| Show AN ALN WHILE SPIKE TOWN COUN COUNTED TED SIXTY HOKO PREPARED IT A Pro lnor of tho the art of a town at t fitly cents a beail on the difficult and ex r aspera tint subject of cooking nobody had ever heard 0 of f the celebrated hoko effendi but the th a public curiosity to see him was no less keen on that account in the little Ny western estern illi iiii nois town on which he had alighted like lik a flaming meteor the visit of a professor of magic was an event alt all that was known of him was that ho he had made his appearance about the time the stage coach from Shacks ville came in and was supposed to have traveled in that conveyance that he had procured the printing of several hundred small bills at the office of the blizzard promising to pay for them the next day the evenin evening came the price of admission to the entertainment was afif fifty ty cents for adults children half price the celebrated hoko effendi was his hia own doorkeeper and the people of spike town turned out in large numbers there were no deadheads except the editor of the blizzard and ibe the dignified citizen who wore dyed whiskers and a P plug lug hat and announced himself at the door as the mayor i when the audience began to showie show impatience by the customary stamping and whistling the world renowned master of ega egyptian magic accepted the proffered services of a leading citizen as doorkeeper and went back to the other end of the hall disappearing behind the curtain that hid the sta stage stae 0 e from view ina in a few moments lie reappeared in front of it and made a pleasing little speech requesting close attention to the performances as many of them were of a nature bordering on the supernatural and promising an entertainment such as aa had never been seen in Spike town before and never would again after performing some curious tricks with playing cards he announced that the first really difficult feat of the even ing would now bo be shown that of baking a cake acke without out a pan of any kind the ladies in the audience audien ce he said when they bake cakes are compelled to use butter eggs flour sugar fla boring extract icing etc and put the dough in a eliof afen ofen I 1 do nothing of the kind by the simple manipulation of flour and a hat I 1 can produce il u cake in five minutes that no lady in this house ean an equal I 1 will make a cake that a committee to be selected from the ladies present will pronounce the best they ever tasted I 1 will do this or forfeit will some kind gentleman present oblige me with the loan of a high silk hat will you yon kindly lend it to me I 1 will take excellent care of it and return it in a few minutes the mayor demurred your hat will not be injured in the least sir the magician assured him 1 11 I will return it to you without spot blemish ble or stain I 1 have performed this feat thousands of times without the slightest injury to the hat the mayor of Spike town thus thu appealed S to relented and handed ayer over his cherished tile then the magician produced a pan of flour which was passed through the audience and unanimously declared to bo be genuine he poured it into the hat then a quart measure half filled with new orleans molasses was produced and handed banded around in like manner pronounced the pure unadulterated stuff and returned to him ile he poured this into the hat likewise and stirred the mixture with a long lead pencil the mayor involuntarily gasped and half rose in his seat but bat the wizard again assured him avith a wave of the hand your you r hat will not be injured in the least my dear sir and he proceeded with the performance now ladies and gentlemen he be said we will witness the finale the denoo mong as aa it were of this feat of illusion I 1 can bake the cuke cake just ili us well on oil a piece of ice a as on a stove but as there happens to be a good fire in hi this stove near the stage I 1 will bake it on top of that again I 1 assure you yon mr mayor that your hat will not suffer the slightest injury stepping briskly down he placed the tha hat on the stove now good people he said keep your eye on that hat till you can count sixty I 1 will retire and prepare the esoteric climax lie ile mounted the stage and stepped behind the curtain in a moment a smoke went up tip from the hat on the stove and the odor of something scorching tilled filled the air the mayor of Spike town jumped from his bis seat and with wit one OBO bound boun i cleared the distance that lay between him and the stove he lifted his hia precious hat tile the bottom or rather the top fell out ont the kitzing batter spread out over the stove it hissed sad and sputtered and flew and even as the mayor held up the hideous ruin of his hia once glorious hat and looked through it some of the belz yelz lowish lovish mixture trickled on liis ids vest and ran in sad ad discouraged bilious looking streams d down own his trousers his honor spoke a few words briefly b u demphs ti c a y through his hat bat an broke for the stage followed by several tf of the tb Mt af pf c |
