The independent-reporter., 1909-09-30

toy wAa lived n ths csanirs sua
bad - rhurn "a ihe mcsuznr seflfs
going - seaeoi sIfh tie Old fashIaut.a
dash ts9fns u .o1 aete uoi a4a
sofry Ter yoa lea hste missed sotaa
Of 'he hes' ihiurs q -
OF course the. Was ~. double
headed cali ms arst great dlnai#
ro.utmeut II look t.u cents % ihaf
quarter 20 80 The fax ! tbiuk fha'
Nas the FIRST iimo that ! vas .vef
really knowingly deceived Ms eyes
we're blk with wonder az weui IA
The man had told me that the actual
calf ~as there. ! presume he had
seem 10 me now that the man could
have been bad enough to tell me that
the calf was alive. When got In.
there was the little speck up In the
corner-you have all seen It: you
have all been fooled. There was q
likeness 10 a calf. He did have two
heads. but the seams in his skin that
had been made by some not very
careful sewing were all too visible to
even my childish eyes.
From another tent came the strains
of the violin. | stayed around the
tent a long time before | decided to
part with another nickel of my mon
ey to see the man who they said was
making that music, although both
hands had been shot off at the wrist.
The music finally drew me in, and
this time l was not deceived, neither
was | cheated. To see and talk with
the man who was making all that
sweet music and who was bright,
cheerful and happy. though both
hands had been literally shot off in
the Civil war that was then forty
years nearer to us than it is now!
And on this occasion I listened for
the first time to that rapid rigmarole
of the geuine fakir. | remember ev-
cry word of his call today, after for
ty years, more plainly than l remem-
Der anything that was in this morn
ings paper:
Walk up, each and all, great and
small; the high, the low; the big, the
little; the thick and thin; tough and
tender, slick and slender-All for the
small sum of a dime. A dime will
neither make, break nor set any man
up in business; although it has made
many a man rich and driven many
man to ruini"
| stood entranced listening to that
mans language. l thought it the
most brilliant thing l had ever heard;
and, before | had given up the other
ten cents of my quarter to see what
was inside, l had learned his speech,
and have given it to you word for
word as | heard it that day. 1t was
one of the best little shows l ever
saw. There was lion, and what I
know about lions l think | learned
that day. There was the rocky
mountain goat; l never saw a better
specimen. There was a wild cat
from Mexico and man turning
handsprings, and trick horse, some
dogs, and, last but not least, the
genial Dan Ducello. When speaking
or thinking of circuses and showmen,
Dan Ducello stands out far and above
any other man l have ever known or
heard of.
Well, l still had few pennies that
my father had given me to spend in
side the fair ground. | had up to the
present time only spent the quarter
that 1 should have paid at the gate,
had gone in regularly. There were
peanuts to buy, an orange-there
never was such another orange.
saved every bit of the peel, and long
before the day was over that had been
eaten; and there was candy. In those
days ten cents would buy a lot of
peanuts and candy.
But | have not told you about the
big pavilion and all of the things that
were on exhibition there. The thing
remember most clearly was the
knitting machine. | had never seen
or heard of any such thing. My
mother. my sister and my grand
mother, my aunts and all of the wo-
of their spare time knitting. Upon
this knitting machine one could knit
more in five minutes than all the peo-
pie | knew could knit in a whole
EVENING" | was intensely interested
in it, in fact more interested than
the man who had it on exhibition. He
kept going away every little while and
leaving the machine; and l came
around so often and stayed so long
that finally he left it in my care.
knitted yards and yards of stocking
legs. l forgot that stockings had feet
as we'll as legs, demonstrating TO the
interested onlookers the wonders of
that invention.
Then there were the quilts and
rugs; and thank God, as l write, my
feet are on one of those same rugs;
and many times at night now l sleep
under one of those self same quilts.
The people who made those quilts