The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1900-02-17

| the revolt of an irritated skin against
| the discomfort of a hair shrt-and he
swore long and savagely at his refec-
ton in the mirror.
wish yeh had my job" the boy said
| plaintively through the smoke of a
| sigarette I got wheels in my head.
| l dreamed L was a music box last
night, and Wen | run down they
wound me up be the ear" He stroked
his arm retlectively. II got a cramp
this morning that was regular tooth
ache in m arm, an he says he'll dock
me a dime fer slowin down to rub it..
| wish l was a girl, he added,
Fan didn't do nothin' but stand round
an look picturesquew."
"Aguinaldo' snorted at these COM
plants to a fellow sufferer. You'd
/ better get down to yer hurdy gurdy,"
he said, throwing off his overcoat, ''or
you'll look pictureequew."
They met the two exhibits of the
beauty show on the stairs, freshened in
complexion, dressed partly in the decol-
lete costume of a French ball and part
ly in the weather worn garments of
page of the middle ages
There yare!" "Aguinaldo' sneered.
''How'd yeh like to look like that?"
| The two women We're gathering down
the steps with stiff knees. You! yeh
bandy-legged baboon," the younger
one answered him without turning her
I head
Put him in his kennel" said the
other.
Neither Of these remarks soothed his
savage breast. He went into the back
of the shop which served to house the
exhibition, and from the wreck of a
discarded peep show drew out flask
of liquor. 1t would keep out the cold.
1t also kept in the heat-the heat, that
is, of his irritation-and mixing with
the beer of luncheon, started a rebellion
in his head. When he heard a thunder
ing demand for his prompt appearance
from the triune oppressor, the manager.
barker and '"bouncer," he lifted the
tail of his bearskin and thrust the flask
into the hip pocket of his legless knick-
erbockers, planning to have another
drink in his cage.
The manager did not see anything in
his manner except childish bad hum
or, and "Aguinaldo," climbing up to his
platform got over the side of the box
which was seven feet long, three feet
wide and four feet high He sat down
in the bottom of it. A wire top was
added, making the side three feet
higher, so that when the exhibition be-
gan he might stand up without showing
more than his head and chest to the
public who had not yet passed the
ticket office to the platform on which
nv
the manager to a mock fury that flung
him with savage hands upon this wire
netting, he sat with his back against
the end of the box and his legs out
stretched before him, scowling at the
faces which showed over the side of
his cage
The enameled beauty was already in
the ticket office. "Snipey'' and the hui
man target were on the platform in
front of "Aguinaldos" box. A calico
screen hung between them and the hall
of illusions and behind that screen the
boy waited with the hand organ. There
were two lines of mutascopes in the
hall, and at the far end of it, behind a
row of curtains, there was the machn-
cry of three optical illusions-arrange-
ments of lights and mirrors for the
production of the vanishing lady" the
"beheaded lady and the animated
bust" door beside these curtains led
into the second compartment, where
the scrawny beauties posed. There was
a third room with nothing in it but the
broken peep show and such old lumber
And the method of the entertain
ment was just this. A crowd was
gathered by the invitations of the
barker" at the door, and welcomed
into the free show beside the ticket Of
fee, From that the honey-tongued or
ator drew them past the office (where
they paid 5 cents each) over "Aguinal-
dos platform into the hall Of illus
ions. The entertainment there was
rather disappointing after the prom
ises of the placards and pictures in
the windows and of the manager on
the platform. 1t would cost 10 cents
more to realize those promises in the
next compartment. A number of |
"touts" led the gulls into the beauty |
show, where they received another dis
when the golden haired |
antiques were posed for them They
were told then that in the last COM
they must not inform the police about
1t would cost 10 cents more to see it.
If any were fools enough to pay that 10 |
cents they came upon the lumber room.
The three "touts' laughed at them. The
and "Snipey" awed them. The
lights had been turned down, and if
they had any money left in their pock-
cts they were glad to escape by side
door and say nothing.
1t was this progression the manager
to begin when he called out
from the door: Are yeh all ready?"
The organ staggered into an uncertain
melody for answer "Snipey'' twirled
his tin-bladed daggers on the platform.
The vision in the ticket office smiled
and "Aguinaldo'' hidden in his pack
ng case, got the bottle from beneath
mis- bearskin and attempted to tilt it
% his lips. He had forgotten the bone
ing that hung from his nose as low
as his lower lip, and he split the pre-
,ious liquor over his face and down
lis neck before he knew it, Then he
erked out the inconvenient decoration
the tender skin of his nos
.rils as he did it, so that his nose be-
gan to bleed-wiped off his face with
lis hand, smudging the liquor loosened
,olors, and drank luxuriously.
The manager had thrown open the
loor and was already casting bait to