Little Falls herald. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1889-1950, 1918-02-08

performed their share of the function,
two members of the circus band, play
! ing comets, appeared on the scene,
and, keeping march time to the march
they delivered, the clowns daughter,
all radiant with tulle and tinsel, drove
slowly into the ring seated in her
gilded chariot, white ribbon lines
guiding the two snowy ponies.
And then, the wonder Of wonders for
Eva, into the ring bounded the clown.
Oh, but he was funny! and oh, the
rapturous delight of Eva and the out
side audience, as Napoleon Bonaparte
came upon the scene, the gifted, trick
mule who chased his master in cir
Gle, toppled him over the ropes, threw
him off his back and danced about
him on his own hind feet! j..
Never was so much delight crowded
into the space of single hour, and
the child wonder Of the white ponies
came into the room where Eva was,
and kissed her, and presented her
with q great overlooking bag Of pea
nuts, pop corn and candy, and the
clown made a speech to Eva's factor"
friends, and the air rang with the &C
carnations of the juvenile group.
$50 you're back from your grand
philanthropic excursion, are you?"
hailed the ringmaster, as the clown
reappeared on the circus grounds.
Eyes, what's your interest, Espey?"
challenged the clown keenly. "Say,
you're not by any means the gruf old
bear you pretend to be, and if you had
seen all the good a little attention to
the poor and lowly has worked out,
you'd come out of that close shell OF
yours. Look here, I've given pass
to that odd dozen amateur actors for
tomorrow night. See that it's hon
ored, will your"
"What about the six dollars and fifty
cents? OF course you got that"
"Sure 1 did," acknowledged the open
hearted clown frankly, ''and added as
much more to it, and donated the
whole of it to buy an invalid chair for
the little MISS" and then he was quite
amazed at the persistency Of the ring
master in betraying an interest in de-
tails of the incident of the afternoon,
even to the location of the widows
home.
At dusk that evening Gurdon Espey
left the circus grounds after carefully
placing bank note in an envelope. He
sought out the scene Of the amateur
circus of the afternoon and the home
of Mrs. Daniels adjoining. He was
almost stealthy as he advanced up the
garden path. The front door was
closed, but light streamed broadly
across the middle of the porch, al
though it was in shadow.
Espey crept up the steps on tip toe
He stopped down, drew out the en-.
velope and attempted to push it under
the door, but this set so closely shut
that the interstices would not admit
the envelope.
"What is it, please?" spoke a voice
startling Espey quite, and strainins
, his vision, he made out feminine
form rising from chair.
IT fancy I am detected! :" and he hall
| laughed in an embarrassed way. 81
am one of the circus men, madam, anC
tot of yours, that we want to make il
} easier for her, and I was leaving 9
trifie-'
There Gurdon Espey paused. There
directly in front of the window, bOtf
had come to halt. The full radiance
from the lamplight within flooded theil
faces They were stunned at the I'm
expected confrontment - man ant
wife!
"Gurdon !" died upon the lips Of thu
woman, and she wavered and wa:
; forced to steady herself By graspint
the porch rail.
) "Alice!" uttered the man, and tn!
habitual cynical expression left hi
face, and the glowing eyes told Of {
new soul aroused.
She shrank back. It was Under thu
memory of five years previous whe1
she had fed from this man as from :
pestilence, for soul and body wer'
given over to drink until she hat
feared for her life. She had bidder
} laway from him and now-he had fount
her.
4AHce!" he said, his tones tremu
llous, but not uncertain, @since the day
of your absence and that Of your deal
little one awakened me to q realiza
ton Of my utter unworthiness, no droI
of liqnor has passed my lips"
: ~Our little one," she corrected him
for she recognized in him the regen
Grated man.
MAY I come back?" he added, witt
a longing glance through the window
at a little white-robed form lying or
q trundle cot.
Her hands clasped, her eyes were
sunused, her care-worn, but still beau
tiful face booked up to him trustingly
hopeful, longingly.
"Oh, Gurdon ~ she sobbed, will you
come back to us?'