OCR Text |
Show CLOWNS VENGEANCE. That evening there u a great en-eou- ne of people on the Place da la Llberte. The Roeatl Circus waa giving Its last performance, and the public of Toulon waa flocking in crowds to thla farewell representation. At the doors, beneath the flickering gleam of the rows of gas lights, there was a ceaseless crush and movement; an endless line was slowly winding its way in, halting at every step and hammering the sounding planks with a confused clatter. All around, on .the notice boards stuck in tbe ground, the colors of the flaming posters were displayed, and, bathed In the garish light, dazzled the eye. in the crowd of spectators and Idlers everyone was reading aloud the placard which stood consplo; uous In front: e e : : : : : : : : : : of PRINCE ICARUS : (The Flying Man). of MLLE. RITA and of : : : AESOP : (The Grasshopper Clown). : : Within the circus the seats were already overflowing, and the same names repeated from mouth to mouth blended Into a general murmur, deadened by the canvas roof over the ring. Some of the circus men were raking the sawdust on the track, and above the door to the stables the musicians were languidly tuning their Instruments or at times addressing friends who passed beneath the gallery. That you? Marius, how goes it?" etc. In the upper rows the audience was alive with impatience fof the expected spectacle and irritated by the passing of the fashionable "first nighters enviod frequenters behind the scenes who pressed In a crowd to the narrow entrance leading to tho greenroom. Officers In civilian dress, and students, ship brokers and idle dandles, all wished for the last time to get near the fair Mile. Rita, the celebrated equestrienne, who for a month had 1 ! 1 Positively the Last Time This Evening. LAST PERFORMANCES : : : : : NO. 20 AMERICAN FORK, UTAH, SATURDAY. MAY 28, 1898. VOL. V. been the subject of conversation in every meseroom and every club. They stepped along, the elbowed and the between the walls that were covered with sets of varnished harness, and begged pardon every time they Jostled a groom. They stopped at the stalls of Blue Devil and Djinn, the two trick Arabians, and, under pretext of giving some sugar to the horses, fluttered about the extemporized dressing room where Rita, tranquil and smiling, was donning her attire. Then came in succession the commonplace compliments, to which the star of the circus, unheeding, scarcely deigned to give an answer, without seeming to note the ardent gaze of her admirers. Bhe was a handsome girl, a careless E)lsy, with the sun In her eyes and her blood, accustomed to the atmosphere of admiration, and she finished her toilet without hurrying. At times, however, impatiently and with a pretty, rebellious movement, she gave her ihcMlders a shake and made the pearls of her necklace rattle. It was then the little clown Aesop, her husband. was Who, all befloured and painted, walking before the room, his huge topknot swaying at every step, drew near, and with his sharp falsetto voice launched some taunt at the artist's courtiers. They laughed, they even applauded, but more often they lowered their eyes before the cutting, cold gaze of the dwarf, whose waa and grotesque face in spite of the smile of his blood-re- d and too large lips seemed at some moments to be fraught with evlL This evening the manikin was In a worse humor than usual; his Jeers were more biting and more bitter, and beneath the coat of flour covering bis seamed features he appeared not pale, but livid. His eyes had a sharp and menacing flash in them, and never left Rita, who, gayly posed before her mirror, was having her bodice laced by the handsome gymnast Icarus. In the circus the orchestra was finishing a waltz, by Metra. The curious were gradually quitting the stable and returning to their places. The sharp cuts of the ring masters whip were cracking in the arena; the show had begun. Icarus placed a last rose In the hair of the equestrienne and ran to chalk her shoes. He stumbled against his dwarfish comrade. The clown seemed very busy in examining the gas meter, and pushed him away with an oath. Then, without more ado, the acrobat sent him reeling, and leaping on a ladder, cried with