The Circus Comes to Town

le Tears of

oned Mother 'Larkey about what she had seen at the circus the time her husband had taken her to one in the city. She was busy sewing on a dress for

their knowledge and guesses about what they would see, and fell silen

from the circus ground. They knew at once that he hadn't succeeded in getting a "ticket

u get a

while they knew he didn't intend to say any more. Je

unts want any wa

ated Dan

ed fully ten minutes. Danny was the first to break it. He did so after apparently awakening to the fact that dinner

ngry," he said a

g you could do for a

bird got the worm at the cir

him out of the corners of his eyes in a peculiar, questionin

shiny horseshoe nail an' baseball fo

pocket of his blouse. "No!" he cried

me of my things for it. There ain't no law against offerin' to trade, I guess. I'll teach you to skat

o the house if Danny should try to grab the ticket. "I

s. Mullarkey. "You'll have to hurry t

y made him eat so he "wouldn't get too faint to enjoy the circus." It was a race between the boys to see wh

eady to start. "You can follow the parade out to the circus grounds for the free show out

e one with the donkey, going through such laughable antics. But he was a little disappointed that the elephants didn't jump a fence or do anything like that during the para

town out to the tents, fascinated by the loudness of the music and the escape of jets of steam as the player fingered the keys. It seemed to Jerry that there couldn't in all the wide worl

elia Jane and Nora, but not for Danny, who had been to the vaudeville theater twice and who knew that this outside sample never could

very red-faced snake charmer merely whetted his appetite for what was to come, while to J

ave much more than started when the ra

. Kelilah, the famous dancer of the Nile, whose graceful contortions have delighted the eyes and moved the hearts of kings. See Major Wee-Wee, the smallest man in the world, no bigger than a two-year-old baby, and Tom Morgan, the giant who stands seven feet three inches in his stocking feet. They are all there-every

erry and Chris and they left the children and were almost

the side show," he said. "The

er for the side show and watched the people stream through the door. Never had the lack of "twenty-five cents, only a quarter of a dollar", meant so much to any small boy as it meant to Je

em freaks," sighed Celia Jane. "If I

s hand, looked up and saw Dan

t?" he asked eagerly. "I'll give

fing the ticket into his blouse pock

ng of Danny's that could compensate Jerry or Chris for missing the circus, espec

bating whether they should go into the big tent at once or wait until time for the main performance, when they observed Danny, who had edged away from them, talki

of a tent they would have seen Celia Jane's negative shakes of the head become weaker as Danny's attitude became

had disappeare

rly," he said. "Let'

let's," Ch

d-by and saw that Celia Jane was crying. Her shoulde

er with Celia Ja

said Nora. "What

erted quickly. "What're y

Celia Jane. She raised her face a

et, have you?" asked D

sobbed C

chance at all of your

een no circus,"

et's go in now, so's we won't mi

nd Jerry stood still, a curious something making his

Mebbe next time we can go. They might let us carry water for the

it now," sobb

inside and his mouth puckered up th

owards Chris, who had gone halfway towards the entrance to the tent and then had stopped to wait for him. His joy at the thought of what he was going t

e weeping girl, "I-I-I wa

down into his bare feet. He winked hard to keep the tears from coming. He just cou

d bit of blue cardboard out of his pocket. There were tears in his e

e. "Will you really give it

d his head, but Celia Jane just took on

in a voice in which there was no trace o

nd let go of the ticket. "Y

traightway handed the ticket to Danny, who snatc

all that he could not even cry out,-could do nothing but stare after Danny. He saw the precious bit of pasteboard taken

"I'm going to tell mother what yo

voice, and it rose in a forlorn w

how that Celia Jane that she had gone too far this time. He didn't know what he would do, but turned to go to her. As he did so, a crowd of pe

little boy? Why are you c

ns to see him crying. So he turned and ran blindly around the big tent; when he was alone he

t it had been given to Celia Jane because Jerry thought she was really crying because she wanted to see the circus. He wo

mers, nor the dancing pony. Even the trained seals took on a halo of enchantment no

shake his foot very slightly. He stopped sobbing so hard. There was no further

nd himself staring into a pair of twinkling yet sympathetic eyes and a face which was just as white as chalk, with very, very

ddenly turned a handspring, and without standing up, kicked his heels together straight up into the air and then