The true Democrat. [volume] (Bayou Sara [La.]) 1892-1928, 1898-01-15
Prosperity to tho Circus.

xEDSpoTlCy 10 tNC ClTC0os
"a man never can tell when his luck
is going to strike him, or in what shape
it is going to strike him." said the old
circus man to o New York Sun re.
porter. "Here we'd been going along
through the country to poor business
for week, not making money enough
to buy hay for the animals, when ono
day something happened that filled
the whole countryside with talk about
us and brought more people to the
show than wo had room for, and it
was the simplest little no-account
thing you ever heard of, which just
shows, too, how generously tho people
respond if you happen to catch their
fancy.
'"Thcre was q small boy up trec
alongside his fathers house on coun.
try road after birds nest. He crept
out further and further on the branch
that the nest was on, which extended
we'll over the house. You've often
seen such trees, no doubt. Just as he
was reaching ont for the nest, when
he'd finally got within reach of it, his
grip slipped and away he went, not on
the roof, or down on the ground, but,
by snakes! down the kitchen chimney,
exactly over Which he happened to be
at tho time he lost his hold. There
was q rattling Of SCOT on the pipe Of
the stove in the kitchen below that
told the farmers wife and the hired
girl that there was something the
matter in the chimney and the moan
ing that came from there presently
told them what it was. And the farmer
himself was awayin distant field, and
there didn't seem to be q ladder in the
county.
Eat the time when the small boy
was creeping further and further out
OH the limb Of the tree there was COM
ing along the road, bound for the town
where it was to show next, circus.
That was our circus, and it SO hap
pened that the head Of the column
reached the farmhouse just as the
farmers wife and the hired girl rushed
out into the road. The old man was
riding at the head of the column, as
he always did. He rode up instantly,
Of course, to the front of the house
and asked the lady what was the mat
ter, and she told him as well as she
could in her excitement.
"Our old man was o man that knew
an opportunity when he saw it, which
is great gift.
Madam ho said, in his most
polite manner, give yourself no
further uneasiuess. Well get the
youngster out without the slightest in
jury and wheeling his horse he says
to ME:
"'Bill, bring up the giraffe
"Thot was when we had the great
eighteen-foot giraffe, and on the road
the giraffe cage was always about the
middle of the column. We hurried
back and got the giraffe out and up to
the front as soon as wo could, and
alongside the extension that the kitchen
was in. There wasn't the slightest
danger to the boy. It was tho middle
of summer and they were burning
wood III tho stove, and the middle of
the morning and the fire was out, but
Of course the boys situation seemed
dreadful all the same.
swell, we got the giraffe alongside
the house and the old man talked to
him, and I'm blessed if he didn't seem
to understand, and he crooks his
long neck over the top Of the chimney
and dips down into it, aud in min-
ute he raises his head again out of the
chimney, lifting the boy with him, his
teeth gripping in the boys coat collar.
'sThat's oil there was to it. But
just as the giraffe wos lifting the boy
clear of tho top Of the chimney, the
boys father was coming tearing across
the home lot. There was some of the
neighbors Tgatherod around by this
time, aud there was the circus men
standing around, and the cages halted
along tho road, and when the big
giraffe bent his long neck and placed
tho rescued youngstsr in his mothers
arms, the old man, who was sitting Oh
his horse in front, took off his hat, sc
that, simple as it all: was, it made
quite,,a little tableau after all.
"When we showed that Afternoon
the tent wouldn't hold the people, ono
it was the same at night. It seems that
the boy was handsome aud clever
boy, that everybody liked, and SO th'
rescue was oil the more popular. 0
course, the old man sent the who'll
family tickets, and he got 'em to le
the chap ride around the ring on tn
giraffe's back. Did that get 'em
Humph! 1t was month before tn
people in that part of tho countr,,
stopped talking about how the giratf
rescued the boy from the chimney"