The Canton times. (Canton, Miss.) 1893-1906, 1900-07-20

with which he would prod the donkey
into giving first-class exhibition in
high kicking. This sort of thing had
been going ON long enough to give the
donkey considerable practice and he
had already attained very high rec
ord for SO small a donkey. Silas, Jr.,
had not, however, thought it neces-
sary to take anyone into his confidence
regarding his late achievements with
the donkey.
When Mr.. Limkins felt the need of
some living thing to inspire his elo-
quence, this living relic of the mid
way" very naturally came into his mind,
He knew the donkey was at leisure,
in the barn at home, and he at once de-
cided the donkey should have the bene-
fit of his rehearsal. A few minutes
later Mr.. Limkins entered his barn,
closed and locked the doors behind him
and was alone with the donkey.
Mr.. Limkins prefaced his remarks
with few kind soothing words to his
donkeyship, and taking position i'm
mediately in front of him, began his
grafton. The donkey was standing in
the middle of the barn chewing some
scraps of straw that were scattered
about, and paid but little attention to
his visitor at first; but as Mr.. Limkins
got well into his subject and began
to throw in a Delsarte movement here
| and there, he raised his head and
seemed to take considerable interest.
He peeked his long ears forward over
his head in an inquiring way and eyed
the speaker narrowly. This inquisitive
attitude encouraged Mr.. Limkins to
still further effort and he became thor
oughly warmed up.
The donkey laid back his left ear.
Mr.. Limkins was nearing his climax,
the donkey was nearing his. Those
gestures became more and more famil-
lar and reminded him of other things.
Mr.. Limkins closed an eloquent period,
shaking his fist right in the face of the
donkey. Now, the donkey was of for
eign birth, and could not be expected
to appreciate an American speech any
however under the most favorable
circumstances.
He laid back the other ear; sudden
ly changed ends and landed fairly on
Mr.. Limkins' seat of utterance. Mr..
Limkins sat down violently on a pile
of old tomato cans and other rubbish
in remote corner of the barn, silent
ly, but rapidly opening and shutting
his mouth in a vain attempt to cry
out; but for the moment he lacked the
necessary amount of air pressure to the
square inch to produce sound. When
he had taken in a sufficient amount to
proceed out loud, his next few remarks
were made without notes, and were of
an entirely personal nature; relating
especially to the donkey and his DON
key mothers fer several generations
back.
Mr.. Limkins then proceeded to be
very mean to the donkey and ended up
by incasing him in a coil of clothes
line, which he found in the barn.
Around and around he wound the
clothes-line until there was nothing
of the donkey left visible but his head
and ears. With the donkey in this
helpless condition, Mr.. Limkins took
fresh start at the beginning of his
speech and recited it over and over
again several times. Every time Mr..
Limkins reached that particular eli
max, and made those magnificent gest-
ures, there was a perceptible culver
in the bundle of clothes-line, which al
ways caused slight break at that par
ocular part, in the otherwise easy flow
Of Mr. Limkins' speech.
At last Mr.. Limkins felt that he
could not improve by further practice,
and, giving the bundle of clothes-line |
a parting kick, closed the interview.
That night Mr.. Limkins listened to
the several speakers that preceded
him, his heart swelled with pride as
he thought how favorably his speech
would compare with any that had been
delivered. 1t may be that it is i'm
possible to impress a man that is so
thoroughly interested in himself as
was Mr.. Limkins; but be that as it
may, Mr.. Limkins failed to find any
thing worth noting. AS he arose in
his place to respond to "Our Sons" he
felt confident that he would take his
seat the hero of the evening
A slight nervousness, together with
some impotence to reach his most
periods, made him talk rap
idly at first; and he also had some
little difficulty in controlling his eyes,
which showed a decided tendency to-
wards fixed stare. However, he
to vary the stare to some
extent. and continued to do fairly