Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1894-10-10
ALL IS NOT GOLD THAT eLlTTERs.
How Two Boys Worked Hard to Earn
Grievous Disappointment.


Grievous Disappointment.
The news that circus was coming
to the little town of y reached
that out of the way place even before
the advance agent with his glittering
posters and created a genuine sensa-
ton. The whole countryside was
stirred up over it, more or less, but
probably the excitement reached its
highest pitch in the minds of Tom
and Jerry, twin brothers, aged thir
teen, the leaders of most of the boy
ish mischief that made the school of
Y a terror to teachers far and
wide.
These two had never seen circus,
though they were familiar with them
from hearsay and dime novels, and
the idea that real live one was com
ing to their town set them wild.
They at once laid plans to procure
the pnice of admission, fifty cents
each, small fortune to them. Their
father was dead and their mother
could not afford, they well41new, to
spend a dollar on them. They at
once organized an amateur circus
among their companions, and after a
good deal of rehearsal on parallel
bar and trapeze gave public per-
Torrance, charging one cent for adj
mission. This Melted only fifteen
cents, and Jerry got sprained ankle,
while Tom burst his only pair of
trousers where it did the most harm.
By that time the advance agent
arrived and proceeded to cover the
town with posters that took the
boys breath away. For carrying an
immense pail of paste all day they
got ten cents each from the agent,
and they had considerable difficulty
in ungluing their clothes that night
sufficiently to get them off But the
posters were an unalloyed delight,
and Tom and Jerry played hockey
in order to stare at them till the
teacher came himself from the school
and dragged them away. On these
wonderful posters all the wild ami
mails of the universe were engaged in
a bloody battle to the death. A hip
popotamus ripped up an elephant
which with his trunk was strangling
a tiger, which was chewing a lion
which was in turn clawing a tender
gazelle that had rushed foolishly in
to this terrible struggle.
This scene fascinated Tom and
Jerry and they fully expected to see it
enacted at the circus. 1t divided the
attention that otherwise would have
been devoted exclusively to the pic
lures Of acrobatic young women in
pink tights, who leaped through
flaming hoops held at least twenty
feet above their barebacked horses
and the fat girl, who was said to
weigh 1000 pounds.
In the course of time the circus ar
rived, and Tom and Jerry procured
the job of carrying water for the ami
mails to drink from distant creek,
up a steep hill in heavy buckets, un-
der the broiling sun, and for this
they got twenty-five cents each.
With blistered hands and aching
backs the boys perched themselves
proudly on the hard, narrow seats
and waited for the glories to unfold
The circus might have once been a
fair side show, but it had lost its
chief attractions, one by one, along
the road, through sheriffs' attach
ments and other unkind people, and
what was left was a sorry lot indeed
AS the show proceeded, Tom and
Jerry's faces fell and grew longer and
longer Finally Tom nudged Jerry
violently.
whats the matter with yer9"
asked Jerry angrily, for his heart
was sore with disappointment.
Lets go out and look at the pos
ters,' replied Tom sadly.
And they went.-New York Trib-