Evening star., 1921-10-02

show-Pink, especially. Come to thinR
of it. he must have stood in with me
thought Of that until this minute! Come
to think of it. did push him along
pretty fast, rushing him up from can
vas man to what you might call my
general assistant in half season. But
Oily was handy man and he could
way. He had a brain, and he creased
the trouble-paths with it SO things slid
easily.
I've got to drive around the block
Maybe you'll bring her to mind with
out my telling you any more II say
her ring name is Princess Cara. Yes,
thought you'd remember her She was,
just the best little handler of the big
cats we ever had. and one of the best
the world has produced. There's lot
Of bunk about handling the big cats.
and there's q lot that isn't bunk. Those
who think any one like Pink Is IN
mortal danger every minute she Is in
the big cage have 1t an ,,,srs wrong; g.. ana NO
safe In the cage with the big cats as
they would be at homo in bed are Just
as wrong. You get one Of the trainers
to strip-get any Of them to strip-and
you won't find one that is not SCARED
ings to her wrists is because one arm
In SO marred the public would turn sick
to see 1t. One OF the cats clawed her
there. The truth IL that the cats have
their days. Some days they are as
sweet as pigeons. and again they are
as mean as rattlesnakes. Some days
one will be cross and all the rest will
behave like little angels; another day
they will all be cantankerous; another
day they will all be good. Once in a
while you'n find cat that is good all
1 remember, when was a kid on
my fathers farm. we had a bull that
was SO sweet-teInpered q chipmunk
could push it out Of the way. Pink had
Hnn iion eet With nse mat 1aa of beard and M name M
and big yellow eyes and the sweetest
temper any brute ever had. III tell
you what he was like: He was like
one Of those big. heavy-haired orators
they grow out Eest Who ,Ss, stana up on
howl and look grand and ferocious and
then go home and eat half q soup-plate
of milk toast and call It q full meal.
That was like old Leo. He was a star
poser. He was the noblsst cat l ever
saw. did the lion-rampant act to per-
lection. yowled like blood-thirsty
hyena, and never even acted annoyed
except when he had eaten too many
chocolate creams and felt satiated. I
believe that II he hadn't been ashamed
to be seen doing It. he would have
eaten hay instead Of meat.
All this did not make Pink dislike
Leo. He was the darling of her
heart. You don't require q collie dog
to be ill-tempered in order to love it,
TO be ferocious to keep Pink's love.
She just about worshiped that dear
old lion. She used to call him her
big boy and her big baby and other
when she retired from the sawdust
ring she would take Leo with her.
no matter what happened to her
other big cats I told her q couple
Of things about Manhattan tanitors
and and Xhat M. they sS would think Of Sf lap
pony and looked as fierce as he
wasn't. but Pinkey said she had about
as much use for q nat IN Manhattan
as for q submarine. and that when
little farm on a Catskill hillside with
q good timber-lot where Leo could
roam around-and eat beechnuts,
suppose, and lie down with Pinky's
fierce for company for the dear old
cat!
IVES, Pink was q nice girl, and the
act she pulled OF In the big ring
cage at each performance was all 1t
was cracked up to be on the big
posters. She had all the bfg-cat
stunts and some she had invented on
her own hook, and when she stepped
into the cage in her short spangled
skirt and her ribboned sandals, with
her short buli-whip in one hand and
q reliable forty-four in the other.
she always made . hit. She had
big lot OF brown hair and a way Of
doing It up with q little red-and gold
turban on top Of It that made her
look like . real queen Of beauty, and
she was all that and moro. She had
q heart Of solid gold.
don't know just when Oily made
himself prominent in her notice first.
I think the first she ever thought of
him was with annoyance. He wor-
ried her Leo terribly. Leo had the
same feelings toward Oily that every
other animal had, and when Oily
would pass Leo's cage, tho dear old
thing would just yowl with rage. He
would bounce around the cage and
ner. He would jump at the bars
and bite them and get ALI worked up
he would fairly Weep and the tears