Americus times-recorder. [volume] (Americus, Ga.) 1891-current, 1911-02-26
ODD BLOTS OF AN IDLE PEN
Aching Hearts Hidden in GrOtGSquG PanOminG Produce
Touching Tragedy in Carnival That Attracted
Many to Americas Last Week
By Alan Rogers.
He was & Punchinello,
Sweet Columbine was she,
He loved the ground she danced on,
She laughed his love to see"

He was & Punchinello,
Sweet Columbine was she,
He loved the ground she danced on,
She laughed his love to see"
This is the true story of a little o.
currence at the ball park last week
where many shows, exhibitions, etc,
held high carnival and attracted many
amusement-lovers to Americas.
incidentally, this little narrative
speaks of a fathers love that lives far
behind the painted face of Pierrot
and the motherly instincts hidden deep
beneath a gown of tinsel, so fashioned
as to attract the public gaze, rather
than protect a nursing breast.
They belonged to one of the shows
at the carnival that dropped down ups
on Americas with the opening of last
week. And because they belonged to
the show business they belonged to
the public.
Now one of them painted his face
quite white with very red streaks that
made him most grotesque, like some
leftover portion of the recent Christ
mas pantomimes. All of which was
most unreasonable in the midst of the
raw February winds that swept over
this canvas village, leaving the guy
ropes of each and every tent tense
and taut as the halyards of yacht in
a whole gale.
But this sort of thing pleased the
public, made them laugh-and, as he
belonged to the public, more or less
why it was just as it should be, of
course.
She was much the same, except
that the painting was very different.
The makeup brush and pencil had
been called upon to renew and revive
the few remaining suggestions of d,
one-time girlhood that had lost that
touch of charm that belongs to inno-
cence and the belief that this world
and the people in it are just what they
should be.
The Only One Outside the Show
There was no attempt at the gro
tesque in her makeup for strangers do
not want this in a woman who has
even the most limited assets in the
way of some leftover forms of van,
ishing loneliness. So instead, her
dress was short where it should have
been long and low where it shouldhave
been high.
But then, as she, too, belonged 10
the show business-and mostly to the
public for the same reason-perhaps
it really did not matter.
However, there was another member
of this little company that was differ
ent, very, very much so.
This was a tiny baby.
And the baby did not belong to either
the show business or the public at
all.
1t belonged to purely, personally
them.
Because this was so, it was wrapped
in the kind of clothes that belong -oI
a baby and was the only naturally
dressed, natural looking member of
this troupe of three. All of which Was
easily accounted for by the fact that
the baby was in no way a part Of
or interesting to--the public in any
way although Americas has establish> !
ed a fame for generosity where the
atrical foundlings are concerned that
promises to rapidly become national, !
and with Nova Scotia as one of the
homesites directly interested, even
international
1t was late in the afternoon, just be- !
fore the performance In a little ten. J
which was the nearest approach TO |
a home of these two who belonged
mostly to the public-there was a ,
small oil stove. Before it, a variety Of
garments, mostly infantile, told its
own story of hardships and privations
of life on the road
When Parents Belong to the Public.
Bending over the sputtering wick
was the tinsel-gowned mother, nurs>
ing the child at her breast With her
back toward the opening of the tent,
beyond which stood gaping crowd, /
she occasionally threw a troubled
glance at the father playing the part
of a Pierrot with all of the grimaces !
and mimicry Of the comedian of the
saw-dust ring.
1t was still several minutes before
the opening Of the regular perform
ance and going back to the smoking /
stove the father took the baby in his
arms, and without a word, the mother
hurriedly banishing her anxious eX-
preston with a smile that was as
plainly artificial to the close observer
as it was intended to be attractiyeand