Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 91, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 16 April 1914 — Page 3

Side Show Sidelights

Diverting Chronicles of Circus Life

By FRANCIS METCALFE

THE BITE OF A RATTLER ANO THE SAD FATE OF BIG PETE. Like the pitcher which went to the well until it met the proverbial fate, the trainer entered the lion’s den once too often, and what remained of him was placed in an ambulance and taken to the hospital. After the performance for the evening was over, Baltimore, the bad Bon, who had suddenly developed a craving for human flesh, had been dealt with by the Proprietor of the menagerie in a maimer which would spoil his appetite for many a day to come and make him remember that trainers cannot be mangled with impunity. Two men sat at the table in front of the arena with the Proprietor, discussing the accident and listening to stories of former encounters which he related. “Yes, any man who follows this business carries his life in his hands," he said in answer to a question from the Stranger within the gates. “You helped to care for poor Bonavita tonight, after Baltimore finished with him, so you know what a lion’s jaws can do. I’ve seen ’em chewed up as bad as thA and get over it, but they never get quite the same again. Leave the business? No; it is like the sea; a man who takes to it keeps it up until the time comes when he doesn’t recover, but after a bad accident he usually takes another breed of animals. “The worst sight I ever saw was about five years ago, when one of our performing bears turned on its trainer and seized his arm. He worried it as a terrier would a bone for a good twenty minutes before we could drive him off, and the bear died from the punishment we gave him. “I said that bear attack was the worst sight I ever saw, and it was; but something happened here last year which Impressed me more because it was so mysterious. A friend of mine

In Florida shipped me a box of rattlers, which he wrote had been ‘attended to,* and I supposed that their poison fangs had been extracted. They were delivered just before the performance started and I ripped a board off the box and stuck my hand in, grabbing them one by one and throwing them into the den as if they were garter snakes. “The man who took care of the snakes was out on the ballyhoo, walking around with the gander following him to advertise the show; and when he came in he looked them over and found that each one had as pretty a pair of fangs as you would wish to see. He told me about it and I confess that it gave me a gone feeling in the pit of my stomach, for I remembered how I had felt around for them in the box with my bare hands. “The snake man instead of getting back on the ballyhoo where he belonged, stood around the snake cage, watching the new rattlers, and along came a couple of gazabos who commenced talking about them. One of them was the wise guy, who always knows about how the animals are doped so they won’t bite and all that other information which isn’t so. He commenced explaining how the snakes were harmless, because their teeth pad been pulled, and giving a lot of misinformation about them. The snake man listened until he couldn’t stand it any longer and then he stuck his hand into the cage and grabbed one of the rattlers by th? neck. “ ‘Fangs pulled, eh?* says he, and he made the rattler open, his mouth and show a perfect pair of stingers. The wise guy took one look at them and fled, and the snake man would have carried it off all right, only he was so busy calling a few choice names after him that he placed the snake back in the cage instead of throwing it in, and the rattler struck him before he could draw his hand out He had a clown make-up on, so I couldn’t tell whether he was pale or not'when he came to me a few minutes later and held out his hand, but there was a queer expression on his face and I knew that my apprehensions had not been groundless. “There were just two little red dots, no bigger than pin heads, on the back of his hand.

(Copyright by W. G. Chapman)

