The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1894-10-03
SAVED By A HISS.


partlv 10 please the ''spieler," who
would have been dreadfully disappoint-
ed if we had not done 80, bat, partly,
too, to please Toppan, who was always
interested in the great beasts and liked
IL watch them.
1t : possible that you may remem-
her Toppan a. the man who married
Victoria Boyden, and, in 20 doing,
thrust his greatness from him and be-
come a bank clerk instead of an ex-
plorer. After he married he came TO
be quite ashamed of what he had done
in Thibet and Africa and other un-
known corners of the earth, and after
a while seldom spoke of that part OF
his life at all; or, when he did, it WAS
only to all0de to il Is passing boyish
fancy, altogether foolish and silly, like
calf love and early attempts at poetry.
II used 10 think was going to set
the world on fire at one time" he said
once. Il suppose every young fellow
has some such ideas. | only made an
ass of myself, and I'm glad I'm well
out of il. Victoria saved me from
that
But this was long afterwards. He
died hard, and sometimes lac would
have moments of strength in his
weakness, just a before he had given
up his career during a moment of
weakness i'm his strength. During the
first wears after he had given up his
career he thought he was content with
the way things had come TO be; but it
was not 80, and now and then the old
feeling. the love of the old life, the old
ambition, would be stirred into activ:-
ity again by some sight or sound or
episode in the conventional life around
him.
A chance paragraph in a newspaper,
a sight of the Arizona deserts of sage
and cactus, a momentary panic on a
ferry boat, sometimes even fine music
or great poem would wake the better
part Of him to the desire of doing great
things. Al such times the longing
grew big and troublous within him to
cut loose from il all and get back to
these places of the earth where there
were neither months nor Years, and
where the days of the week had no
names; where he could feel unknown
mind. l,Inu-in.r aeraipsf his faca anf nm,
known mountains rising beneath hi.
feet; where he could see great sandy,
stony stretches of desert with hot, blue
shadows, and plains of salt, and thick
els of jungle grass, broken only by the
lairs of beasts and the paths the stein.
book make when they 90 down to
water.
The most trifiing thing would recall
all this to him, just a. "A couple of notes
have recalled to you whole arias and
overtures. But with roppan il was as
though one had recalled the arias and
overtur,s and then was not allowed Il
sing them.
We went into the arena and sal
down. The ring in the middle Was
fenced in by great circular iron cage
The tiers of seats rose around this, /;
band WAS playing in box over the en-
trance, and the whole interior Wa,
lighted by an electric globe slung ovel
the middle of the cage.
Inside the cage brown bear-to mt
less suggestive Of Il wild animal than OF
laprobes and furriers' sign-was dan
cling sleepily and allowing himself tC
he prodded by person whose celluloid
standing collar showed white at tn,
neck above the green of his Tryoles,
costume. The bear was NANCY, and hi'
steel muZzle had ehafed him, and Top
pan said he was corrupted ofmoth and
rust alike, and the audience applauded
bu; feebly when he and his keeper
withdrew.
After this we had clown elephant,
dressed in bib and tucker and vast
haggy breeches-like those of a partic-
ularly big French Turco-whO had
lunch with his keeper and rang the bell
and drank his wine, and wiped his
mouth with handkerchief and bed
quilt, and pulled the chair from under
meath his companion, seeming 10 bC
amused AT il all with strange sort ot
suppressed elephantine mirth.
And then, after they had both made
their bow and gone out, in bounded
and tumbled the dogs, barking and
grinning all over, jumping up To theil
stools and benches, wriggling and
pushing one another about, giggline
and excited like 80 many Kindergarten
children on Il show day. i am sure
they enjoyed their performances "A.
much a. the audience did, for they nev.
er had To he told what 10 do, and seem.
ed only too eager for their turn to come
The best Of it all was that they wer,
quite unconscious of the audience and
appeared 10 do their tricks for the sake
of the tricks themselves, and not fol
:he applause that followed them. And
thSn, after the usual program of wick.
er cN finders, hoops and balls was over.
they All rushed off amid a curiou.
scrattliI.g of paws and filliping of tail.
and heels
While this had been going on we had
been hearing from time to time a greai
sound, half whine half rumbling. gut
tural cough, that came from somewher,
behind the exit from the cage. Ii wa.
repeated at rapidly increasing intervals
and grew louder in pitch until il ended
in short bass grnnt. Ii sounded cru
el and menacing, and when at its full
volume the wood of the benches under
Us thrilled and vibrated
There was little pause in the pro
gram while the arena was cleared and
new and much larger and heavier par
aphernalia were set about and gentle
man with well-groomed hair and :
very shiny hat entered and announced
''the worlds greatest lion-tamer. y
Then he went away, and the tamel
came in and stood expectantly by the
side Of the entrance: there was anoth.
er short wait and the band struck q
long minor chord.
And then they came i'm, one after the
other, with long, crouching, lurching
strides, not at all gOod-humoredly, like
Il. Z 4.