The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1898-05-27

In the hair Of the equestrienne and ran
TO chalk her shoes. He stumbled
against his dwarfish comrade.
The clown seemed very busy in ex-
aiming the gas meter, and pushed
him away with an oath. Then, with
out more ado, the acrobat sent him
Keeling, and leaping on ladder, cried
pitiful ptgmy!"
Aesop uttered roar Of rage and an
ger, then suddenly calming himself, re-
turned to the meter, and after having
followed with an eye Of hatred the as
cent of Icarus, began fumbling with the
mechanism of the stop cocks.
A great clapping Of hands. A fran
tic ovation. Two hundred pretty wo-
men dropped their fans and leveled
their opera glasses, and, trifle pale,
| smiled with delicious dread. Icarus
was up there-high up at the top of the
circus-hanging to the last trapeze, and
turning over and over In 1t, slowly and
without an effort.
At times he paused, and his face was
seen radiant in the foolish pride Of
triumph. Below, In the ring, the
clowns were stretching a circular net,
and in all the circus reigned deep ST.
lence, broken only by feminine whs-
per: "How graceful! What hand
some fellow"
The gymnast then, finding his public
sufficiently warmed up, raised himself
at one pull, stiffening himself on his
wrists.
The trapeze, violently thrown back,
described great arc, and, letting go
the bar, the man shot forward like an
arrow into space.
There was feeling of apprehension
in the crowd, and an "Oh!" of alright
uttered by thousand breasts. The
acrobat reached the second trapeze,
and calmly let himself swing in its de-
creasing oscillations.
Slowly he thus Garted eleven times,
calm and smiling as he made the tour
of the circus, and rejoicing at feeling
beneath him the immense painting Of
the throng.
At the eleventh trapeze he paused
to prolong this emotion-his glory
and his eyes sought out Rita. The
equestrienne saw him, and with the
handle of her whip threw him kiss.
The elated Icarus, hanging by one
hand, saluted her; then he brought
his trapeze to rest. He was about to |
complete his task
Enough" said some voices.
mo! Bravo! Encore!" cried the
ladies, eager to feel once more the per-
verse Joy Of an enticing pain.
For the twelfth time the handsome
gymnast, stiffening his muscular arms,
essayed his terrible flight.
But an appalling cry of terror, a
frantic shout arose.
In an instant, suddenly-like a can
die put out by the flap of bats wing
the thousand glistening lights of the
circus were extingushed all together
at the precise and fatal moment when
the man was darting into space.
At the same instant there rose from
the ring laugh, terrible, vibrating
with hate.
Then in the black and hideous OBJ
security, in the pitchy darkness that
filled the circus lately so blazing, poig-
nant shrieks rolled from row to row.
Women tainted and the spectators,
with their hearts crushed in hopeless
terror, shudderingly sat as If petrified
in their places, and peered into the
night that filled the dome. The net
was empty, the acrobat must be looked
for in the gloom. In the search Ian
terms were brought and carried toward
the top of the circus. Five minutes
five centuries, elapsed. Some one cried:
Bengal lights"
Then, while here and there people
were trying to relight the burners, a
blaze of violet and red, of green and
azure, flashed out and with powerful
illumination lit up at one flash every
corner Of the circus with its fantastic
and trembling CLEANS.
And suddenly as in the flames Of
transformation scene, was seen, rigid,
clamped to the trapeze, Prince Icarus,
hanging motionless.
An unheard-of horror paralyzed him
in supernatural frenzy. His hair
stood out. His distorted mouth grinned
an idiot grin terrible to see, and in his
face, whittier than that of corpse, his
haggard eyes, protruding from their
sockets, rolled conyulsively.
Soon his comrades were near him,
With the handle of his knife Aesop
struck the gymnasts hands, and with
great difficulty detached from tile bar
the clenched hands of the miserable
man.
The gas was relighted and the crowd,
silently and without breath, watched,
as it slowly lowered down, the descent
If the living corpse
There is to-day near Marseilles in .
he asylum Of Saint Pierre, poor mad
man who stalks straight forward, his
lrms held in front and contracted in an ,
imaginary grip. 1t is frightful sight. !
It is prince Icarus"
do not know what Jail holds Aesop,
As to the fairy Rita, she is now prin-
'ess somewhere in Germany.-Adapted 1
rom the French of Paul Bonnetain,
Sentiment by the President,
"The patriot is he who, living in his &
ountry, Is willing not only to fight, 6
nut to die for it. 1t was this sentiment I
which gave to the United States the 1
rand volunteer army of 1861. 1t is 9
his sentiment which gives to all gov f
rnments their strength and security L
nd permancy. 1t Is this sentiment '
which nerves the soldier and gains his
onsent to service and sacrifice, aye, O
N