Middletown transcript., 1898-03-26
SAVED BIZ THE a1RArrE.

a man never Can t5H Wnen MS luck /
is going to strike him, OF in what shape |
it is going to strike him" said the old !
circus mau to New York Sun reporter.
Here He'd been going along though |
The country to poor busin ess for a week,
not making money enough to buy hay
for the animals. when one day some
thing happened that filled the whole
countryside with talk about Us and
brought more people to he show than
we had room for, and it was the simplest
little no-account thing you ever heard
of, which just shows. too, how gener-
ously the people respond if yoa happen
to catch their fancy.
"There was a small boy up q tree
alongside his fathers house on coun-
try road after birds nest. He crept
ont 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 as be
was reaching out for the nest when
he'd finally got within reach of it, his
grip slipped and away he went, noton
the roof, or down on the ground, but,
by snakesI dow n the kitchen chimney
exactly over which he happened to be
at the time he lost his hold. There
was a 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 mat
ter in the chimney and the moaning
tnat came from there presently told
them what it was. And the farmer
himself was away in a distant field, ,and
there didn't seen, to be a ladder In the
country.
SAT the time when the small boy
was creeping further and further out
on tho limb of the tree there was COM
ing along the road, bound for town
where it was to show next, a circus.
That was cur circus, and it 80 hap
pened that tie head OF the column,
reached The farm house just as the
farmers Wife and the hired girl rushed
out into the road. The old man was
riding at the head Of the coiumn, as he
always did. He rode up instantly, of
course, to the front Of the house and
asked tbs lady what was the matter,
and she told MIN as we'll as sha could
/ in her excitement.
"Our old man was man that knew
an opportunity when he saw it, which
is great gift.
Madam, lie said, in his most po-
lite manner, give yourself no further
uneasiness. Well get the youngster
out without the slightest injury and
wheeling his horse he says to me:
"'Bill, bring up the giraffe
"Tnat 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 we could, and
alongside the extension that the kitchen
was in. There wasn't the slightest
danger to the boy. It was the middle
of summer and they were burning
| wood in the stove, and the middle of
the morning and the fire was out, but
of course the boys situation seemed
dreadful all the same.
"Well, We got the giraffe alongside
the house and the old man talked to
him, and Pm 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, and in minute he
raises his head again out Of the CHM
ney, lifting the boy with him, his teeth
gripping in the boys coat collar.
"That's all there was to it. But
just as the giraffe was lifting the boy
clear of the top of the chimney, the
boy's father was coming tearing across
the home lot. There was some of the
neighbors gathered around by this time
and there was the circus men stand
ing around, and the cages halted along
the road, and when the big giraffe bent
his long neck aud placed the rescued
youngster in his mothers arms, the
old man, who was sitting on his horse
in front, took off his hat, so that, sim.
pie as it all was, it made quite little
tableau after all.
stWhen we showed that afternoon
the tent wouldn't hold the people, and
it was the same at night. IL seems
that the boy was handsome and
clever boy, that everybody lik d, and
so 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
giraffe's back. Did that get 'em?
Humphl 1t was a monh before the
people in that part of the country stop
ped talking about how tbe giraffe res
cued the boy from the chimney"
Are you one of the strikers?' asked the
woman at the door. Yes, mum. pse q
poineer in the movement. struck thirty
years ago. and I've never give in yet"