268 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
A PEEP AT THE 
(COPYBIGHT SiSCUKKD.J 
SHOW . — Drawn and Ent/raved for 
done for his special gratification. Work, school, or 
whatever is his regular occupation is put aside for that 
day, for he must see the show. At last the sound of 
music announces the arrival of the procession. The band 
in a wonderfully formed chariot ; the long string of cages, 
carefully closed; the trained horses; the astonishingly 
little ponies ; and last, and best of all, the elephant— 
what would a show be without an elephant and men- 
keys? — make up a sight dear to juvenile eyes. Boys see 
the show in various ways ; many are taken by their par- 
ents ; others, who have been preparing for the event long 
in advance, take out their slowly accumulated stock of 
change and march into the inclosure with the air that 
shows that they intend to enjoy what they have earned, 
and in one way or another every boy in the country 
round about sees something of the show. But there 
will be in almost every place a certain lot of boys to 
whom these quiet and honest ways of amusing them- 
selves are not sufficiently exciting. You all know boys 
of this style, and when a melon-patch or an orchard has 
been robbed, or any other mischief has been committed, 
these boys at once come into the minds of the losers. 
It is just the same style of boys as those we saw crossing 
a stream on a birch-tree in last month's paper. If one of 
these young rascals can push by the doorkeeper in the 
crowd, or can slip under the edge of the canvas, he is 
sure to do so, as then he will have something to brag of 
for weeks to come. If the youngster of this pattern can 
the American Agriculturist. 
not "hook-in" in anyway, he contents himself with 
such glimpses as he can steal in other ways. If, as some- 
times is the case, a high fence forms a part of the inclos- 
ure, he is sure to find a convenient knot-hole, and if he 
can not see the whole show in this way he is content 
with a part. If he can get a peep into a shed or stable 
where the elephant is kept when not on exhibition or 
where the ponies and spotted horses are being fed, he is 
better satisfied than if he had seen the whole in a regular 
way. Of course, a favoring knot-hole can not long be 
enjoyed by one hoy; where there is one boy of this 
style there is sure to be more, and what happens when 
the rest find out about it is so well shown by the ar- 
tist in the picture given above aB to need no description. 
