Semi=weekly graphic., 1897-07-31
STRIVING TO PLEASE.
rstE ADVANCE AGENT TELLS HOW HIS FRIENDS OBSERVED THIS RULE.

FktkNpS OBSERVED Hlo RULE. 4 Manager s1 . PyrstsShnic show Who
 pisnS wat ts BisapPeiat His Audi
 sass--A Monument Which Proves That
 Eis z1orta Were Appreciated.
 1T always strive 10 please, remarked tue dramatic editor, ss he scratched the ~crds big thing out of the advance notice he was writing and substituted 'msgatheriau aggregation.
 Thanks, am sure, said the ad- vsnoa agent, as he read over the ten lines the dramatic critic was giving to him, and carefully put back into his pocket the half column notice he had first drawn on the q. c.
 T presume, smiled the q. C., that you always strive to please, too, don't yoR?'
 Not always.-in semidisnppeinted tone but used to have friend who did. He really was the most self deny ing chap l ever saw, and what he wouldn't do to please an audience wasn't worth doing.
 "Whsre is be pows"
 "Deaa. "
 'sDsaa:i'
 "Yes, it killed him. Itwas this way: He was in ths pyrotsahn.e branch Of she dramatic art and used to give shows at cue of these imitation Conev Islands to be found GU nearly every sand bar in nearly sssr river tributary to the Mis- sissippi. He had been the originator of the fireworks feature at this place, and bis phenomenal success had made him so proud ehat he would sooner have died than had a failure. Oue Fourth of July hs was going to give the grandest dis play of his life, sad the feature in the biggest letters ou the bill was set piece, 100 feet high, with an enormous balloon loaded With fireworks to go up from the top Az a grand finale. There woFs ysn times Ss many people there shAt night as there had ever been, and ny friend was fesling SC good you could see it in his walk.
 Everybody vas on edge, too, for the grand blaze Of glory the management had bean advertising for weeks, and when. promptly st the hour of 10 o'clock, ny trieRd stepped forth like peacock to sst oE ehe great display with his own hand there WAS s round of ap plauae, followed hy dead silence as the audience sat hTsathlsss watching for the burst ot blazing glory. But some how it didn't burst. Ths professor fired tue train and Tstrsated to a safe place. but the powder wouldn t burn. It fizzled and vent Gs5 instead Once, twice, ! thriee, ik Rzled, sputt4red and went cut, aRd then Fhe crowd began to gfowl and guy, as crowds always will, and the professor began 10 get wild. ! Several ether attempts to set the pissa of were no more successful and et last, with A Eaethered scream of -1y rage, he shot up the ladder of the toNsr to it's very top. where he had platform stored with all sorts of inham= msble and explosive things arranged to go of at the proper time He stood there moment silhouetted against the sky, the crowd indulging in gibes and 1 jeeTs, with now and then a threat as 10 what he might expect if he would only | come down to the ground. This was bis 1 time to show what he could do to please ! his audience, aud in minute, and be- ] fore anybody had any idea what he i would C0 next, he caught up au armful of the explosives about him, fastened ] them to his clothes and hung Wreaths and rings oyer his neck and shoulders, 1 and, setting the whole thing afre, he 1 swung out into the air in the balloon, which was already tugging at it's anchor.
 As the balloon shot mp it was ter { rifio sight, and the poor devils shrieks added to the intensity of the scene, al- ready lurid with red and blue lights, while tbe sir wss filled with all manner of bursting bombs and crashing explo- siYes Women Tainted, men ran help lessly about shouting, and still the bal loon swept upward with it's fiery freight and passenger, until, when it had reached R point 1000 feet above the earth, it caught fire and the whole burning mass shot like blazing ball straight to the ground You will be safe in betting those people never saw such an exhibition as that before. HOT will ever again in all probability, aud when it was over, ' concluded the agent, the audience seemed to realize what the professor had done to please them, and they chip ped in and built him a monument where hs fell, having on it, besides his name and the proper dates, no other in- scrlption except He striyed to please. :"
 The dramatic critic was at least half | minute in recovering his speech after the recital of this remarkable tale, and before he could ask any questions the advance agent had folded his tent like 1 circus and stolen away to the office of the next dramatic critic he had to call | upon. Washington Star
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