Putnam patriot., 1909-05-14


 study and next in line for the star place in the bill.
 Well Barker has put her into the leap of death stunt, ain't hefr con. tinued the brunette. Course that ain't regular circus act,r she added, somewhat modified. and so far she's had to dress with the freaks. but the next thing we know hell be ringin' her in on a regular stunt and be put. tin her in to dress with us"
 No danger of thai" sneered the blond. Barker is too old stager to mix up his sheep and his goatss
 Polly had again lost the thread of the conversation Her mind Lad gone rowing to the night when the fright. eaed girl about whom they were talk ing had made her first appearance in the circus lot. elinging timidly to the hand of the man whc had just made her his wife Her eyes had met Pol- ly's win look of appeal that had eone straight to the ehild's simple heart
 4 few nights later the newcomer had allowed herself to be strapped into the cumbersome eIeap If death machine which hurled itself through space Tt eaeh performance and flung itself down wffh force enough to break tBe rprk ef ane nnskiIed rider. ceur- ] age ard sfeady nerve were the raaai- sites for the job. 90 the manager had said. hut any physician would have told hia that only trained acrobat eeuid iong endure the nervous stfain the mus ular tension and the physical rack ef such an ordeal
 What matfer9 The few dollars earned in this WAY would mean I great deal to the mother whom the eirz's marriage had ieft desolate
 PnllT had locked on hungrily the nj thaf tlle mother had taken fhe daal her ia her arms to say farewell ia ha little country town where the cifees hgd pfa8fa hefefe her marrisge. sNe eeu'd remember 10 woman's arms ahouf her, fof f was fourteen years since tender hands had carried her mother from the performers tent Into the moenit lot to die. ThP baby was
 
 self wearily on the ground after com ing ont of the .blg top exhausted that she crept to the woman's side. as usual. that night and gazed laughinglv into fhe sightless efes. gurgling and prattling and stroking the unrespon sive face. There were tears from those who watched, but no word was spoken.
 Clown Toby and the big ''boss can yasman" Jim had always taken turns amusing and guarding little Polly while her mother rode in the ring. So Toby now carried the babe to another side of the lot. and Jim bore the life less body of the mother to the distant ticket wagon. now closed for the night. and laid 1t upon the sellers cot.
 .'It's allus like this in the end" he vas over the white face and turned away to give orders to the men who were beginning to load the .sprops" used earlier in the performance.
 When the show moved on that night 1t was Jim's strong arms that lifted the mite of Polly close to his stal wart heart and climbed with her 10 the high seat on the head wagon. In cle Toby was intrusted with the brown satchel in which the mother had al ways carried Polly's scanty wardrobe. It seemed to these two men that the eyes of the woman were fixed steadily upon them.
 Barker. the manager. large, noisy. good natured fellow. at first munbled something about the kid being ''exeess baggage but his objections were only half hearted. for. like the others. he was already under the hypnotic spell of the baby's round. confiding eyes and he eventually contented himself with an occasional reprimand to Toby. who was now sometimes late on his tues. Polly wondered at these times why the old mans stories were so sud denly cut short just as she was so comfy in the soft grass at his feet. The boys who used to look sharp because of their boss at loading time now learned that they might loiter so long at sMuvver Jim" was "hikfn' fl rourd for the kid.v It was Polly who had dubbed big Jim "Muvver." and tha Ss briquet had stuck to him in spite of his six feet two and shoulders that an athlete might have envied. Little by little Toby grew more stopped. and small lines of anxiety crept into the brownish circles beneath Jim's eyes. the lips that had once shut so firmly became tender and tremulous. but nei ther of the men would willingly have gone back 10 the old emptiness.
 1t was a red letter day in the cir GUS when Polly first managed to climb up on the pole of an uuhifched wagon and from there to the back of friend ir Shetland pony. Jim and Toby had been --neclectin' her eddieatiou.v they declared. and from that time on the blood of Polly's ancestors Was gwen full encoura cement
 Barker was quick 10 grasp the ad- vaata.e of aaaiag the kid to the daily Esarade. she made her nrSt appear, ance in the streets upon somethins very like Newfoundland aeg- guard ea from she rear by Jim and from tAe fare sv white faced ciewn who was thought to Le all the fuDnIea because t.. twisted hls neck so much
 From the street parade to Poly first apgearnnee in the big t.p had seemed a sassrf while 10 Jim and Ieby Tnes were proud io see her eiscltn< the ring in brsel1 eoioTs sad f9 h~as the cheers of the s,e0p.a. bas q seA-se of Ices xss upoa tsseEn-
 T always said shed do its rTscfs