The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1897-09-16

enc.-A Monument Which Proves That
Iii. Effort. Were Appreciated.
Il always strive to please, remarked
the dramatic editor, as he scratched the
words "'bi@ thing" out Of the advance
notice he was writing and substituted
''mngatherian aggregation.
"Thanks, | am sure said the adj
vance agent, as he read over the ten
lines the dramatic critic was giving to
him, and car"fulIy.put back into his
po"kct the half column notice he had
first drawn OH the d. C.
Il presume, > smiled the d. C., that
you always strive to please, too, don t
you:"
Not AWAY in II semidisappointed
t0ne-"Lut / used to have a friend who
did. lie really was the most self deny
ing chap | ever saw, and what he
wouldn't do to please an audience
wasn't worth doing.
''EThcre Is lie now"
"Dcad "
"Dcud:"
Yes, it killed him. twas this way:
He was in the pyr0technic branch Of
the dramatic art and used to give shows
at che Of those imitation Coney Islands
to be found on nearly every sand bar i'll
nearly .'tr river tributary to the Mis-
/ ,iesipuI. He had been the originator Of
/ the fireworks feature at this place, and
/ hil phenomenal success had made him
20 proud that he would sooner have died
/ than had failure. one Fourth OF July
/ he vas going - give the grandcst dis
! play Of his lifc, and the feature III the
! biggest letters Oh the bill was set
! piece, 100 feet high, with an enormous
! Iallorn loaded with fireworks to 90 up
! from the top a. grand finale. There
were ten times as many people there
that night as there had ever been, and
! my friend was feeling so good you could
see it in HI, walk.
Everyday was on edge, too, for the
| grand blaze Of glory the management
| had been advertising for weeks, and
when, promptly at the hour Of 10
O'Clock, my friend stepped forth like "a
pcacocil to st of the great display with
his own hand there was a round Of APP
ulatts2, followed by dead silence as
the audience sat breathless watching for
the burst Of blazing glory. But some
how it didn't burst. The professor fired
the train and retr2atcd to 4 safe place,
but the powder wOuldn' t burn. 1t fizzled
and went cut instead. Once, twice,
thrice, it fzzled, sputtorcd and went
out, and then the crowd began to growl
| and guy, az crowds always Will, and
| the professor began to get wild
Several other attempts to set the
| piece off We're 10 more successful, and
at last, with Il smOthercd scream Of
crazy rage he shot up the ladder OF the
tower to its very top, where he had Il
platform stored with all sorts Of intiam-
| mahlc and explosive things arranged to
! go Off at the proper time. He stood
there Il moment silhoucttcd against the
sky, the crowd INDUCING i'll gibcs and
jccrs, with now and then a threat as to
what he might expect if he would only
come down to the ground. This was his
time TO SHOW what he could do to please
! his audience, and i'll Il minute, and be
fore anybody had any idea what he
would do next, he caught up an armful
| Of the explosives about him, fastened
them TO his clothes and hung wreaths
and rings over his neck and shoulders,
and, setting the whole thing afire, he
swung OH: into the air i'll the balloon,
which y. ,.s ally, ;sdy Juggling at its anchor.
AS the !5.,!ioUn shot up it was ter
rife sight, and the poor devils shrieks
added to the intensity of the scene, al
ready Iurid with red and blue lights,
| while the air was filled with all manner
! Of burStiu: bCnhs and crashing cXplo-
| sivcs. Women tainted, men ran help
lcssly about shouting, and still the bal
loon swept upward with its fiery freight
and passenger, until, when it had
reached Il point 1000 feet above the
burning mass shot like i blazing ball
straight to the ground
You Will bu s;fo i'll betting those
people never 81" such an exhibition as
that before, nor Will ever again i'll all
probability. and when it was over, "
concluded the agent, 1.-The audience
seemed to realize what the professor
had done to please them, and they chip
ped i'll and built him "a monument
where he fell, having Oh it, besides his
name and the proper dates, no other in
scriptiUn except He strived to please. "
The dramatic critic was at least half
Il minute III recovering his speech after
the recital of this remarkable tale, and
before he could DIX any questions the
advance agent had folded his tent like
u ,..ccuS ard stolen away to the office of
I til !. II GI!1i..tir critic he had to call
az Nv -i~i.ington Star