se in the costume of Joe.

It was spring time, house-cleaning and wall-papering time. Mrs. Sanford,
being of an inventive turn of mind, collected the wall paper scraps,
particularly the red border paper. Fashioning a suit out of the paper,
she pasted it together. The costume was after the style of Napoleon, as
we have seen him in pictures. Joe was without clothing of any kind
except the pasty wall paper suit, stripes on the trousers running up and
down and on the jacket encircling. As Joe walked about the dressing room
to keep warm the paper suit rustled and swished. He was the admiration
of all the performers.

Although Joe was not to appear until later he insisted that he be
permitted to perform his feats at once, that he was almost frozen. Lin
was advised of this fact and said: "Oh, well, let him do his showin'. Ef
he ketched cold he would hev the tisic, (phthysic)." Joe was subject to
this affliction.

Joe's part of the performance was hanging on a horizontal pole a little
higher than his head, skinning the cat, then sitting upright on the bar,
clasping his knees with his hands, revolve around the pole. Joe had
performed this feat a thousand times. But he had never attempted it in a
show costume constructed of wall paper.

[Illustration: Joe's Wall Paper Duds]

The wall-paper suit began to give along the pasted seams even while Joe
was skinning the cat. Lin said afterwards: "He was so durned skeered and
a wheezin' with the tisic he didn't know whether he was a-foot or
a-horseback. I seed the rips openin' every time he stirred."

Joe was evidently uncertain as to the strength of his show clothes.
Despite a parting of seams he squirmed upon the horizontal bar, gripped
his knees with his hands. Thus doubled up the strain on the wall paper
was greater than ever. Joe ducked his head forward. The first
revolution, the greater part of the wall paper suit was scattered over
the saw-dust ring. Joe started on the second revolution but when he got
under the bar he hung there swinging backwards and forwards. Lin said:
"He jus' clung thar doubled up like a toy monkey on a stick, jus'
swinging like the pendulum of a stoppin' clock."

The red flowered belt and a sort of collar around the neck remained. Joe
had on very white stockings; however, they only reached below the knee.
As he had lost his hat at the beginning of his stunt he was almost
devoid of clothes. The vast audience giggled and shouted "accordin' to
their rais