New-York tribune., 1907-08-17
FRESH AIR FUND CIRCUS.
"Stufy" Takes Part of One Of the
C[Ozcns and Wakes Up Lame.

"Stuffy' the fattest boy at Ashford Hill, the
Tribune Fresh Air homs at Ardsley. turned over
I'm bed yesterday morning and emitted smothered
groan.
Say, but I'm lame" he murmured. then went
to sleep and slept till the rising bell rang at 6
o'clock.
''Stuffy,' who got his name because of the guam
tity of bread, meat and milk that he puts within
himself at mealtme. and who the Caretakers say
has gained pound day since he has been at
the homo. was lame, because of his work as one
of the clowns in the fourth annual circus. which
was held at the home Thursday afternoon. When
yesterday after breakfast he was quite will
ing TO talk about the fete of the day before
Say. but it great" his preliminary re-
mark. ice cream and peanuts and all de lemonade
we could drink. ! mean If bought it. Yer see,
have money at Ashford Hill, not real money
but made OF paper that gets for cIeanin' up de
yard and doin' such things. / earnt 10 cents last
week and spent it all fer peanuts and lemonade
yesterday. and anudder boy earned 10 cents, and
some of the der little kids what couldn't earn
none had theirs given to 'em so they'd get some
thin ter eat, too. An I guess the circus part
was comm some. too. I'll bet Barnum & Bailey
amt got 1t much on us, and that feller Garceline
or whatever his name is. ought ter us fellers
to find out what real stunts are
An yer ought to the animals. There wuz
an elephant. little yer know. an er lion
and whole stacks of bears that did tricks. Mr.
Fox our teacher. was rngmaster. an told 'em
what TO do. He had a big red coat and high
nat an q whip, an he made 'em lay down an
stan on der heads an dance and turn somersets
an yer ought to of de girls dance. Dey
wuz dressed all fancy like Turks or somethin like
mat and the way they spun round would made
de real Turks set up an take notice.
An maybe de parade want fine First came de
polcemen and den de clowns wild NE at de head
an de dancin' girls and de animals an de freaks
Some of dem was funny dough. One was an up
sidedown man wild his shoes on his hands and
ms hat on his feet Anudder wuz a mermaid
Ya6 F1fx
anudder wuz a fat woman that looked as dough
she wuz blowed wid wind and an armless wonder
Ter had ter pay a penny ter see them, but / got
in free after I'd done my stunts.
DE funniest ring dough. wuz Nora what helps
round de kitchen. She's fatteT'n an said she
wuz going ter walk de tightrope She climbs de
ladder ter de top at a post starts ter get on
de rope when "A policeman walks up ter her an
asks II she had her license. She hadn't none. an
so she came down an everybody laughed. Ye sec
it wuz just joke dat Mr. Austin had fixed up wid
Nora But some O. de women from New York
watchn thought she really goin' to walk it
and turned dere heads away. 'fraid dey'd see her
when she fell Maybe de laugh want on them
dough
We had Jap acrobats: real ones too After all
We fellers had done stunts. Sassy, he's de cook
climbed up two ropes most to de top a big
tree an made de girls wild de way he
turned round. Miss La Fan part de show
too She pretended 10 be gypsy fortune teller
an was In tent dressed all in long red coat
dat IT cost ter get in. She said de folks 10
home fought dat 1 a lot. I'd like know
how she found dat out. cause it's true ma $
always talkiu about
"Anudder stunt de- Jap tea room. 1t wuz in
a little house dat had been fixed out branches
an things, an right in the middle was a water
fall Course IL want real. but it looked pretty
good. II made out o. injun meal spread over 4
rock dat Sassy found worms in an had ter throw
away. an right by de falls wuz a table where yer
sat ter drink yer tea. Dere wuz two big cans
full 1t brought in 10y de Japs what helps
Sassy. fixed all up fancy"
From another source II was learned that ice
cream for the fete given tn the children by
Miss J. *. Fraser of Hastings. Among those who
watched the performance were Miss Fraser Dr.
Holbrook. of Dobbs Ferry; DR. Devins. the man
ager Of the fund. and several guests invited
from New York.