t de money part of it;
'cause when all is said an' done, dat's de principalest part, ain't it?"

The town of Wyattsville was, as the saying goes, all agog. Indeed, as
the editor of the Wyattsville Tri-Weekly Statesman most aptly phrased it
in the introductory sentence of a first-page, full-column article in his
latest issue: "This week all roads run to Wyattsville."

The occasion for all this pleasurable excitement wast the annual fair
and races of the Forked Deer County Jockey Club, and superimposed upon
that the street carnival conducted under the patronage and for the
benefit of Wyattsville Herd Number 1002 of the Beneficent and Patriotic
Order of American Bison. Each day would be a gala day replete with
thrills and abounding in incident; in the forenoons grand free
exhibitions upon the streets, also judgings and awards of prizes in
various classes, such as farm products, livestock, poultry, needlework,
pickles, preserves and art objects; in the afternoons, on the half-mile
track out at the fair grounds, trotting, pacing and running events; in
the evenings the carnival spirit running high and free, with
opportunities for innocent mirth, merriment and entertainment afforded
upon every hand.

This was Monday night, the opening night. The initial performance of the
three on the nightly schedule of Powers Brothers' Trained Wild Animal
Arena approached now its climax, the hour approximately being
eight-forty-five. The ballyhoo upon the elevated platform without had
been completed. Hard upon this an audience of townspeople and visitors
which taxed the standing capacity of the tented enterprise had flowed
in, after first complying with the necessary financial details at the
ticket booth. The Educated Ostrich, the Bird That Thinks, had performed
to the apparent satisfaction of all, though it might as well be
confessed that if one might judge by the intelligent creature's
expression, the things it thought while going through its paces scarcely
would be printable. Violet, the lady leopard, had obliged by yowling in
a spirited and spitty manner when stirred up with a broom handle. The
two bears had given a complete if somewhat lackadaisical rendition of
their act. And now the gentlemanly orator in charge, who, after his
ballyhoos, doubled as master of ceremonies and announcer of events,
directed the attention of the patrons to the largest cage of the four.

As was customary, the culminating feature of the program had been