The daily morning journal and courier., 1905-07-28
THE BAT.


 end of the dim, old hall. which had once been the refectory of monastery and had served since as barn. By the light of the ill-smelling lamps the wall ! paintings came into prOminence-now the scarlet of a robe, or the gold of crown. or the flesh tints of hands or feet or face; again a scene in the pan iorama-the judge bidding the wicked 1 to flee away into eternal torture. They did not eat to the accompaniment of cheerful pictures, those departed broth l CTS of the hill valley in the Apennines. 1 In the dimness above the stage one describes trapeze ropes and wires the equipment of the tight-rope dancer and the acrobat. Idly one measured the distance between the trapeZe and the stage. A good many feet, for the rec 1 tory was high, and amid the primitive ] belongings of the wandering troupe of 1 entertainers there was no such thing as | netting to break anyone's fall. Dim fly also round the roof one saw the arc 1 ed, slender windows of clere-story. The performance was attended chiefly by English, who were the paying DOT tion of the audience, doubtless. The bright eyes and brilliant cOlors of the country people flashed about the doors and at the back of the hall. They were the applauding portion of the audience, if they paid little. The English from the hotel among the pine woods yaWn- ed through what was on the whole, a poor performance. They had sat through it somewhat drearily-the juggling, the acrobatic feats, the strong man and woman, the clowning and all the rest of it.
 Suddenly came something more inter esting, and the languid audience brac- ed itself. A young man, beautiful in color, slender and graceful as the young Antinous, holding two little flame colored figures by the hand, en- erged on to the stage. Following him came a woman, slender and graceful as a flower. The white, gold-spangl- ed garment she wore fitted her as the Sheath the flower. As she sood at the corner of the stage lowing she looked like a little martyr. Presently she would disport herself in the files like hummingblrd. The little troupe father, mother, two children-were us- ed to wider audiences than this. The Butterfly they called the Signora. Some day, whispered the cognoscenti who had seen her before at Milan, at Flor 1 ence, the Butterfly would fly no more. She would fall from some great height and be crushed to atoms. That per- formance of hers with the flying tra- peze-horrible! She knew the dan ger of 1t. Looking at the fiowerlike figure with the dropped dark head, one murmured under ones breath, Salve, flos martyrum! ! But now her turn was not yet. The husband and the children were up in the dim roof. Those children, delect- able morsels of humanity! They were boy and a girl As one looked at them in their scarlet tights, with their little black heads, one was reminded of the field poppy in her scarlet silk, with her corona of black velvet. Now the performance began. The children were doing wonderful things, as though they were really winged creatures, en- toying it, too;Ewe heard soft little bursts of laughter up in the flies, in- terspersing the fathers words of com mand had seen the performance before, they are going to leap to him and he will catch them. It ought not to be allowed without q net. Of course, they are as agile as kittens. Still, the least little miscalculation and 1t would be
 all over-~with him, too. Wait-you shall see!
 The man hung head downward from
 the tight-rope, revolved rapidly like 8 wheel; then drew himself up by one hand and waited. The children, the little girl hanging from the boys foot, were set swinging by the motion of their own rope. At a given moment she would swing herself free, and her father would catch her. The boy was ready to follow her. The air seemed tense till the feat was safely accom- Iplished.
 Then, through one of the clerestory windows, hardly distinguishable from the dust and shadow up there, flew--a Ibat. Limelight had been turned on the figures in the roof, and the blind,
 blundering thing drifted toward the lglare on the white tights of the man.
 People, if they saw 1t at all, looked at lit with Ianguid curiosity. "Jesu! Maria! It was less than a sigh, but, glaneing
 at the woman acrobat. I was startled Unto comprehension. Never have I seen such anguish in human face. "Jesu! IMaria!" The bat blundered nearer and
 nearer. To be sure, the least error In Icalculation meant a horrible calamity; and what of the dull thing with its wings of leather flashing into the face of the acrobat?
 Then-there was a roar of applause. The pretty things had made the leap in safety. They were coming down. The sensational part of the performance was over. The woman stood erect, pale as death but radiant. saw her lips move. Her eyes were altar-fires. Fol lowing their direction, I saw the bat waver overhead minute and then go | nut in tho niubt K a tha rine TVOaO in