The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1899-08-02

quickly into life and subsequently see
som ebody climb it and pick quantities
of nice, ripe mangoes. Nothing OF the
kind happened, as will be seen by the
following description of the mango
trick as it is really performed.
The iuggler, with big bag OF prop
critics, arrives on the scene and i'm
mediately begins to talk excitedly,
meanwhile unpacking various recep-
tacles taken from the bag. He squats
down, pipes few notes on wheezy
reed whistle and the show begins.
From his belongings he takes little
tin can about the size of cove oyster
can, fills it with dirt and saturates the
dirt with water. Then he holds up
mango seed to show that there is moth
ing concealed by his sleeves; counts
eek, do, tin, char" or zone. two,
three, four" and imbeds the seed in
the moist earth. He spreads q large
cloth over the can and several feet of
circumjacent ground. Then he plays
q few more notes on his reed instru-
ment and allows che seed a few min.
utes in which to take root and develop
into a glorious shade tree. While he
is waiting he unfolds some snakes from
a small basket, takes mongoose from
bag and entertains his audience with
a combat between the mongoose and
one of the snakes.
eek, do, tin, char; one, two, sree,
four-rlenty fght-very good mon
goose-bigs snake-four rupee mon.
goose-two rupee snake-mongoose
fight snake. Look-gentlymans-
plenty big fight"
The snake, spiritless and not at all
in fighting mood, is teld up by his
tail, and the mongoose, whose only OBJ
iect in life is to get back into the snug
bag, is "sicked" on the snake, and
the thrilling contest begins. They
don't appear to notice one another,
and for awhile it looks like draw.
Finally the mongoose snaps the neck
of the snake and hangs there like
grim death, while the startled snake
wraps around the mongoose in Lao
coon folds. After a moment or two
the snake unkinks and the mongoose
is dragged off. The magician dis
plays the defeated snake. which still
wriggles in his death agonies. Some
skeptics are cynical enough to say
that the snake is afterward resuscitat-
ed for future gallant battles with the
mongoose.
All this time the cloth remained
peaceful and quiet, aud there were no
uneasy movements of its folds to in
dicate that the mango crop was -four
ishing. The juggler now turned his
attention to it, however, poked his
hands under the cloth, and after q
few seconds of mysterious fumbling
triumphantly threw off the cloth, and
10, there was little bunch of leaves
about as big as sprig of watercress
sticking up dejectedly from the damp
earth. This was straightway deluged
with some water and the cloth again
thrown>over it.
Once more there was a diversion.
This time an exhibition of :sEell
game, in which the 'luggler showed
considerable dexterity in placing the
little ball where you didn't think it
would be. Still the cloth revealed no
disposition to bulge skyward, and q
second time the iuggler fumbled un-
der it, talking hurriedly in Hindus-
tani and making the occasion as inter-
esting as possible. After much pok.
ing around he finally threw off the
cloth with glad cry, and there was
mango tree a foot high, with adult
leaves which glistened with moisture.
When his spectators had gazed at it
for q while he pulled the little tree up
by the roots, and there was mango
seed attached, with little sprouts
springing out from it.
The trick was over, the iuggler's
harvest of rupees and annas began,
and soon his crowd faded away. A
few minutes later. fir ON q half-hidden