Peck's Bad Boy with the CircusPeck, George W. (George Wilbur)
General
Peck's Bad Boy with the Circus
Peck, George W. (George Wilbur)
Boys -- Juvenile fiction; Circus -- Juvenile fiction
Pa said: "I'll tell you. You feed the horses and other hay-eating
animals on musty baled hay, bought from contractors that may have had it
on hand for five years. How would you like it if you were served with
breakfast food that had been stored in a warehouse until it was
mildewed? A horse or an elephant has feelings. Give them baled hay, and
when they are trying to pick out a mouthful that is not spoiled, you
drive along with a load of nice new-mown timothy or alfalfa, and see
them make a rush for that load of hay, the way my ten-horse team did the
other day for that load of cornstalks. Then the sacred cattle are hot
under the collar because of the fellows who use profanity. Can you
imagine a sacred cow trying to be good, and set a pious example to the
heathen animals, being patient when they have to listen to swearing? You
buy meat that is tainted for the lions, who like fresh meat, and the
jackal, that only loves bad meat, gets the only sirloin in the lot. Let
me run the menagerie to-morrow, and I will have Mr. Lion, the walking
delegate, declare this strike off."
Well, they told pa to arbitrate the strike, and the next day he had a
couple of loads of timothy hay, such as mother used to make, driven in
and unloaded, and the horses, elephants, camels, and things almost set
up a cheer for pa. The meat-eating animals were given a picnic of the
freshest beef, with a little so decayed that it was only fit to be
buried, for the hyenas and jackals, and every animal was happy. They did
their turns better than ever, and the sacred cattle almost acted
devilish.
Now the animals have declared the strike off, and they want to lick pa's
hand. The owners of the show appreciate genius, and they have raised
pa's salary and given him full charge of the menagerie.
CHAPTER XIII.
The Circus Strikes the Quaker City--They Go on a Ginger Ale Jag--Pa
Breaks Up an Indian War Dance and Comes Near Being Burned Alive--The
World's Fair Cannibals Have a Roast Dog Feast.
Ever since we knew the show was billed for Philadelphia for a Saturday
and that we should have to stay over Sunday in that town, there has been
symptoms of a revolt. Everybody connected with the show has a horror of
being found dead in Philadelphia. They claim it is too dead for live
people, and not very satisfactory to dead people.
A performer who was with the show last year says that nobody but the
newspaper people who had free tickets attended the performances, and
some of them wouldn't go in the tent unless the press agent promised to
set up a free lunch, with devilish ginger ale to drink, and that the
press people got riotous on ginger ale. A ginger ale jag is terrible.
When a man is full of ginger ale his intestines loop the loop, and tie
up in knots, and gripe like cholera infantum, and unless his friends
hold him he goes out into the world and wants to kill the women and
children, and non-combatants.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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