Year: 1873

THERE was once an aerOnaut with
whom things went badly; the balloon
burst. tumbled the man out. and broke
into bits. His boy he had two minutes
before sent down with a parachute-th {
was the boys luck he was unhurt and
went about with knowledge enough TO
make him an aerOnaut too, but he had no
balloon and no means OF acquiring one.


But live he must. and so he applied
himself to the art of legerdemain and to
talking in his stomach; in fact he be-
came ventriloqust, as they say. He
was young, good looking, and when
he got a moustache and had his
best clothes on, he could be taken for no.
beman's son. The ladies seemed to think
well of him; one young lady even was so
taken with his charms and his great dex-
terity that she went off with him to for
eign parts. There he called himself Pro-
fessor-he could scarcely do less.


His constant thought was how TO get
himself balloon and go up into the air
with his little wife, but as yet they had
no means.


"They'll come yet," said he.


g If only they would" said she.


"We care young folks" said he, and now
lam Professor" She helped him faithfully,
sat at the door and sold tickets to the ex-
hibitiOn, and 1t was chilly sort of pleas
ure i'm winter time. Size also helped him
in the line of his art. He put his wife in
a table-drawer, large table drawer; thea
she crawled into the back part of the
drawer, and so was not in the front part,
quite an optical Illusion to the audience.
But one evening when he drew the drawer
out. she was alsp Ou of sight to him: she
was not in the front drawer. nor in the
back one either, nor in the house itself
nowhere to be seen or heard-that was
her feat of legerden ain her entertainment.
She never came back again she was tired
Of 1t all, and he grew tired of 1t, lost his
good-humor, could not laugh Or make
Jokes and so the people stopped COM
ing. his earnings became scanty, his
clothes gave out; and finally he only
owned great flea, which his wife had
left him, and so he Thought highly of it.
And he dressed the flea and taught it to
perform. to present arms and to fire a
cannon Off,-but it was little cannon.


The Professor was proud of the flea,
and the flea was proud of himself; he had
lea, ned something, and had human
blood. and hadbbeen besides to the larg-
est cities, had been seen by y inces
high praise, and it was printed in the
newspapers and on placards. Plainly it
was very famous flea and could sup
port professor and his entire family.


The flea was proud and famous, and yet
when he and the Professor travelled they
took fourth-class carriages on the railway;
they went just as quickly as the first-class.
They were betrothed to each other; it
was a private engagement that would
never come out; they never would marry,
the flea would remain bachelor and the
Professor q widower. That made it bal
ance.


Where one has the best luck" said
the Professor, "there one ought to 60
twice." He was good judge of character,
and that Is alsoa science Of Itself. At last
he had travelled over all countries except
the wild ones, and so he wanted to 60
there. They eat Christian men there,
10 be sure, the Professor knew, but then
he was not properly Christian and the flea
was not properly man, so he thought
they might venture to travel there and
have godd success.


They travelled by steamship and by sail.
ing vessel; the flea performed his tricks
and so they got free passage or
the way and arrived at the wilc
country. Here reigned q little Prin
cess. She was only eight years old
but she wss reigning. She had taker
away the power from her father and
mo;her, for she had will. and then she
was extraordinarily beautiful-and rude


Just as soon rs the flea had presented
arms and fired off the cannon, she was sc
enraptursd with him that she said. Hin
or nobody ~ She became quite wild with
love and was already wild in other ways


Sweet, lit,le. sensible child"' said heI
own father. "If one could only first make
a man of him.


leave that to me. old man" said she
ami hat was not well said bv little Prln
cess when talking with her father. but she
was wild. She set the flea on her viii ,
hand.


Now you are a man, reigning with me