a laugh: "Out of my way, you pitiful pigmy! Aesop uttered a roar of rage and anger, then suddenly calming himself, returned to the meter, and after having followed with an eye of hatred the ascent of Icarus, began fumbling with the mechanism of the stopcocks. A franA great clapping of bands. Two hundred pretty tic ovation. women dropped their fans and leveled their opera glasses, and, a trifle pale, smiled with a delicious dread. Icarus was up there high up at the top of the clrcuB hanging to the last trapeze, and turning over and over in It, slowly and without an effort. At times he paused, and his face was seen radiant In the foolish pride of triumph. Below, In the ring, the clowns were stretching a circular net, and In all the circus reigned deep silence, broken only by a feminine whisper: "How graceful! What a handsome fellow!" The gymnast then, finding his public sufficiently warmed up, raised himself at one pull, stiffening himself on his wrists. The tr&peze, violently thrown back, described a great arc, and, letting go the bar, the man shot forward like an arrow into space. There was a feeling of apprehension In the crowd, and an "Oh! of affright The uttered by a thousand breasts. acrobat reached the second trapeze, and calmly let himself swing in its decreasing oscillations. Slowly he thus darted eleven times, calm and smiling, as he made the tour of the circus, and rejoicing at feeling beneath him the Immense panting of the throng. At this eleventh trapeze he paused to prolong this emotion his glory The and his eyes sought out Rita. equestrienne saw him, and with the handle of her whip threw him a kiss. The elated Icarus, hanging by one hand, saluted her; then he brought his trapeze to rest He was about to complete hla task. "Enough, said some voices. cried the "No! Bravo! Encore! ladles, eager to feel once more the perverse joy of an enticing pain. . For the twelfth time the handsome gymnast, stiffening hla muscular arms, essayed his terrible flight But an appalling cry of terror, a frantic shout arose. In an Instant, suddenly like a candle put out by the flap of a bats wing the thousand glistening lights of the circus were extinguished all together at the precise and fatal moment when the man was darting Into space. At the same Instant there rose from the ring a laugh, terrible,' vibrating with hate. Then In the black and hideous obscurity. In the pitchy darkness that filled tbe circus lately so blazing, poignant shrieks rolled from row to row. Women fainted and the spectators.wlth their hearts crushed in hopeless terror, ehuddcrlngly sat as if petrified In their places, and prered into tbe night tbat filled the dome. The net was empty, the acrobat must be looked for In the gloom. In the search lanterns were brought and carried toward tbe tep of the circus. Five minutes five centuries, elapsed. Some one cried: "Bengal lights." Then, while here and there people were trying to relight the burners, a blaze of violet and red, of green an-- l azure, flashed out and with a powerful Illumination lit up at one flash every corner of the circus with Its fantastic and trembling gleams. And suddenly, as in the flames of a transformation scene, was seen, rigid, clamped to the trapeze, Prince Icarus, hanging motionless. An unheard-o- f horror paralyzed him In a supernatural frenzy. HU Irnlr stood out. Ills distorted mouth grinned an Idiot grin terrible to see, and his face, whiter than that of a corpse, his haggard eyes, protruding from their sockets, rolled convulsively. Soon hla comrade wero near him. With the handle of his knife Aesop struck the gymnast's hands, and with great difficulty detached from tho bar the clenched bands of. the miserable man. The gas was relighted and the crowd, silently and without a breath, watched, as It slowly lowered down, tbe descent of the living corpse. There Is today near Marseilles In the asylum of Saint Pierre a poor madman who stalks straight forward, h!s arms held In front and contracted In an imaginary grip. It Is a frightful sight It Is "Prince Icarus. I do not know what Jail holds Aesop. As to that fairy Rita, she Is now a princess somewhere In Germany. (Adapted from the French of Paul Bonnetaln.) GIRLS ARE PIGEON-TOE- It