A BANKRUPT SHOWMAN. 135 



performed somersaults which would have astonished 

 the original Cynocephalus. The pig meanwhile 

 found refuge behind the organ, which the hurricane, 

 with a better ear for music than man, refused to 

 turn. 



"Mademoiselle Zavenowsld, the beautiful leading 

 equestrienne of the world," just preparing to jump 

 through a hoop, went through her own with a 

 whirl, and stood upon the j^lains feeding the hungry 

 storm with her charms. The graceful young rider, 

 lately perforating hearts with the kisses she flung at 

 them, in a trice had become a maiden of fifty, notice- 

 ably^ the worse for wear. 



An eye-witness, in describing the scene to us, said 

 the circus went off without a single drawback. It 

 was as if a ton of gunpowder had been fired under 

 the ring. Just as the clown was rubbing his leg, as 

 the result of calling the sensitive ring-master a fool 

 (a sham suffering, though for truth's sake), there 

 was a sharp crack, and the establishment dissolved. 

 High in air went hats and bonnets, like fragments 

 shot out of a volcano. The spirits of zephyr-land 

 carried off uncounted hundreds of tiles, both military 

 and civil, and we desire to place it upon record that 

 should a future missionary, in some remote northern 

 tribe, find traditions of a time when the sky rained 

 hats, they may all be accounted for on purely 

 scientific grounds. 



Much property was lost, but no lives. The im- 

 mediate results were a bankrupt showman and a run 

 on liniments and sticking-plaster. 



