The Logan County banner. [volume] (Logan, W. Va.) 1889-1903, 1892-05-05

When he was five years old he used
% perform regularly with old Benny,
the famous "bareb back rider" in the
wild Indian act. ALI the glitter,
color, stir, life of the circus was the
joy of the youngsters existence. He
was so used to the sight of expert
riders and acrobats going through their
parts he had no thought of any posi-
BILE danger attending their exploits,
and all that others could do he felt he
could do and longed to do. His father
had been ,ne wonderful rider,
Llewellen, killed, unluckily, by kick
from his favorite horses hoof just as
he carelessly stopped to feel the fet-
lock. That was when Ted was but
two years old, and Llewellen had been
so much beloved that the company
adopted the boy. as it were. and took
pride in his cleverness and promise, for
there could be no doubt that nature
! had given him the true eye, the steady
head, the indomitable nerve and the
quick sense of the laws of balance,
which are needed by man whose pro-
fession it is to dangle 'twixt heaven and
earth. His mother was farmers
daughter, who had made a romantic
match by running away with the
handsome Llewellen. She had re-
NAMED in the company after her hus-
bands early death as q sort of 'ward-
robe woman" 1t was she who refur-
bished the old costumes, braiding them
with tinsel, and sewing on fresh
spangles; she regilded and restarred
golden crowns, and added fresh skirts
to the airy exuberance of the circus
queens She was called Mrs. LEVEL
len, and she and her boy lived in a
small Compartment of tho great prop
erty van, which, when the show moved
from town to town, was drawn by six
white horses Few experiences pleased
Ted better than this sprt of. royal
progress, which, in spite of its grand
eur. was extremely convenient since
his mother could cook their meals or
go on with her sewing while they
were in motion, and Ted could eat his
bread and butter while he nodded and
waved to the boys gathered at every
corner to welcome the splendid pro-
cession. Ted had learned to read from
the great. faring hand-bisls: Greatest
Show in the Universe" 1.-The I'm
and his heart had thrilled with a sud
den conviction of his own prominence
when he spelled out l"Master Edward
Llewellen, the Remarkable Infant
Rider and Acrobat" Fut, after all,
his pride was in the faet.of his belong
ing to the circus, and not in himself.
For all the members OF the troupe
were so interesting, so superior. There
was old Benny-not that he was old,
but so called to distinguish him from
young Benny, the lion tafller. Actual.
ly, there was nothing tibet old Benny
could not do; it was1he who performed
the famous country pumpkin trick, at
which Ted was never tired of gazing;
in the first place mounting the horse
on the wrong side and holding on by
the name as If he were going to fall
off; then, after committing every pos
sible blunder, suddenly showing his
real powers and going through series
of dazzling transformations until he
emerged the inimitable Benny, the
king Of the circus Then there was
the clown, a great friend of Ted's; a
quiet, melancholy fellow who played
the banjo, and the lady riders, chief of
whom were Mrs. Bill and Miss Fanny,
rival queens of the circus. All were so
accomplished, SO splendid in their at
tire tat least on occasions) and SO kind
and tender to Ted it was little wonder
If he thought it the finest life in the
world. At times when his mother
sighed over her work it disturbed him
to think that she was not thoroughly
happy and contented, but no doubt, he
said to himself. she was thinking about
his father.
Still. much as Ted delighted in the
excitements of his life, the elm bling,
vaulting, balancing, and above all the
riding when he leaned forward drink
ing in the wind of his own speed" he
was happiest on Sundays, when it
seemed to him in the sudden hush as if
the very heart of the world had stopped
beating. Then in bad weather he and
his mother could shut themselves up in
their own little nest. or If it were fine
were free to wander outside the town
into the.fields. twas only at such times
that his mother really. talked, but
alone with her boy she would string
out stories about tbs old farm where
she had spent her happy, free girlhood.
Ted heard about the old house with its
pent-roof and gables; the well by its
side, with its long sweep, which
moved with mournful, musical creal
when the bucket was lowered He
was used to lions and tigers, aud there