" Ton got IL didn’t you?’ says I. “’(pood and plenty,* says he. ‘My arm hurts me already.’ "We got busy right away and took him up to the hospital where Bonavita is now. Say, he was a very thin man and you ‘can see that I’m no lightweight; but by'midnight the right side of his bodyi and his right arm and leg were swollen to my size, and in the morning all of the swollen part was as black as a coal. He was suffering terribly, and I tried to get hold of the Arab snake doctor but couldn’t locate him, so I wired to Rochester for Rattlesnake Pete. He came down and a mighty interesting man he is, but he couldn’t do anything which ‘doc’ up at the hospital hadn’t done, and it was five days before my man was out of danger. He was not a drinking man— I finished having drunkards around my show a good many years ago—and the whisky took right hold of him and pulled him through. ‘Doc’ kept squirting some red stuff into his arm, but it was the ‘red-eye’ which saved him — and that reminds me.” He beckoned to the waiter and each one ordered his favorite antidote for a possible snake bite. It was growing late, and the Proprietor announced that he was going to show his wife a good husband and said good night, but the Stranger waited for the story which he saw was trembling upon his companion’s lips, and Induced the sleepy waiter to bring a farewell dose of snake-bite antidote. The man was unknown to him by. name, but his personality promised to be Interesting, for his face spoke of good living, the red of his complexion was evidently, not entirely due to exposure to the sun, and the little sacs under the eyes Indicated that he was apt to be the last of a convivial party to suggest breaking up. He had listened to the Proprietor’s stories with the same bored expression which Noah might wear in hearing the experiences of a survivor of the Day-

ton flood, and he looked regretfully at the vacant chair, now that his turn had come. “Snakes!** he exclaimed with a contemptuous snort “What does the boss know about 'em? I used to own the only snake that was worth having. Ever hear of ‘Big Pete?’ ’’ The Stranger confessed his ignorance, and the other settled back in his chair and lighted a fresh cigar. "I’ll tell you about him, then. You know'that a snake is a queer proposition in a menagerie. They get sore mouths —canker, the fakers call it — and won’t eat, and then, if you’ve got any Investment in ’em you want to get it out mighty quick, for they are no orchids. I was pretty well on my uppers, after a bad season on the road, when a guy named Merritt came to me and said he could get a fine snake cheap, and he thought we might make some money out of him by showing him at the county fairs. "What I didn’t know about snakes would have filled a book, but when I saw this one I knew it was a bargain. It was the blamedest, biggest snake that ever gave a wriggle, and the only reason its owners had not made a fortune was because it was never properly advertised. I used to know just how much he weighed' and how long he was, but my brain got so tirM figuring up the mopey we made ant of him that I’ve had no memory far figures since. “Well, as I said, I was pretty hard up, but I had this sparkler left f<a* ‘fall money,* and when I saw that snake I pushed it over my uncle’s counter.” He pointed "to a large yellow diamond in his scarf, and the Stranger tried to make a mental calculation of the pawnbroker's valuation of it, "Merritt managed to dig up some masuma, and we chipped in fifty apiece and became the proud possessors of Big Pete. If I had been wise to the business I would have known there was something wrong to make him sell so cheap, but we mono than got our money back put of him the first week, so we had no kick coming; we were playing on velvet and had Pete besides. It wan such a cinch that Merritt, who looked after the snake while I did the spieling and sold tickets on the front, commenced to get worried for fear We should lose him.

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

* ‘Jim,’ says he to me one morning when business was a little dull, I believe there’s something phony about the blame snake. He won’t eat and I’ve tempted him with the best I could get. I guess I’ll run down to the Bowery and get one of those snake sharps to come up and have a look at him; I believe his teeth need filling.* "I knew he was stuck on a girl that was doing a turn in a music hall down that way, but business was dull, so I let him go without raising a holler. The next day he comes back with a jaw-carpenter who claimed he knew all about shakes and when he gets through looking at Pete’s mouth we felt pretty blue. “‘Canker!’ says he. ‘Your little snakelet may live a month.’ “Well, that put it up to us n» get busy, so I did the spieling on the outside until my voice gave out, and Merritt lied on the inside until he was black in the face, telling about how many sheep old Pete swallowed every week. We had a lot of rabbits and doves with him in the cage, hopping and flying around behind the thick glass froiri, and they were rtal sociable with old Pete, who never batted an eye at ’em At the end of the month he was looking pretty thin and we were afraid he would peg out any day. It was hard luck on us, for things were coming our way and our bank rolls were getting good and plenty thick and they were all ‘yellow boys,’ from the case card to the wrapper. Our wads grew fatter as Pete grew thinner, and we were looking for some easy mark to unload him onto, when one morning Merritt comes running out, just as I was staving off a farmer who had heard him lie and brought around a flock of scabby sheep to sell to us for snake food.

