Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-05-05
CHAPTER V
Tears Turned 10 Laughter

sCOLD NOSE, the bear, halted in
front Of the bleak cottage whence
'seeme the sound of weeping and wailing.
Jack and Janet and the magician slid
Nfrom his back. Tne bros and Perky
4 Squirrel, who had followed them, perch :
j - on nearby fence posts and branches.
i 'Who are crying?" whispered Janet.
And what nre they crying about?'
Little children are crying an
tNefed the magician. "Iisten! Per-
Anps we shall learn what they are
fceying about
,n They kept quiet and listened. Amid
the weeping and the wailing they could
make out words.
sT want to 60 to the circus cried
one childish voice. ''Oh. why do
have to have the measles:"
II want to see the performing ami
mails" cried another childish voice
"Oh, why do have to have the
measles?"
II want. to laugh at the funny
GOWN cried third childish voice.
neasles?"
Then fourth voice spoke, a kind,
tired voice filed with sorrow.
"Oh, my poor sick children. don't
weep and wall There isn't any circus
TO 20 to. And IL there was n circus
We wouldn't have any money for tick
cts. SO don't make yourselves more
Ill and unhappy by crying for what
you cannot have"
The answer to this was fresh
Outburst of weeping and wailing. 1t
sounded so sad Jack and Janet felt
tears coming into their own eyes. They
sh. ,t,,l. -. IL.
with measles. They were sorry for
the poor tired mother.
The magician didn't look particularly
sorry. He was grinning broadly. his
white painted face grimacing comically.
Here Is our job whispered the ma
gician. 'We must turn tears to laugh
ter"
The magician began to sing a queer
song like the footing Of n circus cal
Hope. Cold Nose. the bear. sat up
ON his launches and began to howl-a
weird howl such as one sometimes hears
In q menagerie.
Four astonished faces appeared at the
windows of the bleak cottage. Three
faces were Of children. two girls and a
|. boy. These faces were white. with
here and there a pink measles blotch.
The fourth face was that of the mother,
sweet. but very tired.
''Oh, a circus." shrieked the chill
dren. "Here is clown and wild
animal in our own dooryard.'
. The magician put one hand on his
breast and the other behind his back.
bewing low the tip of his pointed
cap touched the ground. Cold Nose.
the bear, standing on his hind legs. did
the very same thing. He looked SO
funny copying the magician. and STUN.
bling bit as he did so. that Jack and
Janet had to laugh. As for the sick
children at the windows: they forgot
/. the measles and forgot they had been
The magician waved his whip wand
and the bear tumbled upside down.
!. '.Standing on his head. This was the
I trick he had been practicing when Jack
4 and Janet had thought him turned
I topsy turvy by the spell of the ma
gician. Cold Nose danced as the ma >
gician whistled. He pretended to drop
dead when the magician pointed a finger
sat him and said Bang" He gave
J the magician a ride. He sang a queer
bowling song when the magician told
him to sing.
/. He was as funny as any animal Jack
and Janet ever had seen in n show.
They laughed until their sides were
re0fe, out tney dldn lhugn nearly so
! hard as the sick children in the win
flows.
The birds laughed. too. and so did
Pe-ky Squirrel. The place was filed
with merriment.
y "Now what do you think of my
iob?' growled Cold Nose the bear grim
ming at Jack and Janet. But this Is
only part Of it. earn money, too
i (HoW Cold Nose. the bear. earns
rWoaey at his job will be told in the