The hoosier
had played the mischief with the gravity of the whole party; even the
old maid had to put her handkerchief to her face, and the young lady's
eyes were filled with tears for half an hour afterward. The old preacher
hadn't another word to say on the subject; but whenever we came to any
place, or met anybody on the road, the circus-man nursed the thing along
by asking what was the price of salt."
A RIVAL ENTERTAINMENT
BY KATE FIELD
I once heard a bright child declare that if circuses were prohibited in
heaven, she did not wish to go there. She had been baptized, was under
Christian influences, and, previous to this heterodoxy, had never given
her good parents a moment's anxiety. Her naive utterance touched a
responsive chord within my own breast, for well did I remember how
gloriously the circus shone by the light of other days; how the
ring-master, in a wrinkled dress-coat, seemed the most enviable of
mortals, being on speaking terms with all the celestial creatures who
jumped over flags and through balloons; how the clown was the dearest,
funniest of men; how the young athletes in tights and spangles were my
_beau-ideals_ of masculinity; and how La Belle Rose, with one foot upon
her native heath, otherwise a well-padded saddle, and the other pointed
in the direction of the sweet little cherubs that sat up aloft, was the
most fascinating of her sex.
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