“ ‘Jim,’ he yells, grabbing me by th(J shoulders and waltzing around like a whirling dervish, ‘we’ll make Rockefeller look like thirty cents; old Pete has swallowed every blame pigeon and .rabbit in the coop!’ “It seemed too good to be true, but when I went to have a look there was not a feather nor a piece of fur to be seen and old Pete was examining all the corners of the cage to see that he hadn’t overlooked a bet. He looked a whole lot better already, and Merritt and I began to discuss what we should do with all our money. "But say, there was one thing we forgot to reckon on—the appetite he had been saving for about a year, and although the money came in faster than ever, most of it went out to* the rabbit men and pigeon fanciers. “You know that when a snake swallows an animal you can see the bulge in him for a long time, but you couldn’t see any in old Pete. He was just -the same size all the way from his nose to the tip of his tail, for there was no space between the animals. “Things began to look pretty serious for us, for we had used up all the available small live stock in the surrounding country, and the Inhabitants got onto the fact that we were up against their game and raised the ante on us for what was left. It’s like taking candy from a child 'to sell a gold brick to a farmer, but he everlastingly gets back at you if you have to buy any of his produce. Hungry Joe and the man who invented the greengoods game would be skinned to death if they had’to buy a dozen eggs from one of ’em. *

“And all the time old Pete kept a constant procession of small animals moving down his throat, regardless of expense, and if the supply ran short he would look at Merritt so reproachfully that it made him feel so bad he couldn’t deliver .his lecture for sobs. He worked the pathetic on him, but if I came around there was no*'Only three grains of corn, mother,* expression on hie face; he would just rear up on his tail and lambast that glass trying to get at me. "We had rented a frame building in a little town up the river and were showing him off in good form. Business was rushing and we had the S. R. O. sign out all the time, but snake food was getting scarcer than boiled lobsters during the cold snap last winter. The show had closed up for night and we were trying to make dents in the front of the tavern bar with our breast bones and laying in a stock of supplies, in case old Pete should bite us. "While we were discussing the best way to stimulate the rabbit-breeding industry, ‘biff —boom-xbang,’ went the town bell and the barkeep commenced to peel off his coat and get into a red flannel shirt and a fireman’s helmet. It was one of those towns where they have a dude volunteer fire department, which the boys all join for the socials in the winter and to look pretty on the annual parade day. Merritt and I didn’t hurry any; we knew that it would take some time for the chief, who kept the town drug store, to get into his shiny boots and select the bouquet to carry in the big end of his speaking trumpet. Pretty soon, ‘Always Ready, Ever Faithful, Hose Company Number One,* which comprised the department, came down the street, all of the company shouting orders through trumpets at the two ooons who were pulling the cart. "Of course, we went along to sew the 'Fighting of J.he Flames’ show, but say; the joke was on ue, for it was our theater which provided it. There wasn't anything left to burn and tha hose company marched proudly pack. Poor Pete was nothing but a heap of ashes and Merritt looked sorrowful. “ ‘Jim,’ says he, let's copper the rabbit market before they get wise.’ ** “Did you have no insurance?’* asked the Stranger sympathetically. “Not a blame cent,” replied his companion as he rose to go to bed. "But I am making good money out of old Pete yet I had him stuffed and get a hundred a week from a dime museum for him—and they furnish the

