The Forrest City times., 1905-12-08

| face. it was SO red ho., but he learned q lesson, for I saw him holding tired mcthcr's baby up on his shoulders. SO l it coIld see the drove of camels come up t0 the lot from the train. soon after. If was great to see all the tents go up as if raised by machinery, and after all were erected, and the rings were graded, and the animals in the menagerie tent all fed and watered, and the performers in the dressing room ready for the afternoon perform. ] ance. pa was the proudest man ever was He walked all around, inspect ing everything. and kicking occasion ally at something that got balled up, and when the crowd came 10 buy tick cts, he stood around the grand en- trance. looking wise and he was so good natured that hs bet ten dollars | he could guess which walnut shell a bean was under which a three-card monte man was losing money at, and pa lost his ten With q smile. He said he wanted To be kind to the patrons Of the show.
 This was my first appearance in the show business had to stand mp beside the giant 10 show how lit- tie was, and then I had 10 stand up beside the midget to show how big l was compared with him. It ! went al right with the giant. be- eause he was so bis I was afraid of him, but I thought the midget was about my age. and needed protection, and when the crowd surged around IS said: Don't be afraid. little fellow, viii see that no one harms you" The look he gave me was enough to freeze water
 When the crowd had gone into the big show tent, what do you think, that confounded midget began to ask me how l stood on the tariff ques- tion, and he argued for free trade, whatever that is. for half an hour, and made me think of Bryan dur ing campaign. and then he branched off on to the Monroe doe Urine, which I suppose is something connected with a rival show. and I guess he would be talking yet, only a big. husky fellow came along. a fel- low about 2 years old and he stooped over and put his hand on the mldgets shoulder and said Hello. dad" and by gosh, the midget introduced me to the big galoot as his youngest son. Wouldn't that skin you.
 The first day of the season was great, only all the performers had not pot linn hara1 nn nno ae .la girls on the flying trapeze fell off into the net from the roof of the tent and broke her suspenders. so when they got her down in tho ring 1t seemed as though every thing she had on was going to shuck loose, and leave her with nothing but string of beads, and pa went up to wrap his coat around her, and she kicked his hat off and ran into the dressinsro The audience just yelled, and pa blushed scarlet. cause he saw it was put-up job to make 1 him ridiculous
 During the chariot races pa had 1 to jump like box car to keep from being run over by a
 iC4t A4Oi sN Nlidi 4Cl ui lNtu Dl d one horse girl, and the attendants dragged pa out from under bunch of horses being ridden barebacked like fury. Then two horses hitched together with strap were being ridden by a
 woman, the strap broke and the horses | spread apart. and some one yelled that she had split clear in two Pa rushed | in to help carry one half of her into the dressngroom. but she wasn't
 hurt at all. cause the peanut boy l told me she was a rubber wom- an, and you could stretch her half
 way across the ring. and she would come together all right. and eat a hearty meal. Gee, but q circus is a | great place to study human nature.
 In the evening performance at Peoria
 there came up a Windstorm which blew down part of the menagerie tent,
 where the freaks were, and when the
 storm was over, and the tent top was
 pulled up again. they found pa all
 right. He started to crawl under the
 canvas, and skip out for fear of the
 animals but the fat lady caught him
 and sat down on him.