The Banner-Democrat. [volume] (Lake Providence, East Carroll Parish, La.) 1892-current, 1902-04-05
concluded to let Petro appear for the


concluded to let Petro appear for the
| first time in public, and an hour or
so before the doors of the tent were
to be opened, he took his pupil into
| the ring to give him little practice,
so that he might have the greater
confidence. Petro had gone through
part of his work, and was resting on
the lower bar. Lopez being on the
upper one. Suddenly Lopez started.
| for he had seen the tiger loose and
entering the tent; it had evidently
escaped in some way from its cage,
and was creeping in, waving it's long
tail, and looking very angry. Petrol!
cried Lopez, climb up to me by the
rope, quick! The tiger is loose in
the tent" Petro looked, too, and the
sight of the furious beast stunned
him so that he could not move for a
moment. Then, however. he came to
himself, and scrambled up the rope
just as the tiger sprang for him. He
reached Lopez above, but the tiger
struck the bar that he had just left,
and got entangled in the ropes. There
it swung to and fro for a moment,
when its attention was attracted by a
cry from another part of the tent.
This cry was uttered by young girl
who had seen the danger that threat
ened the trainer and his pupil, and
with rare self possession, had made
UP her mind how to save them.
oh cd - h.
beast, seeing new prey, dropped from
the bar, and crept towards the girl.
She waited until it seemed about tc
spring, and then she ran down one
of the passages, and entered a little
cage that had two compartments The
tiger followed her, but before it could
get into the second compartment
where she was, she had closed the
communicating door, while one of the
attendants closed the one by which the
tiger had entered. The girl was
Lopez's twelve-year-old daughter, and
her presence of mind and courage
saved, perhaps, the life of her father
and of Petro.-Philadelph Times.
THE HAPPINESS OF SAN TOXIC.
He was a dear little Japanese doll,
San Toxic, and his home was on top
of Japanese curio cabinet, high up
on the parlor wall. Nobody ever took
him down or spoke to him, and San
Tokio's dream of happiness was to
have somebody lift him about when
they weren't busting him and to be
talked to every day.
Long ago when first he had lived on
| top of the cabinet, he had dreamed of
having someone speak to him in his
native tongue. But he was so placed
that he could see nothing but the top
of the wall opposite him-and there
wasn't a single picture on it-and it's
| quite easy to grow tired of view
! like that. The cuckoo clock on his
right, whom he often heard and whom
he would have liked to know better,
could say nothing but cuckoo, and as
it wasn't wound up regularly it didn't
say that very often. And even the
creaky window blind answered the
wind in a language San Toxic didn't
understand. So San Toxic would
have been glad to talk to anyone at
all. Sometimes he thought nobody
would ever speak to him again.
Eut one day little girI came into
the still parlor. San Toxic knew that
she was dear little girl and that his
mistress loved her by the tones Of
| oir fxro IL dnt
either of them because of the ridicu-
lous way in which he had been placed.
But presently he heard the little girl
talking about him, it must be himself
of whom she was speaking because he
distinctly heard the word Japanese"
several times.
Would you like to play with the
! Japanese dollie little while, Alice?"
his mistress asked kindly. by and by.
ooh, oh! May /, may II" the little
girl answered, jumping up and down.
San Toxic knew she was doing this
and clapping her hands because he
could hear her.
"Ill get papa to mend him, with
some glue" she told Tokio's former
| mistress, when it was time to say
good-by, "and l think he'll be happy
| with me, Aunt May. I've got another
little Japanese doll-the cutest little
| girl dollie you ever saw, she Is,
auntie-in my dollhouse. 1t came
straight from Toxic. Japan. A friend
of papa's brought it."
"Tokio! Why. that's where this lit
tie fellow came FROM" said Auntie
May, smiling. "Your little girl dollie
may even be an old acquaintance of
this little man."
well, they can play together. any
way" said San Tolkios new mistress.
And I think your dear little dollie-
the dear little dollie that was yours,
/ mean-will be happy with me, Auntie
May"
And San Toxic, smuggling close up
against the little girls shoulder,
wrapped in her soft handkerchief and
carried under her soft coat, going to
live with another doll from his own
country and with the dear little new
mistress who was taking him home,
didn't at all regret his old mistress or
the curio cabinet high up on the par.
lor wall. His dreams of happiness
had come true.-Chicago Record
Herald.
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