194 
THE LADIES' FLORAL CABINET. 
This was cordial to George Abraham’s fainting soul. 
He had not imagined the possibility of seeing the inside 
of the tent; he did not now intend to enter it—the hint in 
the last words overheard was quite sufficient; but he 
could certainly peep under the canvas without risk, and 
he thought if he could but get one good look at a lion, 
a tiger, and a “ ’potamus,'’ he would be forever content. 
So he loitered about the grounds, carrying Jonathan, 
till high noon, when the crowd of loafers had thinned 
down to those who did not know where to look for a 
dinner, and most of the circus employees had dispersed 
in search of restaurants and lunch tables; then, finding 
a part of the tent which was for the moment wholly 
unobserved, he dropped upon the ground and thrust his 
woolly head under the canvas. It came bump against 
the spoke of a wagon wheel. George Abraham did not 
mind the bump; it was nothing to some of the cracks 
he had received from his mother’s hairbrush; but for a 
moment he was slightly alarmed lest some of the men 
working on the other side of the tent might ha’ve heard 
the crash. Taking courage, however, from the fact 
that none of them looked in his direction, he drew his 
legs in after his head, and crept under the wagon in 
order to take a good look around. He saw no lions, 
tigers, nor any other part of the menagerie, for the ob¬ 
vious reason that all the cages were ra ged in a line 
above his head; but he heard some very curious noises; 
from the cage directly over his head there came a sound 
of incessant chattering, with an occasional shrill 
screech. 
“Sounds jes’ like de Daughters ob Beffel when de 
lodge meets to our house, all a-gabblin’ to wunst,” mut¬ 
tered George Abraham; and curiosity to see what it 
might be that was so suggestive of the “Daughters of 
Bethel ” so far got the better of his prudence that he 
thrust his bead out between the wheels, and, still upon 
his hands and knees, he twisted and stretched his neck 
to look up into the c ge. It was full of brilliant, chat¬ 
tering parrots, macaws, and cockatoos. "With the first 
glimpse George Abraham forgot all caution; he scram¬ 
bled to his feet, and stood gazing in open-mouthed as¬ 
tonishment and admiration at the confused rainbow of 
color. 
Before long the occupant of the next cage, a big 
brown bear, attracted his attention, and so cage after 
cage drew him on. He wandered down the line so 
absorbed as to be entirely lost to the fact that he was 
stealing all his pleasure, and was likely to be caught at 
any moment, and summarily dealt with. Even Jona¬ 
than was forgotten; he had been dropped at the first 
sight of the parrots, and now wandered dejectedly at his 
young master’s heels. 
George Abraham had not gone far before he was no¬ 
ticed by two circus employees at the opposite side of 
the tent. One of these spoke to the ring-master who 
happened to be passing. 
“There’s a little darkey across the ring that’s dead¬ 
headed himself in, and is getting the worth of his 
money.” 
“Enjoying it, isn’t he?” answered that dignitary, 
when he had watched George Abraham a moment, with 
an amused smile. “Too bad to spoil his fun,” he added, 
“ but if we don’t make an example of him he will go 
away and brag of his exploit, and we will have fifty 
boys trying it on us this afternoon. So you just let him 
go the length of the cages, and see all the animals, and 
then shake him up a bit. Scare him so he won’t, want 
to try it again.” 
“All right. Trust us for shaking him up,” returned 
one of the men, with a chuckle. 
And the subject of this plot slowly moved along, in 
blissful ignorance, until he came to the last cage, which 
held about a dozen monkeys. Next to this was a cage 
containing two tigers and some young cubs. As the 
boy stood taking in every movement of the grinning, 
clawing caricatures of humanity in the last cage, he was 
paralyzed by a voice behind him. 
“Why, Dick, if here ain’t one of the tiger’s cubs 
escaped from the cage.” 
‘‘ Sure ’miff! how do you s’pose he got out ? ” returned 
the companion of the first speaker. 
George Abraham was rooted to the spot in terror, but 
he slowly turned his head and rolled up his pathetic 
eyes, expecting something dreadful to happen to him 
immediately; but neither of the men appeared to see 
him : their attention seemed to be quite absorbed in the 
struggling Jonathan, whom the elder man held by the 
nape of the neck. 
“Well,” said the man, “however he got out, he’ll 
have to go back in again, sure. Just open the little end 
door and I’ll toss him in to his mother,” and he made a 
move toward the cage. 
George Abraham, as he came to a sudden realization 
of the peril to his pet, broke into a dismal howl and ex¬ 
tended his arm in piteous protest. Both men now 
seemed to see him for the first time. 
“Why, bless my soul, Sam !” exclaimed the younger 
man, in great amazement, “if here isn’t one of the 
monkeys out, too ? Wliat’s to pay, with all the animals 
breaking loose ! Here, let’s get him back first; the cub 
won’t be so likely to get away.” And with the words 
he caught George Abraham by the neckband and waist¬ 
band and swung him up to the door of the monkej’s’ 
cage, where a hideous black ape instantly made a claw 
for him through the bars, and just missed him. 
George Abraham closed his eyes and gave himself 
up for lost. Vainly he tried to recollect some one of 
the many short prayers which his mother had en¬ 
deavored, at great expense of time and hairbrush, to 
teach him. What a wicked little darkey he had been 
that he had not tried to learn them ! All that his mem¬ 
ory would now serve him was this very undevotional 
stanza: 
“ Monkeyg, monkeys brewing beer, 
How many monkeys are there here ? ” 
He felt that there were at least a million of them, and 
he expected with every gasp to hear— 
‘ One, two, three ; in goes he,” 
and be grasped by the skinny claws ; but finding that 
he still hung in mid-air, he aroused courage for one last 
despairing effort. Opening his eyes, he wailed faintly : 
“Oh, mister, I isn’t a monkey; ’deed I isn’t! I’s 
George Abraham Fairfax; my mammy takes in wasliin’, 
she libs on Tenf Street. Please, mister, please don’t put 
me in dar,” and he shrank in fresh terror as the villain¬ 
ous old ape made another grab for him. 
“Well, shoot me! if ever I heard a monkey talk be¬ 
fore. Did you, Sam ? ” said the younger man, in greater 
apparent amazement than ever, as he slowly lowered 
George Abraham to the ground still keeping his hand 
on his shirtband. “ Mebby he ain’t a monkey,” added 
he, reflectively ; “ but I’m blest if he don’t look jest like 
