The Calhoun chronicle. [volume] (Grantsville, W. Va.) 1883-1984, 1898-02-08
SAVED BY THE GIRAFFE,
ms simple Little Thing That Restore,
Prosperity to the Circus.

n man never can tell when his luck
Is going to strike him, or in what shape
II Is going to strike him." said the old
circus man to 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 one
day something happened that filed
the whole countryside with talk about
us and brought more people to the
show than we had room for, and it
was the simplest little no-account
thlnS you ever heard of, which lust
shows, too, how generously the people
respond If you happen TO catch their
fancy.
There was small boy up a tree
alongside his fathers house on n conn
try road after n birds nest. He crept
out further and further on the branch
that the nest was on, which extended
well over the house. You've often
seen such trees, no doubt. Just rs he
was reaching out 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 snakesl down the kitchen chimney.
exactly over which he happened TO be
at the time he lost his hold. There
was rafting OF SCOT on the pine 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 away in distant field. and
there didn't seem to be n ladder i'm the
county.
'At The time when the small bow
was creeping further and further out
on the limb of the tree there was com
ing along the road, bound for the town
where 1T was to show next, II circus.
That was our circus, and it so hap
pened that the head of tue column
reached the farmhouse Just as tho
farmers wife aud the hired girl rushed
out into the road. The old man was
riding ut 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 sh.
I.
Our old man was a man that knew
an opportunity when he saw it, which
is n great gift
Madam he said, in his most
polite manner, give yourself no
further uneasiness. Well get the
youngster out without the slightest in
jury, and wheeling his horse he saws
to me:
Bill, bring up the giraffe.
That 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 ont and mp to
the front as soon as we could, and
alongside the extension that the kitchen
was in. There wasn't the slightest
danger to the boy. 1t was the middle
of summer and they were burning
wood in the stove, aud the middle of
the morning and the fire was out. but
of course the boys situation seemed
dreadful all the sames
"Well, 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
aud dips down into it, aud in min
ute he raises his head again ont of tho
chimney, lifting the boy with him, his
teeth gripping in the boys coat collar.
That's all thers was to it. But
Just rs the giraffe was lifting the boy
clear of the top of the chimney, the
boys father was coming tearing across
the home lot. There was some of the
neiShbors gathered around by this
time, and there was the circus men
standing around, and the cages halted
along the road. aud when the big
giraffe bent his long neck and placed
the rescued youugster in his mothers
arms, the old man, who was sitting on
his horse in front, took of his hat. 50
that, simple as it nil was. it made
quite'a little tableau after all.
"When we showed that afternoon
the tent wouldn't hold the people. aud
1t was the slne at night. Its,en3 that
the boy was a handsome and clever
boy, that everybody liked, aud 50 the
rescue was all the more popular. OF
course, the old man sent the whole
family tickets, aud he got 'em to let
the chap ride around the ring on the
girafe's back Did that get EN-?
Humph! 1t was a month before the
people in that part of the country
stopped talking about how the giraffe
rescued the boy from the chimney"