The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1905-09-28

eH VIZ 49,. H~'f'"Hf f@N@ G"~~~r--
ann arch ~ wide as street and as
high as q church nave. A chorus the
sixe Of q regiment had formed In rank
on q stage - big a. public square.
The conductor Of an orchestra ~
large a. military band rose In white
sweater and tapped for silence with
his baton. "Now boys he said, "the
first tune yon play In The houses The
Star spaneled Banner In B-hat. B.natl
Now thenl" The orchestra rose In q
body. The conductor, on his podium.
raised his arms a. u about to ay. And
suddenly. on the silence Of that empty
shell Of q theatre the notes Of hun.
dred instruments struck In q tremu.
lou, unison and set the mir pul.ing
XDh the throb Of the melody.
The chorus and stage hands and ballet,
and the carpenters as well as the dec.
orators on their scaifoldings, the elee.
tricians on their ladders, the plasterers
In the lobby, and the little group Of
lookers.on In the orchestra chairs
checrcd and waved their hats and
whistled through their fingers. You
would have thought II was the signing
OF another Declaration OF Independence
and the ringing Of another Liberty
hell.
But when the iast high note had
shrilled out into silence, and the last
persistent cheer had stopped In y self
conscious laugh. "Sliyers" sat down
with his worried frown unrelicyed
Besides" he went on. I've got TO make
my entrance In some kind OF fool
automobile that blows up, and don't
know any more about running an au
tomobile than nm elephant knows about
eggs. I've never had any discrimina.
tion In killing people. either. I'm just
likely's not 10 run over the star. her.
self, first night" lie rubbed his fore.
head. "it'll bc worse than Punch and
the pcrsimmons"
"Sliver' had made his name as
circus clown and the ways Of the stage
were strange 10 him. BE sighed.
"And who was Punchi"
Punch" he answered In a tone OF
reminesence and mild regret, "was a
tom.cat In the shape OF baby elc.
phant. ! wish at | had him now. He'd
be better than this trick automobile
full Of fireworks, anyhow" He added
Il wish't Id taken a Job was offered
me once-running a steam roller on
macadum road. Itd only run one way,
30 they always used II on up hill Jobs
and let II back down Of itself That
was the part Of the business that wasn't
cushion tired. You had TO hang on TO
the smoke stack and let her rip till she
brought up against something that was
hard. But It'd a been a good training
for this stunt"
There was no indication In his lean
face that he was conscious Of any hu.
NOR In this suggestion. His eyes were
elxed sadly on a chorus of milkmaids,
IN street costumes, dancing and pir.
cNet2ng around tht stage with the
mechanical air Of rehearsal.
did you own him--the elephant Z"
PUNCH He shook his head. II
worked with him-but Burke owned
him Wally Burke and Burke was
half elephant himself, and half Hindu |
and the rest Irish. Did you ever see |
In one OF those fat China humpty.
dumps, they keep In wash. house with |
long black moustache and a waist
like watermelon' Wally Burke was
the only original Of them all.
And what was II that happened
with the persimmonsi"
lie thought Il over. "We were down |
south with Morris's--with n one ring
show. And Burke and the elephants
were all the animals we had. except
two old maid lionesces that were too
feeble to do knitting We used to use
their den for the band.wagon, with
seats on top. They were no good, those
two sissies. When we lost Hinch-
thatd used to blow the big bass tuba
we tried 10 get the lions TO roar In
where Hinch used to come In on the
tune; but You couldn't squeeze roar
out of those two old women short of
putting through clothes wringer. BE.
sides, Burke wouldn't prod 'em up.
"fie had some sort of a Hindu no.
tion about treating the brutes with
decorum, the same as II they knew
when you didn't take Of your lid TO
them and say 'Please.'And after Punch
and hind do their turn with me in the
ring, he'd thake that leather skinned
....x m