The Wichita daily eagle., 1891-09-23
ELEPHANT AND FAIRY.

Centerpole Tom professed to know every
thing about all the distinguished people OF
the profession" in all parts of Christen-
! dom, and likely he did know a great deal;
! for, in his humble capacity, he had served
many of them in divers countries, and,
| though boastful man, he had never been
| detected in an inability to give trust
worthy information. So, when it was an
| nounced, with great show of large type,
that Christopher and the Fairy" had just
! landed at San Francisco from An Austria
! lian steamer, under contract for the re-
mainder of the season, there was much ex-
element and curiosity among the people
/ of the circus, and Centerpole Tom was at
once exploited for knowledge concerning
them.
"Hain't you ever heard of Christopher
/ and the Fairy?" he asked, pityingly; ''well.
that gets me- The Fairy's the purtiest
| little trick on wheels, an the way she kin
! do the flying trapeze is something 'stonish-
! ing No | hain't never seen her, but
| know all about her. A fellow worked for
| me last season that seen her at Melbourne,
! and he told me whole string of stuff
about her. Every man jack under the can
vass went dead gone on her, but she never
! took no notice of any of 'em, and didn't
seem to care for nobody's society but the
women's and that ornery, measly old
! Christopher"
''Is Christopher her husbun~ asked a
! long legged young groom.
"No" thundered Tom, with so great We
| hemence that the young man quailed, and
dared not ask any more questions.
"Brother2" inquired one of the ring
"supers."
"Nor' yelled the veteran master of the
centerpole hoist; 'he amt her husbun, nor
her brother, nor her uncle, nor her grand
father, nor her cousin"
The head hostler, as much veteran as
Centerpole Tom, and more modest and less
theatrical than he, quietly said:
NO use making fool of yourself and
putting on airs before these here boys.
don't know who Christopher is, an l amt
ashamed to say so. Now, who is Christie
pher?"
This was the supreme moment for which
Centerpole Tom had waited. He squared
himself around, and, looking steadily at
the head hostler, said impressively and
with the utnoost deliberation:
christopher is an elephant"
1t was small speech, but it was some
time after this before the two men became
good friends again.
There was a commotion all through the
small army of circus people when Christie
pher and the Fairy arrived. They did not
come to the tents for two or three days af-
ter landing, as it was rumored that Chris
topher had been seasick on the voyage
across the Pacific and needed little rest.
When they did appear, however, they were
cordially welcomed. The women of the
circus found the Fairy (who, in private life,
was known as Miss Camilla Armijo) to be
delightful girl, more substantial than
genuine fairy, to be sure, but hardly more
s.; for, although she was full grown, she
was so small and fragile that her profes-
sional name sat well upon her. There was
light touch of sadness in all her conduct,
and Centerpole Tom explained this by say
ing that she had recently lost both her par
ents How he discovered this, nobody
ever could learn. But it was clear, at
least. that she was a very sweet and gentle
little body, very young, and with no friend
in San Francisco except old Christopher.
say "old Christopher" because it is i'm
possible to associate anything but great
age with his enormous proportions and
overwhelming dignity. He was an East
Indian elephant of prodigious size. A
more solemn and self satisfied elephant it
would have been impossible to find.
After the Fairy had been introduced to
the people with whom she was to be asso-
ciated the remainder of the season, and
had chatted and quietly laughed with
them little, she turned to the menagerie
man and said:
Now we will show Christopher his
quarters" And by the digniied Tapping
of his great ears Christopher seemed TO
add, "Yes, we are prepared now to see
what you can do for old Christopher"
In fact, while they were about it, and
all feeling a certain interest in the little
stranger and her big companion, the whole
company-the two clowns, the man who
turned the double back somersault, the
strong man, the woman who wore yellow
wig when she rode bareback, the two men
who did the great act or the horizontal
bar, and some others, including Centerpole
Tom and the surly head man of the hos
tlers-went to see how Christopher was to
be disposed of. That was a simple affair;
the great pachyderm was conducted to his
allotted place in the menagerie tent, where
an iron pin was driven into the ground
and a chain, which was riveted TO it, was
aud the chain were part of his belongings,
and be was accustomed to be chained up
thus and made no objection. evidently
he suffered no loss of dignity by this opera
tion, for he appeared to say TO himself,
This is perfectly proper, am sure; for IL
is the rule of all circuses 10 keep the ami
mails in some sort of confinement, and,
although il accom- plishes no useful purpose
in my case, | believe in discipline and cheer
fully submit TO the rules"
1t was very pretty TO see how solicitous
was the Fairy of her immense charge, She
saw that he had sufficient allowance of
fresh, sweet hay, and from a bag which
she carried she fed him some dsinties
which she had for that purpose and which
be took in his 1.-THE trunk with manifest
tokens OF gratitude. She patted his great
Jaws and said kind things 10 him, and he
took il all as a matter Of course. seeming
to say, 81 see nothing at all strange in the
affection and solicitude which this beauti-
full little Fairy lsvisheS upon me; for am |
not a very large and msjesticelephaRt, and
does she not know thrt | love her better
than does any one else in all the worlds"
And il was pretty 10 see bow gently she
bade him goodby until the evening per
formspce, which would begin In two hours
from that time
There WAS far greater crowd than usual
at the perfarE Anee that evening, for the