St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1895-07-28
SOME FAKIRS ARE CLEVER.
THE DUDE WHO LOSES HIS
PURSE TO CAPTURE STREET
CAR FARES.
vENDER OF woNDRous THINGS
Organ Grinders and Street Sing.
ers-Why the Monkey Is
Seen No More.


performed, I am of opinion that the
averment of the late Phineas Taylor
Barnum, prince Of fakirs, to the eff
feet that people like to be hum
plugged, is singularly inexact. Peo-
pie don't like it at all. People hate
it. People abhor it and are down
on it. People get mad at it, though
they attempt to disguise their feel
ings in their laughter as hollow
and void of joy as the hilarity of
hysteria. People like to see other
people humbugged, if you will. They
will laugh at that unfeignedIy and
irrepressibly, stimulated thereto by
a consciousness, born of experience,
that it is Dre-eminently the best
means of aggravating the affection
and annoying the afflicted But
that's as far as it goes. No one was
ever known to boast of being made
a fool of. The Joke in every story
is always on the other fellow. 1t is
the proneness of people to be taken
in" that has been mistaken for taste
and disposition. The apparent pleas
ure manifested by the victim is a
mere mask assumed to hide his cha
grin, and his seemingly hearty ha
has, correctly construed, are just as
many hidden curses on the false
wretch who thus plays on his Gre
dulity. He is not heard to complain,
because he is no egotist when it
comes to that; he is modest and not
disposed to be talking about him
self always; he is reticent, and reti-
cence is a cardinal virtue sometimes,
and he cultivates it. He makes mer-
ry over his wife's bargains" with
the house-to-house peddler who
cheats her pretty badly, and says
nothing of his own financial tran
sactions with the affable stranger
down town who has cheated him
outright.
From humbugs in general to hum
bugs in particular is an easy and
natural step; and SO from the fore
going reflections we work around to
the consideration of street fakes and
street fakirS. The first thing that
takes our attention in this connec-
ton is the vast amount of wasted
energy there is here. If he would
only turn his tireless energy and
boundless ingenuity to account in
the practical arts or standard sci
ences, what an age of invention
and discovery the street fakir would
make of it! Say he took up mechan-
les; or engineering; or architecture;
or applied acoustics; say he went in
for astronomy, electricity, galvan-
ism, pneumatics; say he did any
thing at all but what he does, and
with the same thorough application
and devotion to business which he
employs in his present profession;
what boundless possibilities would
thus be strewn along the world S
path of progress! But he never
will. He would rather construct an
artistic lie of a ten-cent market
value than solve the problem Of
aerial navigation and win millions
by it, He values the results of his
employment less from the conse-
gam III lllOlSy lAlclil 1AOiii liz
fact that he gets them by fraud.
To befool his fellow mortal and make
him pay for his folly is the street
fakir's hearts delight and only joy.
And what adds to the degradation of
his dupe is that the latter is wise in
his folly, passes by other frauds and
flakes with a glance of scornful
recognition, looks askance and with
stern suspicion on comparatively
harmless objects, such as organ
grinders and street singers, and falls
ready victim to the weakest and
most transparent fraud of the lot.
Take a recent case in illustration.
Down there at the Ryan hotel corner
where the outgoing interurban cars
go by at frequent intervals, and
where wise doctors and sharp law
yers and shrewd business men pass
and repass throughout the day, max
ing it one of the busiest thorough
fares of the city, a young man sta
toned himself one day last week
and proceeded to make the world
his oyster. He wore a fashionable
suit of summer clothing, immacu-
late and highly laundered linen, mob
by hat, hobby tie, hobby patent