Evening journal., 1911-12-22
FLEAS In
MANY STUNTS
Push WheeIbarrOW, Carry
Armor and JuggIe Football,
That's True
UNLIKE MAN, The
FAMILY HATES TOBACCO

Come. Reuben, hurry up; not so
fast, Marcus; hey, you Peary and Doc
Cook. can't you pull together without
fighting?" thus were encouraged or
reproved the performers in a unique
vaudeville show that is now exhibiting
at No. 2l5 Market street The actors
were trained feas, about the size Of
two pinheads, hitched to vehicles
about a thousand times their own
bulk and several hundred times their
own weight. Cook and Peary were
hitched to a cute little inch long gold
wagon, carrying the North Pole for
a load. Caesar and Pompey hauled
an equally diminutive gold cannon:
Reuben was pushing a half inch high
gold tricycle., and Marcus was streak
ing it behind a gold wheelbarrow. 1t
was a race; Caesar and Pompey pull
ed steadily and industriously at their
cannon; Marcus made the wheelbar-
row progress in a zigzag, spasmodic
way; Reuben refused to budge and
Ben hur, with his chariot lay dormant
until the rest had nearly passed the
Judges stand, and then by meteoric
squirt won the race.
LIVE IN PEARL HOME.
Professor Heckler patted Ben Hur
on the back with a pair of pincers, in
sign of approval. and sighed as he
put the sulky Reuben back into his
Inother-of-pear box on a cotton wool
bed. His tiny actors have as much
artistic temperament as human actors,
the professor finds, and being covered
from head to foot with armor, they
don't care much whether moral or
physical persuasion is used In their
case The chief part of their train
dng consists in teaching them not to
hop. They are placed IN narrow
glass tube. and every time they hop
they are brought up short and thump-
ed by tho glass. AS a flea can hop
q distance that if he We're the size OF
Ia man would be five miles, It takes
some time to get him out of the notion
and not all fieas can be taught not TO
top. When he learns to run decor
ously, gold collar is put around his
neck, to which a tiny inch-long wira
is attached, and he wears this har-
ness the remainder of his life, which
IS two or three years, usually. He
lives in a mother-of-Pearl hotel, box
filled with cottonwood In which his
feet get entangled so that he cannot
move around and wake tho other
boarders. II he is working he is fed
twice a day, otherwise only once, and
he lieves on human blood, rs animal
fleas cannot be trained. The flea
family hates tobacco.
At the beginning of his stake career,
the flea is put under magnifying
glass and his personal character and
talents studied to see which branch
W his profession is best suited to his
HspoSttfoR II his six legs paw the
air persis6ntly and forcibly, he viii
make godd juggler or football play
err. II a certain gracefulness ahd
rhythmic motion is observed when the
soft strains of a phonograph burst
upon his ear. the flea will be star
dancer. If he appears to be an extra
strong and muscular specimen, he is
made a teamster. with his wagon
hitchcd TO him all the rest of his life.
"Paddyr From Dublin.
One flea in the show. Paddy from
Dublin. trotted around the white pa
per stage waving a green flag. Ru-
dolph Won Hapsburg, a Belgian, fur
nished the motive power for a merry
kN-IOulh Nldht Nl VI wv Wy eoeN'f
n cat, and "a dog. Rudolph was the
biggest and strongest actor I'm the
collection of 300 fieas, he was a per-
feet Jumbo. fully as large as three
pinheads.
Prince Henry. held upside down in
the air upon his wire, cleverly
caught hold Of a football a hundred
fines his size. and iuggled Il around.
After that. Cousin Charlie, the only
American fea In the collection. which
Is imported from Europe, played foot
ball kicking the object a number Of
times his own length that would nave.
meant several miles for a man. He
had the most brains of any flea there.
Professor Heckler says feas have
more intelligence than chickens, but
that isn't saying much.
The performance closed with a bal
let when Sallie, Rubinstein, Rose,
William and dozen others, dressed
I'm bright colored paper hoopskirts,
danced to the phonograph at a lively
rate.
One OF the audience remarked that
q plain flea was bad enough, but he
would hate 10 get a flea on him that
was juggling alls or hauling a
wagon. However, Professor Heckler
had them all securely hitched to wires,
90 they couldn't get away.