Sunday, Aug. 15, Aurora, Ill.--At midnight a violent wind, rain, and thunder storm sweeps over the city which totally demolishes the menagerie and museum tents. The tempest continues for nearly two hours and tests the bravery and skill of the employees of the lot. Most all of the cages have to be chained to the ground, and the elephants guarded rigidly. During the progress of the tornado two whelp leopards were born. R. H. King is held responsible for the following conundrum: “Why was the storm like the city? Because it was a-roarer!” Chestnut bells were rung. A stampede of the little elephants is promptly nipped in the bud by Mr. Frank Hyatt and C. F. Callahan. At this juncture a word of praise should be extended to the intrepid canvasmen who never deserted their posts, although danger to life and limb threatened at every moment. Thursday, Aug. 26, Oshkosh, Wis.--The events of this day are too well known to those who peruse “Barnum’s Budget” to demand a detailed account. Each has his or her individual views upon the subject, and enough has been spoken and published about it. In brief: An incipient riot was quelled by the clever management of Mr. Hutchinson, several arrests were made and a number of attachés discharged. A celebrated linguist visits the dressing room and tests the memory of Ali Mahomet, the Arabian interpreter, as to dead languages. Ali comes off first best. The Anti-Swearing society disband. Mr. Cooper, the giant, receives the sad news of his infant child’s death.[28] For some reason, Bailey is never mentioned in this diary of the circus. He may not have been present with the show during that season. But the management of a troupe as large as the Greatest Show on Earth was a job that P. T. Barnum never could have undertaken at his age. If Barnum had not had the foresight to select Bailey as a partner, it is likely that the present generation would never have known his name as a showman. Bailey was able to cope with every calamity quickly and efficiently. When the winter quarters were burned down on November 20, 1887, all the animals were destroyed except thirty elephants and one lion. Bailey ordered a new menagerie by cable, and in six hours he had purchased enough animals to form a better menagerie than the one destroyed by fire. The one lion who was saved was found by circus employees in a barn near Bridgeport. He had been eating sheep, and when the farmer’s wife heard a noise in the barn, she entered. What she saw in the dark looked to her like a large dog, and she began to beat the animal with a broom. The lion was busy with his meal, and he paid no attention to the blows. When the circus employees arrived and told the farmer’s wife what she had been beating, she fainted. CHAPTER XIV OLD AGE I