Grainger County news. (Rutledge, Tenn.) 1917-current, 1919-05-22
Mothers of Men
n
BY N CRoEsBECK
Copyright

The hot, g~Ood-natured crowd pushed
slowly past the living skeleton and the
latest woman In the world, past the
footing, gaudy calliOpe, under the
nose of the derby-hatted young man in
shirt-sleeves with fog-horn voice, and
into the tent containing the greatest
show on earth.
The circus wagons, bright spots of
color and tinsel, shlmmered under the
hot August sun.
The great white tent spread its
glare of canvas over what had been a
green field, and about it, like strange
chickens of a stranger mother, clus-
tered the booths of worlds wonders,
the candy and lemonade stands, and
the camp of 1.-THE only cannlbals living
in captivity"
Beyond 1t, stralning at its ropes like
a living thing, ~strangest wonder of
them all, rose the shining dome of u
balloon.
In this, that very afternoon, the
daring %aeronaut, Signor Mello Mellini,
would make his nerve-paralyzing as
cent, as before the crowned heads of
the world.
A bell rang sharply In the Enclosure,
signaling the time when the great pro-
cession of wonders was to begin its
triumphal march before the wondering
eyes of the audience.
Its sound had hardly ceased, when
a boy entered, a yellow envelope in
his hand, calling laconically:
"Ryerson, Ryerscn, telegram for
Ryerson !"
AT the summons, a strange figure
rose from a corner of the Enclosure.
It's race vas painted into q perpetual
grin, its head was bald and shining,
save for the regular occurrence of
bright yellow spots, it's costume was
white and baggy, and it's feet were
long and Tapping, like some impos-
sible animal.
I'm Ryerson," said the clown.
Give us the wire"
The boy handed it over, together
with a stub of pencil for recent sig
nature, and made off.
Ryerson opened the envelope and
read Its contents. His first start was
OF amazement, and then, as he re-read
the message, his face, under its paint
ed grin, became set in hard lines. The
literal, Unconditional telegraph had
brought him:
w get turned out of the house to-
day at five. Can't you do nothing?
FATHER"
Utterly at a loss, he walked vacant
~ around the Enclosure, his great feet
Tapping on the ground.
The second bell rang, and the living
contents of the Enclosure seemed to
throw itself through a flap in the can
vas, TO be greeted with a clatter of an
plause from the tiers of human faces
around the ring.
He did not know they had gone.
His one realization was of an old man
and an old woman, fifty miles away in
the village of Lynburg, who that
very afternoon were to lose the only
shelter they had.
Cant you do nothing?" The words
seemed to burn his poor brain. A
harsh voice broke in on him.
you RyersOn, beat it into the rineI
Get on the job, quick I"
1t was Mainwaring, the proprietor.
jeweled, and hard as nails, who had
hustled through the Enclosure, and was
gone as quickly as he had come.
Ryerson, distracted with anxiety,
walked not INTO the tent, but Il he
hind 1t. Before him was the proprie-
tors wagon.
He hesitated a moment and. as the
vision of his fathers scanned old face
to him, glanced quickly round
him, ran clumsily up the movable
and into the wagon.
MainWaring's small desk stood be-
FORE him. He ran to it. 1t was locked.
It was only a chance, at best, but IN
desperation he struck its front q blow
with his clenched fist, and the fimsv
affair came apart under his hand.
He threw up the flap, rummaged
through the papers, opened
lraWer after drawer, until he ham
)ened upon a familiar leather-bound
purse. He opened it, his eyes glisten-
ng amid the cracking paint, counted
he contents rapidly, and crowded IT
ntO an inner pocket.
In a moment more he was on the
ground outside the wagon, unobserved.
A church steeple rose over the trees
It the end of the field. 1t was three
He had acted on impulse, and ;
IS he realized with a sinking of the
Ieart, in vain.
He could never reach Lynburg in
hours. He looked round him like ,
hunted animal. AS he did so. a ,
bought struck his driven brain like I
n inspiration. The balloon! y
He knew balloons, having made an {
OCCASIONAL ascension to help out a
b%alloonlst during a former