powerful fine sight; I never see anything so lovely. And then one by
one they got up and stood, and went a-weaving around the ring so
gentle and wavy and graceful, the men looking ever so tall and airy
and straight, with their heads bobbing and skimming along, away up
there under the tent-roof, and every lady's rose-leafy dress flapping
soft and silky around her hips, and she looking like the most
loveliest parasol.

And then faster and faster they went, all of them dancing, first one
foot out in the air and then the other, the horses leaning more and
more, and the ringmaster going round and round the center pole,
cracking his whip and shouting "Hi!--hi!" and the clown cracking jokes
behind him; and by and by all hands dropped the reins, and every lady
put her knuckles on her hips and every gentleman folded his arms, and
then how the horses did lean over and hump themselves! And so one
after the other they all skipped off into the ring, and made the
sweetest bow I ever see, and then scampered out, and everybody clapped
their hands and went just about wild. Well, all through the circus
they done the most astonishing things; and all the time that clown
carried on so it most killed the people. The ringmaster couldn't ever
say a word to him but he was back at him quick as a wink with the
funniest things a body ever said; and how he ever _could_ think of so
many of them, and so sudden and so pat, was what I couldn't no way
understand. Why, I couldn't 'a' thought of them in a year. And by and
by a drunken man tried to get into the ring--said he wanted to ride;
said he could ride as well as anybody that ever was. They argued and
tried to keep him out, but he wouldn't listen, and the whole show come
to a standstill. Then the people begun to holler at him and make fun
of him, and that made him mad, and he begun to rip and tear; so that
stirred up the people, and a lot of men begun to pile down off of the
benches and swarm toward the ring, saying, "Knock him down! throw him
out!" and one or two women begun to scream. So, then, the ringmaster
he made a little speech, and said he hoped there wouldn't be no
disturbance, and if the man would promise he wouldn't make no more
trouble he would let him ride if he thought he could stay on the
horse. So everybody laughed and said all right, and the man got on.
The minute he was on, the horse begun to rip and tear and jump and
cavort around, with two circus men hanging on to his bridle tryi