Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1892-02-27

rounu anu Tounu tue ring on the
"learned pony" swinging his bare legs
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 chang on by his eyelids.'
When he was five years old he used to
perform regularly with old Benny, the
famous "bare- back" rider" in the "wild
Indian act. All the glitter, color, stir,
life of the circus was the 10Y of the
youngsters existence. He was so used
to the sight of expert riders and acrobats
going through their parts he had no
thoughts of any possible danger attend
ing their exploits, and all that Others
could do he felt he could do, aud longed
to do. His father had been the wonderful
rider, LlewelleD, killed, unluckily by
kick from his favorite horses hoof lust as
he carelessly stopped to feel the fetlock.
That was when Ted was but two years
old, and Llewelen 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 indomi-
table nerve and the quick sense of the
laws of balance which are needed by
man whose profession it is to daugle
twixt heaven and earth. His mother
was farmers daughter, who had made
a romantic match by running away with
the handsome Llcwellen. She had re-
NAMED in the community after her hus-
bands early death as sort of "wardrobe
woman" 1t was she who re!urbished the
old costumes, braiding them with tinseI
and sewing on fresh spangles. She was
called Mrs. L!cwelen, and she and her
boy lived in small compartment of the
great property van, which, when the
show moved from town to town, was
drawn by six white horses. Few ex-
periences pleased Ted better than this
sort of royal progress, which, in spite of
its grandeur, was extremely convenient,
since his mother could cook their meals
or go on with their sewing while they
were in motion, and Ted could eat his
bread aud butter while he nodded and
waved to the boys gathered at every cor
ncr to welcome the procession.
Ted had learned to read from the
great caring hand bills "Greatest Show
on the Universe" "The Unequaled aud
Matchess Troupe" ETC., and his heart
had thrilled with sudden conviction OF
his own pre-eminence when he spelled
out "Master Edward Llewellen, the Re
maIkable Infant Rider and Acrobat"
But his pride was in the fact of his
belonging to the circus, and not in him
self. 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 Actually there
was nothing that old Benny could not
do; it was he who performed the famous
pumpkin trick, at which Ted was never
tired of gazing in the first place mount
ing the horse on the wrong side, and
holding on by the name as if he were
going to fall of; then, after committing
every possible blunder, suddenly show
ing his real powers and going through a
series of dazzling transformations, until
he emerged the inimitable Benny, the
King of the Circus. Then there were
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. Al were so &C
complished, so splendid in their attire
lat least on occasions), and so kind and
tender to Ted, 1t 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 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
excitement of his life, the climbing,
vaultiDg, balancing, and above all the
riding when he leaned forward "driu'S-
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 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. 1t 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
aud gables; the well by its side, with its
long sweep, which moved with mourn
ul musical creak when the bucket was
lowered. He was used TO hons and tig-
ers, and there was satisfaction in the de-
scriptions of the so't-eyed oxen and COWS
all the tender, patient creatures of the
farm, besides the fierce turkey gobblers,
hens, and fully, downy chickens, Close
by the farm ran little river, where the