The Black Swans 



Now I cannot say what there was 

 in this that seemed to strike a respon- 

 sive chord in the breasts of that par- 

 ticular community, unless it was that 

 nobody out there in those days ever 

 seemed to have much money, and being 

 thirty miles from any railroad, only 

 the worst and cheapest circuses ever 

 had the courage to invade it, and I 

 suppose that for these or other equally 

 cogent reasons every boy living there 

 knew in his own heart that he was the 

 particular "brother" alluded to in the 

 clown's plaintive ditty. I know that I 

 for one was beginning to rebel against 

 hoeing potatoes and milking cows in 

 red-hot weather, and envying those 

 favored of the gods whose only duty 

 was to take care of elephants and tear 

 down and put up tents and seats and 

 travel all night to the next town and 

 when the show "busted" get no pay. 



But what about that pumpkin? 

 Well, the corn was cut one day and 

 there lay my prize pumpkin of stu- 

 [168] 