FOOD OF MUCH VALUE

MUMBLE CABBAGE WORTHY OF GREATER CONSIDERATION. Writer Who Should Knew Points Out the Nourishing Qualities of This Vegetable to Those With Whom It Agrees. The ordinary cabbage contains nearly 2% per cent of protein matter, the chief food principle of meats; about 5 per cent of starches and sugars and digestible fiber; nearly onehalf per cent of vegetable fat and some mineral salts. Over 90 per cent is water. While the nutritive principles contained in cabbage as shown by the above analysis are comparatively small, yet they are considerable, and the vegetable is besides very wholesome for many other reasons, and should on that account form part of all dietaries. It is a matter of common knowledge that in diet variety plays a very important part, writes J. A. Huslk, M.' D., in the Chicago News. Feed the members of your family on the same kind of food day after day and no matter how wholesome they will soon tire of it and will not digest It normally. There Is either some psychological basis for this or perhaps a physiological one not yet well understood. Cabbages may be used to furnish variety. Another factor that makes for Wholesomeness In a vegetable like cabbage is that It contains quite a large percentage of mineral salts. These, together with the large residue left by the cabbage In the intestinal tracts, stimulate the muscular walls of the latter and In this manner aid In : the process of digestion. Cabbage Is obtainable at all seasons of the year and is one of the cheapest vegetables we have. The ways of preparing cabbage are many. It may be boiled or baked. It may be also served as a salad in the form of cold slaw. When subjected to cooking the process should be thorough to render the vegetable tender and digestible. When served raw It should be well washed and cleansed. Among the many preparations of eabbage a very wholesome one Is sauerkraut. In the ripening of sauerkraut large amounts of lactic acid are produced. This process renders the vegetable Itself more digestible and the lactic acid germs present are very beneficial to the system. They counteract the decomposition of food in the Intestines, thus making sauerkraut actually healthful. Taken from all points of view cabbage is quite a nutritious vegetable, wholesome, healthful and cheap.

Compote of Pears.

Select firm fruit, not too ripe. Wash them and cut in halves lengthwise, and carefully take out the core. Make a sirup in the proportion of two cupfuls of sugar to one of water. When the sirup is boiling put in the pieces of pears and cook until tender. Take them out with a skimmer and arrange in pyramid form, the stem end upon a pretty dish. Slice an unpeeled lemon very thin and put in the sirup. Let the sirup cook until it thickens. Put the lemon slices over the fruit and pour the sirup over all by the spoonful when a little cool. Place the compote where it will become perfectly cold before serving.

Spiced Raisins.

These are very good served with cold tongue or sliced ham. Make a sirup of two pounds of brown sugar, a pint of vinegar and a teaspoon of cloves and cinnamon. Tie spices in a bag. When it bolls skim carefully and pour over it two pounds of the finest raisins and simmer the whole for an hour, or let them stand until the second day, and then reheat sirup, put in raisins and let them stand where they will keep just below the boiling point, until the raisins are plump and tender, then seal up in glass jars. Prunes can also be used, but must be soaked first.

Coffee Cake.

One cupful of sugar, a half cupful of butter; mix well. Add two well beaten eggs, one-half cupful of raisins seeded and chopped, a half cupful of ground cinnamon, a teaspoonful of ground mace and one of ground cloves. Disolve a quarter teaspoonful of baking soda in a half cupful of cold coffee and add. Mix well, and lastly stir in lightly two cupfuls of finely sifted flour. This will be found excellent and will keep a long time.

Jelly Fritters.

a batter of two eggs, a pint of milk and a pint bowl of flour. Beat it light; put a tablespoonful of lard or beef dripping in a frying pan and add a saltspoonful of salt, making it boiling hot. Put tn the batter by the large spoonful, not too close. When one side is delicate brown turn the other. When done place on a doilycovered dish. Put a dessert spoonful of jelly on each fritter.

Yellow Croquettes.

Mix two cupfuls of hot riced potatoes with two tablespoonfuls of butter, the beaten yolks of three eggs, onehalf teaspoonful salt and a dash of cayenne. Shape into tiny croquettes, roll in flour, fry in deep fat

Pecan Pralines.

