The Wicked Flea. 67 



he could jump over the American Surety Building with 

 the Waldorf- Astoria piled on top of it, and have a hun- 

 dred feet or so to spare at that. The great pyramid of 

 Cheops was only 481 feet high when it was new, and a 

 man as gifted as a flea in jumping one hundred times his 

 own height could say, Well, so long, boys! " and hop 

 right over it. It would be interesting, wouldn't it? I 

 can just see a fellow shove his hat down a little tighter 

 and give a short run and leap up into the air with his 

 coat-tails fluttering. There's the coming down to be 

 thought of but that's a mere detail. If we had wings- 

 but then a flea has no wings to let him down easy, and 

 surely we are as good as any flea dare be. A body could 

 get up to the Grand Central Station from down town in 

 three or four jumps. Wouldn't it be lively in Forty- 

 second Street about train-time, with people dropping 

 down from every direction, with their hands on their 

 watches to keep them from bouncing out? You'd have 

 a clear space picked out to alight upon and somebody 

 would walk there, and when vou came down on him he 



*/ 



would pick up his hat and growl, " Gol darn you, sir, why 

 can't you look where you're going?' And you would 

 say, " Oh, I beg your pardon. I hope I didn't hurt you. 

 Do you know if the Southwestern Limited is on time? I 

 was to meet some friends- Oh, well, I guess that will 



never come to pass. The world's record for a running 

 high jump without weights is 6 feet 5 5-8 inches, and for 

 a long -jump without weights is 24 feet 4 1-2 inches. 

 The flea jumps without weights, so I suppose that is the 

 fairest record to take. But estimating a man's height at 

 six feet, don't you see how poorly the best that man can 

 do compares with any flea's average performance? 



But hold on a minute. Let's look at this thing before 

 w r e come to a settled conclusion. It isn't quite so simple 



