Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 37, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 February 1916 — IN THE CLOUDS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

IN THE CLOUDS

By ESTHER BURR REYNOLDS

“The profession has all gone .to pieces!” mourned old Zekiel Brown. “Where is "genius? Where is talent? Where is the dashing bareback rider •who thrilled the thousands,'ahd that big laugh of the universe, the clown, who made merriment for the millions?” “Where, indeed?” murmured his petite and pretty daughter, lola, sorrowfully, as she stitched away at a tinseled dress which she wore as a supernumerary in a cheap theatrical company. “The day of the clown is over,” mourned old Zekiel anew. “It’s the day of ‘the entertainer,’ now! As to the child equestrienne act, I might as well have trained you for the opera. Poor child! —our glory is departed and they pay you, a star of the arena, six paltry dollars a week for standing on the stage with a dozen others in a village maiden scene!” "Do I complain of it, father, dear?” cried lola cheerily. •“That keeps the pot and times have got to change, for Merrill says so, and he is a rock of strength and dependence, you know.” “Yes, poor Merrill!” continued the old circus favorite, determined to grumble out all his manifold troubles. “Look at that boy, the best triple somersault man in America —once. Now — wjiy, the new-fangled ‘equilibrist’ has to invest two or three thousand dollars in his act outfit before he gets a vaudeville engagement. And the wedding! Here Merrill thought he had a settled position as advance agent for a show, and what does the show do? Bust! And the wedding put off till he sees his way clear to support you!" lola looked a’ little grave. Yes, there was to have been a wedding, and she was disappointed. Merrill Boyd had been a close friend of her father ahd a lover of her own 1 for several years. Humble people, and honest, they were, the sawdust griifie and the tinsel glare never having hurt them one bit, for the circus ring was a family proclivity on both sides. "There he is now!" suddenly cried lola, and sprang to her feet, all aglow with delight and suspense. The door opened, succeeding to the quick, nerv-

ous tramp of sturdy footsteps. Hand’some, alert, kindly-eyed and manly looking, Merrill Boyd burst In Upon the bomely little room, brisk, stimulating and quite excited. “Well, old friend,” he cried to Zekiel, “I’ve made it!" “You don’t say so—another engagement?" questioned the old clown eagerly. “Not in the old line, though,” replied Merrill. • “You see, we are desperately driven, and I had to hustle for something now and ready. In the first place, my dear," beaming on lola, “we’ve got to get married, you and L” “When?" voiced the astounded lola. “Every day for a year to come, maybe." ■ “Why, Merrill!" began the old circus man, agape. “Where'?’’ gasped lola. “In a balloon,” promptly explained Merrill. “Don’t get the Jiggers, people. It’s a plain, practical proposition ” Then he told what It was. He had run across an old circus friend, whose business had been making show balloon ascensions. The man was crippled, could work no longer, but had ‘some contracts with circuses for the season. He offered to lease the balloon to Merrill for ninety days on an income-sharing basis. A ' feature of the ascensions was to be a prize to the man and woman who would go up in the balloon and be married. ' “You see," said Merrill to old Zekiel, “you are a licensed minister. Not many times will strangers go up .in the balloon, so lola and I must make the play, and you must marry us.” “Yes,” replied Zekiel, “that is a fact. Years ago I had a a sect out in Dakota, and it holds good. Am Ito really marry you two?” he inquired. “Once, for good. There is no other way, and every time the ceremony is repeated it will bind us closer together than ever!” cried Merrill expansively. “Surely you are willing, Iola.”

"Can you ask?” questioned lola softly, her great faith In her lover shining in her beautiful eyes. So ft all came about that the trio entered a new and apparently promising field of business activity. And so they were married, and for a month married over and over again, and were making good headway when the circus people went bankrupt. It was hard to find another permanent engagement. There was a month of idleness, and the profits were eaten up by expenses. Finally Merrill decided to make a circuit of the county fairs. There were long jumps, however. The balloon constantly requited repairs and new equipment, and the prospects were not alluring. They had about decided to give up the balloon experiment, when, one afternoon at a bustling Illinois county seat where a fair was going on, something quite tremendous happened. No genuine engaged couple appearing to go aloft and be wedded, Merrill and lola were in a little tent ready to make up as bashful groom and blushing bride, when one side of the canvas was pressed in and then lifted, and* a quick voice spoke: hide here. lam sure your fa-, ther is on our track.” “Oh, Gerald, what shall we ever do —oh, dear!” A handsome young man had pushed into the tent a bewitching little beauty, and they stood daunted and fearful before the astounded Merrill and lola. Their story came out —they loved one another, but cruel papa was opposed, and they had eloped. He was on their trail. He might arrive to trace them at any moment. lola regarded the clear-eyed young man and the fluttering bird of a girl with moistened eyes. Love and sympathy spoke in her rapid suggestion. “Would you be afraid to go up in the balloon and be married among the clouds?” she submitted. “So long as we land again on terra firma man and wife. float us to Mars' if you like!” cried the ardent young man. So in a hurry the eloping young lady was arrayed in the tinsel wedding finery and veil that well concealed her face. As to the young man, Merrill smilingly pasted a false mustache on his lips. Then Merrill went out and advised old Zekiel as to the plot. Then the couple were hurried to the balloon and orders given to cut loose. Just then a furious, red-faced old man dashed up in an automobile. Just then, too, the false hirsute appfndange on the lip of his. would-be son-in-law fell off and the old man shook his fist aloft with a yell of baffled despair. When old Zekiel returned with the balloon —eppty —three hours later, he beamed all over. “Well, people,” he said to Merrill and lola, “that happy young fellow, who is a junior Croesus, gave me a wedding fee —look!” “A check for five thousand dollars!” cried the astounded Merrill. “Oh, rapture!” chirped lola. They sent the balloon back to its owner, bought a growing little business, and comfort and joy was the inevitable outcome. And often a lovely woman and her happy-faced husband came to visit them —at times, also, a contented old man paterfamilias entirely reconciled to that mad, exciting wedding in the clouds.. (Copyright, 1916, by W. G. Chapman.)

Shook His Fist Aloft.