Butler citizen. [volume] (Butler, Pa.) 1877-1922, 1892-04-15
HIS LAST TRICK.
Why Ted and His Mother Left
the Circus.

Ted by instinct until he was taught the
great ring trick He had been born
in the circus, and long before he could
walk was used to riding round and
round the ring on the learned pony"
swinging his bare legs defiantly and
Growing with glee every time he passed
the starting post. He climbed ladders
and poles. holding on by his chubby
little hands, as soon as he could toddle
alone, and crept into risky places
where as the whole troupe used to say,
watching him with Joy and pride, he
was obliged to ''hang on by his eye
lids"
When he was five years old he used
to perform regularly with old Benny,
the famous bareback rider" in the
wild Indian" act. All 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 lie had no thought of any possi-
BILE danger attending their exploits,
and all that others could do he felt he
could do and longcd to do. His father
had been the wonderful rider,
Llewellen. killed. unluclily, by a kick
froxa his favorite horses hoof just as
he carclessly stopped to feel the fct-
lock- That was when Ted was but
two wears old, and Llewellen had been
so much beloved that the company
adopted the boy, as it were, and took
pride irf 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 4 man whose pro-
fession it is to dangle 'twixt heaven and
earth His mother was a farmers
daughter, who had made a romantic
match by running away with the
handsome Llewellen. She had re-
mained in the company after her hus-
bands early death as 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. Llewel-
len, and she and her boy lived in
small compartment of the 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 sort 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, Aaring hand-bills: Greatest
Show in the Universe" THE I'm
cqualed and Matchless Troupe" etc,
and his heart had thrilled with a sud-
den conviction of his own preeminence
when he spelled out Master Edward
Llewellen. the Remarkable Infant
Rider and Acrobat" But, after all,
his pride was in the fact 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 tanner. Actual
ly, there was nothing that old Benny
could not do; it was he who performed
thefamous 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, 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 oscasions) 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 bing,
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
n 20 ch sol lUac in
their own little nest, or il it were fine
were free to wander outside the town
into thefields. It.was only at such times
that his mother really talked, but
alone with her boy she would string
out stories about the 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 a mournful, musical creak
when the bucket was lowered. He
was used to lions and tigers, and there
was satisfaction in the descriptions of
the soft-eyed oxen and cows-all the
tender, patient creatures of the farm,
besides the fierce turkey gobblers,
hens and flrffv'downy chickens Close
the geese and ducks padded, and on the
other side was the wood, where there
were always rustles and murmurs,
where nuts battered down in the au-
tumn, and squirrels whisked their tails
and chartered in defiance of the in
truders who poached on their winter
stores. The garden and the orchard,
too, were something to hear about.
Ted knew every flower which grew in
the borders, and his mouth watered at
the account of the apples, white and
red, which ripened on the hillside. 1t
is q great deal to know as much about
| the world as Ted did, so he used to tell
Did Benny about the farm which was
to him such a wonderful fairy tale.
"Pity, now. your mother couldn't go
home and take you to see her folks"
said Benny
go home and take mep" said Ted.
'Why, could she?"
"Why not?" said Benny.
This new and startling idea dawning
on Teds mind took his breath away.
Mother" he cried, running to her.
"Why don't You take me down to see
grandfather and grandmother and the
flowers and the apples?"
"Ah, why note" burst out the home
sick woman, with bitter cry. BE
cause l gave that all up when ! ran
away with your father. Because they
wouldn't speak to me; no, not if | went
| down on my knees to them"
"Why wouldn't they speak to you?"