Evening capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1888-1893, 1892-08-06

Seek for something to rean1lnate this
little body. recall to earth this spirit
which runs after the cloudsl"
Then he went away.
Seek II
Yes, without doubt they knew him
well, their Francois. these worthy
people. They knew how it amused
him, the little one, TO plumber the
hedges on Sunday and to come back
to Paris on his fathers shoulders
laden with hawthorn. Jacques Le-
grand had bought some images,
some gilded soldiers and some Chi
nese shadows for Francois. He cut
them out, put them on the child's
bed and made them dance before the
bewildered eyes of the little one, and
with q desire to weep himself he
tried to make him laugh.
''Dost thou see; it is the broken
bridge. Tire, tire, tirel And this is
the general Thou rememberest we
saw one, a general, once IN the Bois
lie 3oulogpes IL thou takest the
medicine well will buy thee real
one with cloth tuI,la and gold epau
let's Dost thou wish for bim, the
general, sayf'
mo, replied the child, with the
dry voice which fever gives.
'Dost thou wish a pistol, some
marbles--a crossbow2"
no" repeated the little voice,
clearly and almost cruelty.
And to all that they said to him, to
all the jumping jacks, to all the bal
looms that they promised him, the
little while the parents looked
at each other in despair-responded:
.No." No" "Nor
"But what dost thou wish, my
Francois2" asked the mother. "Let
us see; there Is certainly something
thou wouldst like to have. Tell it,
tell it mel to me, thy motherp' And
she laid her cheek on the pillow of
the sick boy and whispered this soft
ly in his ear as If it was a secret.
Then the child, with an odd accent,
strengthening himself UP in his he'd
and stretching out his hand eagerly
toward some invisible thing, replied
suddenly in an ardent tone, at the
same time supplicating and impera-
tive:
II want Boum- Bouml"
Boum-Boum
Poor Madeleine threw a frightened
look toward her husband What did
the little one say2 Was it the de-
lirium, the frightful delilium, which
had come back again2
Boum- Boum
She did not know what that meant,
and she was afraid of these singular
words which the child repeated with
sickly persistence, as If, not having
dared until now to formulate his
dream, he grasped the present time
with invinclble obstinaoy.
''Yes, Boum- Bouml Boum Boum
/ want Boum Boum y
The mother had seized Jacques
hand and spoke very low. as IL do
mented.
What does that mean, Jacquosl
He is lost"
But the father had on his rough,
workingman's face a smile almost
happy, but astonished, too; the smile
of condemned man who foresces a
possibility of liberty.
Boum- -Boum He rem embered well
the morning of Easter Monday when
he had taken Francois to the circus.
He had still in his ears the child's
outbursts of joy, the happy laugh Of
the amused boy, when the clown,
the beautiful clown all spangled with
gold and with great gilded butter
fly sparkling, many colored, on the
back of his black costume, skipped
across the track, gave the trip to q
rider or held himself motionless and
stiff ON the sand, his head down and
his feet in the air. Or again he tossed
up to the chandelier some soft, fell
hats which he caught adroitly on his
head, where they formed, one by
one, pyramid; and at each jest
like refrain Frightening up his in
telligent and droll face, he uttered
the same cry, repeated the same
word, accompanied now and then by
burst from the orchestra, Boum
Bouml
Boum- Boum and each time that
it rang out, Boum Boum, the audi
ence burst out into hurrahs and the
little one joined in with his hearty
little laugh. Boum- Bouml 1t was
this Boum- Boum, it was the clown Of
the circus, it was this favorite of Q
large part of the city that little Fran
co.'s wished to see and to have and
whom he could not have and could
not see, since hewas lying here with
out strength in his white bed.
In the evening Jacques LegranG
brought tho child lointed clown
oil ctit,haI with onaro1ao v,l;,l IA.