speeches for which 1 could have tor,
out their hearts, were it not for tn
fact that we players have to bear il
silence what we would Indignantly re
sent if we belonged to any Their life