People's Pilot, Volume 6, Number 29, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 January 1897 — WINNIE. [ARTICLE]

WINNIE.

Il«w Adam Fnreiiaiigh’a Horie Was Cured.

By W. E. MAYO.

I. There was trouble in the big tent of billowing white canvas ihat contained the circus. Winl ie* the prettiest and mostgracef uiof trick horses, had been hurt. In getting off a car, which had brought them to this Indiana ■t ’Wti, she had slipped and fallen; now she lay on her side behind the circus stable panting for breath and looking up with mute appeal into the faces of those about her. Presently the surgeon came and after looking Winnie over shook his head. “I’m afraid it’s no use,” he said; “her back is strained, if not broken, and it is doubtful if she will ever be able to stand again.” As he finished speaking a grayhaired man standing in the little group turned away and hastily brushed his hand across his eyes. It was Adam Forepaugh; the owner of the circus, and of Winnie, who had often watched her with keen pleasure as she marched proudly behind the big l and wagon or went through her clever exhibition in the ring. It was like losing a coild to see her die. In a moment the gray-haired man turned about, “Adams,” be said, get your pistol aud put the poor thing out of her misery, anyway.” Then Tom Wilson clutched the big man’s coat and quavered: “Please sir, let me have the horse. I’ll try to make her well.” Tjom was always the most excited boy in Baldwinsville when the circus paid its yearly visit io town. His mother’s brown bouse stood close to the place where the tent was always put up and Tom had plenty of opportunity to watch the men at their work. Today he had been hovering about the beautiful white horse that lay in helpless pain in the shade of his own favorite apple-tree. He had been almost ready to cry as he watched her suffering but not until he learned that she was to be shot did he pluck up courage to speak out the wish that was in his mind. Adam Forepaugh looked down at the eager face beside him. “So you want the horse?” he said not unkindly. “What could you do \ T her? “Oh. i f teed her and take care es her, d give her medicine until sht ; .ot well,” began Tom, his fear giving way before his anxiety to save the horse. The showman’s eyes twinkled. “I’m afraid you don’t know much about horses,” he said. “No, I don’t, sir,” said Tom, honestly. But I love them, and this is the most beautiful one I ever saw.” Adam Forepaugh hesitated a moment; then be turned back, spoke to the surgeon again, and called Tom to his side. There is a bare chance that the horse may get well,” he said. “Now I’ll tell you what you are do to. Keep the horse for two weeks. If she is not better at tne end of that time, take this P atul and shoot her here,”

drawing his forefinger down ihe horse’s head and then across just above the eyes, and indicating the point where the two lines Crossed. “You will need money to buy feed for her; here is SSO. If the horse lives, bring her to mo when we come-back next year and I will pay you well for your trouble.” 11. When two weeks had passed Winnie still lay under the apple tree. Many times had Tom planned exactly how he would do the shooting when it should become necessary, but when he looked into Winnie’s pleading eyes he knew that he would never have the heart to do it. At last, however, the horse did begin to improve, and one morning when Tom went out of the house he found her standing up. Tom was a happy boy that day, aud from that time on ho and the horse were inseparable companions. Winnie was always ready to display her tricks for Tom’s benefit, and Tom was proud of his pet, who was the envy of the whole town. So the days wore away through autumn and winter until summer had come again. Winnie was perfectly at home in the little stable behind the brown cottage, and had apparently forgotten all about the great tent that had once been her home. Tom had taken good care ot her, her coat was sleek and shiny and her injured back was entirely well.

One day some men appeared in Baldwinsville and covered the walls and fences with pictures of elephants and monkeys and of men and women Hying through the air. The circus was coming again. Tom did not know whether to be glad or sorry. He was pleased to be able to show that he had pulled the horse through her sickness, but the thought that he might hav9 to part with her made him feel like riding her away where they could not be found, Finally, however, Tom decided that he and Winnie would go to the circus together. When the parade marched through the main street of the town, Winnie, with Tom on her back, was among the sight seers. The braying of tne horses and the occasional roar of the lions seemed to stir almost forgotten memories in Winnie’s mind. As the procession approached she pricked up her • ears and moved about uneasily. Then as the big band wagon came opposite them she swept into her old place directly behind it, at the head of the long line of animals and performers. In vain did Tom pull on the bridle reins and urge the horse to one side or the other. Winnie had gone back to the old days and the old ways and paid not the slightest attention to Tom’s protests. 111, Adam Forepaugh sat in a hotel window looking down at the parade when suddenly he started up with an exclamation of surprise at the sight of a sleek white horse with a bare footed boy on her back. The boy’s stiff hair was sticking through holes in his straw hat, and he looked strangely out of place among the painted and gayly

dresseq riders, but Adam Forepaugh knew that he could not be mistaken about the horse. It was his own prized Winnie, and he hurried down to find the barefooted boy, without waiting for the rest of the procession to pass. -/S' Tom blushed with pleasure when he heard the great showman’s warm praises for what he had done, but he cried outright and was not ashamed of it when he came to part with Winnie. Winnie herself put her nose against Tom’s cheek and said good-by as lovingly as a horse can. That night after the big tent had been taken down and all the cages had rattled away on the way to the next town Tom lay under the old apple tree and shook with sobs as he thought of his lost friend and was not comforted even by the knowledge that SI,OOO had that day been deposited, in the Baldwins ville National Bank to the credit of Thomas Wilson—as a testimonial from his friend, Adam Forepaugh, the showman.