Three cups brown sugar, one cup milk, butter size of walnut boiled to soft ball. Add one cup.chopped pecans and beat the mixture until it is stiff, then pull into rough Hts and put on platters to cook

For Handy Boys and Girls to Make and Do

A BOY’S HOME-MADE STRENGTHTESTER. By A. NEELY HALL. This unique piece of apparatus will give you and your friends an opportunity to determine which one developed the most arm muscle during the summer vacation. Figure 1 shows the home-made, machine in operation; Fig. 2 is a large detail of the completed machine, and Fig. 3 shows details of the parts of which it is made. The beam A should be about 2 inches thick, 4 inches wide and 4 feet long. A thinner piece than this can be used, but one disadvantage in using the thinner piece is that It is likely to break when struck a heavy blow upon its end with the striking "maul.’* The posts B may be of the same width and thickness as beam A, or thinner and wider, and should be about 14 Inches long. Any pieces of board about 6 inches wide and 3 feet long will do for the base crosspieces C. Fasten the base crosspieces to the lower ends of upright posts B, at right angles to them, using at least four nails to make secure connections. Then with a 3 % -inch or 4-lnch nail,

spike the upper end of each upright post B to the side edges of beam A, 18 inches from qne end of A. With a, large carpet tack fasten the cover from a baking powder can to the long end of beam A —that is, the end farthest from the point at which it is pivoted between upright posts B. The can cover forms a receptacle for the strength testing weight, for which a baseball should be used. This completes the strength tester. To use it, you must have a heavy maul like that shown in Fig. 4, with which to strike the short end of the beam A. When the short end is struck, it is forced down, the long end springs up, and the ball is thrown into the air to a height dependent upon the amount of force put into the blow. Get an old broom for the striking maul, cut off about one-half of the length of the straws, and spike a thick block of wood to each side of the remaining stub of the broom.

The distance the ball is thrown into the air must be determined in order

to tell which boy strikes the hardest blow, and Fig. 5 shows how to make a simple device for recording the relative heights. At a distance of about 20 feet from the strength tester, drive a 5-foot stick, into the ground; and about 9 inches in back of that stick, and in line with it and the strength tester, drive a 3-foot stick . into the ground. This shorter stick should have 'a third stick pivoted to one side near the top, as shown in Fig. 5. • Now then, to use, the measuring device, sight along the edge of the pivoted stick, as shown by the little diagram of an eye in Fig. 6, and as the ball is thrown into the air from the beam of the strength tester, swing the stick so that its end follows the bait

When the ball reaches the highest point ip its flight, make a mark across th* tall stick, even with the top edge W the pivoted stick. ■

(Copyright by A. Neely HMD

A TOY GROCERY STORE. By DOROTHY PERKINS. With its shelves stocked with miniature packages of cereals, cans of cocoa And sacks of flour, some obtained as samples and others home-made, a toy grocery store provides an endless

source of fun for the young storekeeper. Figure 1 shows how the shelving is arranged against the rear wall of the store, and Figs. 2 and 3 show how the strips are put together. Yon will see that the shelf strips extend across the store in single lengthy while .the par* titions are short pieces ent to fit between the shelves. Cut the partitions of the right lengths to make the shelves come about the same distances apart, and cut the strips about 1 inch longer than this measurement, to provide for tun£ ing over % inch of each end to form flaps (Fig. 3). Figure 2 shows how these flaps are glued to the shelf

above and below to hold the partition* in position. A small candy box placed upon it* side will make a good center counter. A set of grocery scales must be provided for this counter, and Figure 4 shows a set that is easily made of light-weight cardboard or heavy writing paper. The support Al* made in one piece cut of the shape shown in the pattern of Fig. 5. Mak* the length about one-half as long as the candy box counter, and the other dimensions in about the same relative proportions that the details show. Tha

dotted lines indicate where, after cutting out the piece, the cardboard la folded to form the sides of the support. The distance between the aides should be about % Inch. The balance beam B Is prepared as shown by the pattern of Fig. 6. Its length is the same as that of support A, and its width is 1 Inch. Turn over about H inch of each side edge, as Indicated by dotted lines, to give the beam stiffness. The two trays should be cut M shown in Figs. 7 and 8. tray C circular in form, and tray D oblong with the corners rounded. After cutting out D. turn up Its edges to make It scoopshaped, as shown, in Fig. A Glue one tray to each end of the balance beam B, then pivot the beam at its exact balancing point between'the sides of support A, with a pin. Collar buttons make*' splendid weights for the to?