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Show 15e RJngmoLster of Old Vj7 vkO He Used To VVexr Evening Dress rx nd White Gloves I A circus without a ringmaster! They used to have black hair, parted in the middle and beautifully smoothed, veiling dress (even at matinees) and white glove. Th rlngumster wo almost al-most one'a earliest hero; the butcher came first, perhaps, and then the policeman po-liceman and railway guard; but the ringmaster, when his hour struck, thrust these plehlans. these usurpers, these Warbeck and Blmnela, Into Impenetrable Im-penetrable darkness. That whip was beyond all steels, all truncheons, all bull's eye lanterns and whistles; one would not exchange It for a scepter. Th ringmaster effulgence waa superior su-perior even to the dimming Influences of th clown's wit. That Immortal ill-itlogu ill-itlogu following upon the bet of a bottle bot-tle of "wine" tilways "wine;" what Is "wine?" champagne? claret? sherry? sher-ry? port? port I suspect), that ths ringmaster could not answer three questions with plain yea or no; how often have I heard It and how potent It alwaya Is! The first question wss anything; th aecond question wa anything; but the third, propounded by the clown after long self-commun-lutr, wa steeped In guile: "Do you still beat your wife?" Tuor no way out of tht; afflrmatlv and negativ alike ar powerless to rob that "still" of t sting; and oft goes th clown with bl bottle of wine, crack goes ths whip, round amhlea the old whit bora with a back like Table Moun tain, and the algnorlna resume ber petty capers. And today the ringmaster ring-master la aeen only for an Instant, and the apeaktng clown not at all! Th Cornhlll. I |