Ottumwa tri-weekly courier., 1912-08-17

dCTOSS lOIS. NduCy tIuA1uAcA AoA ooAA'
go.cart, in which the gray kitten com
fortably sat. He had his best blue
ribbon around his neck, and he knew
that darling Nancy wanted. him to
stay still, SO he lay on the cushions
and purred and blinked his green eyes
ref1ectively at the great yellow Angora
who trotted beside little Bella Dunn
and never looked to the right or left
In the middle Of the parade walked
Tony, the old hand-organ man, with
his monkey, Beppo. Tony played his
best tunes, and Mr. Beppo frisked
along as II he understood about the
little white-faced babies. Behind
Tony marched Roy Patterson with q
wheelbarrow, In which was Polly Par
rot's cage. Polly shrieked out greet
ing to every one she saw, with polite
request for cracker.
A very fat little boy dragged wagon
in which were box Of rabbits. His
cart was adorned with the sign, BUY
q rabbit for fifty cents and help the
babies!" And after the show he
proudly gave Janet three big half
dollars.
A red-haired, freckle-faced lad grave.
ly displayed small mud turtle, while
a ting negro boy felt very badly be-
cause the girls refused to march If he
carried green snake on his arm, so
Janet let him ride her beloved Dia-
mond, and she stood with the big peo-
pie, who reviewed the procession. She
felt repaid when she saw the look Of
rapture on the little black face.
After the parade the girls all wanted
to buy candy and lemonade, while
the boys teased for rides on Star and
Diamond, who ambled good naturedly
up and down the long avenue with
their happy passengers.
The most exciting event of the day
was the performance of the trained
animals. Aunt Lucia Conant, who
loved both little folk and animals
dearly, announced she would give a
prize of five dollars to the cleverest
performer.
Polly Morse was certainly wonder
full with her gray squirrel. She put
a nut between her teeth, and the little
fellow frisked fearlessly onto her
shoulder, pulled it out, ran off and ate
it, and then came back for another.
Richard next appeared with two
dainty white mice, who were fully as
tame as Polly's squirerl. They walk
ed tight rope stretched between two
chairs, and then dived into their mas
ter's pocket for lump of sugar.
Then old Major capered into the
ring with a big rubber ball in his
mouth. William threw the ball first
high, then low, but 1t always handled
in Majors mouth. Major liked to
play ball as much as any wide-awake
boy. After the ball game he played
dead and refused to come to life un-
til William whistled. Then he bark
ed once for his flag, twice for the
president, and three times for his
country. He wagged his great tail
when the children clapped and jumped
up and kissed Williams face with his
dripping pink tongue.
"Now waltz, old fellow. waltz"
pleaded William. Major did not like
this trick, and he looked steadily at
the boy with his soft, brown eyes.
"Waltz for the babies." said his mas
ter, crisply.
And this time the big dog stood up
on his hind legs and took few steps,
then ran barking off into the crowd.
Nancy and the gray kitten came
last. First she dressed the gentle
pussy in doll clothes. The little girls
ohed and ahed at the sight Of cat
in q white cap with strings and pink
silk cape The gray kitten couldn't
play ball, but, after Nancy had pulled
off the baby clothes, he jumped
through hoops and sprang for piece
of meat which Nancy held high up in
the air. g..
Then Nancy held out a bunch of
envelopes to Janet. "Will you please
write your names on these as Janet
passes them around?"
Everybody looked surprised, but
wrote their names as they were asked.
Only Janet wrote "Mr Gray Kitten" on
hers Then all the envelopes were
thrown down in heap before the gray
kitten who promptly picked out the
one addressed to him. Nancy took it
triumphantly.
William, will you put them down
again." she asked sweetly.
William laid them down carefully
and put the gray kittens letter at the
bottom Of the pile. But pussy knew his.
He pushed the others aside and seized
his own letter again.
Wonderful" cried everybody, and
Aunt Lucia smilingly held out five
dollar bill to Nancy.
Nancy shook her head and stood on
tiptoe to whisper secret Aunt Lucia
laughed until Janet's mother passed