Is Bmssm ttis Southern a You Could Understand Why WE SELL THE BEST Mens Shoes, Ladies' Shoes, Childrens Shoes. Cheaper than any House in the World. m D. Town They Lire In Is Bo IHUy. were sitting on the veranda of They a country clubhouse. "If I were a girl and lived In Lamar, said the Virginia man reflectively, "I'd never ride a blcyole or play golf or sport with the surf. "Whats the matter with the Lamar girls? asked his companion, leaning forward to see the young woman who had suggested the reflection, but fall, lng to find her. "Short skirts arent becoming to them, the Virginia man said positively. "But the. whole town hasnt something the matter with Its legs, his friend protested. "Hasnt It? That's all you know about It. Everybody In the town Is pigeon-toe- d. The hearer tried to figure out that interesting problem In natural history, but didnt succeed; and, finally, curiosity which men call a feminine falling got the better of him and he asked more questions. If You were Acquainted with Our System EVERY CONCEIVABLE STYLE AND SH APE, RUBBERS m YOUNG AND OLD. EVERYTHING IN THE SHOE LINE. Ladies Oxford Ties and Slippers for Dress and Comfort. . But why? he said. The other man, who, had been smoking placidly, looked surprised." he replied blankly. "Why what? Then he remembered. "Oh, about those girls. Well, Lamar Is the hllllest town In the south. You cant walk a block there without climbing a young mountain. The hills are so steep that the sidewalks are made In steps. I've often called on one girl and then asked permission to go up to her attic and step out of Its baok window Into the yard of the place where I Intended making my next fall. "I lived there a year; and I discovered tbat most men and all women, when they climb hills, walk pigeon-toeI dont know why it Is, but Its a fact, and the Lamar girls do so much climbing that every blessed one of them I Just saw a is terribly pigeon-toegirl from Lamar going by to the golf links, and she wasnt an exception. Great Scott! groaned his friend. "Think of the future generation of LaNew York Sun. mar citizens! d. Tnrmi Tinom t a Trnisr IMnEHSrS BICEHE SHOES. . Mens and Children? Slipper?. BABY SHOES If you want to save money, send lor our booklet, it will Sent Free for the Asking', explain everything. d. Great Britain's Steam Power. that the steam power of Great Britain la equal to the united It DAVIS SHOE COMPANY Is estimated strength of 1,000,000,000 men. The number of persons employed in her coal mines is but 200,000, and of these dig coal for other uses fully than for engines, leaving 66,666 men to mine the coal necessary to do the work of 1,000,000,000. The engines are made by 60,000 men, so that 126,666 men furnish the means of doing the work of 1,000,000,000, the strength of each being thus multiplied nearly 8,000 times. This gives to each man, woman and child of a population of 85,000,000 some 80 willing slaves, born fully grown, exempt from sickness, needing no clothes, eating only fire and water, and costing merely the work of one man In 8,000. MONEY BACK SHOEISTS. SALT two-thir- ds An Ancient Englbih Cauda. One of the finest and best preserved of the ancient northern castles of England is the seat of the Duke of Cleveland. King Canute presented It with other offerings at the shrine of St. Cuthbert. but It passed out of the bands of the monks In 1131. Portions of the older, buildings are so skillfully Incorporated with the new that It seems a perfect specimen of a castle of the fourteenth century. The castle is of great size and strength, and the walls surrounding it occupy about two acres of ground. Her Demand. He I am willing to admit that I Was wrong. She Ah! but you must admit that I was right!-Tit-Bits. OXT1T. L-A-IKIE PROVO MABBLE WORKS A 8. Feisty Manager, Mo munents , and Headstones MtXCFCTCRE&S IN OK AND PFALXU9 Material aud workmanship specialty (f all kinds of cemetery York. and prices guaranteed or mouey refunded. Send for designs A PBOYO UTAH WEST OY TAYLGhi BROS, FUBNITPRK CO. Beesley Marble Works Manufacturer! of 0 0 Marble and Granite Monuments, Headstocei, Tablets, Curbing, Etc. NEW DESIGNS ANI) IIIGIi GRADE WORK A SPECIALTY. Provo. ohnPetera, Agent, - - Utah American Fork, Ut&li, |