ike a colt approaching a brass band,
prancing and dancing, wrong end foremost.

Many were the written protests sent Bill. All these he ignored. He not
only refused to reply to them, but to emphasize his contempt, used them
for an unseemly purpose.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Hang on! Cling on!
No matter what they say.
Push on! Work on!
Things will come your way.

"A person dunno till after they've fell intu a muddy ditch how meny
roads they cud a took an' kept out uf hit. But after ye've fell in the
mud a time ur tu an' then ye don't no enuf tu keep outen hit, ye ain't
much; ye're only gettin' muddy an' not larnen eny sense, an' thar ain't
much hope fur ye." This was Lin's answer to Alfred's declaration that he
would never go out with another show unless it was first class.

If there ever lived a boy who has not experienced the feelings that must
come to a rooster that has been in a hard battle and lost the greater
part of his tail feathers, he is one who has never looked over his
record and endeavored to rub out the punk spots. There are but few boys
who have not an exaggerated ego, and it is well that they are so
constituted, they will better battle with the rebuffs and the
disappointments that youth always walks into.

If a boy is lacking in confidence--conceit is confidence increased in a
boy; conceit is ignorance in a man. Conceit renders a man so cock-sure
that he ignores advice.

The first thing for which a boy should be operated upon is an
overdeveloped bump of self-conceit. The earlier in life this
protuberance is punctured the more quickly he will become useful to
himself and family. It often requires several operations to effect a
cure.

Over-zealous friends are responsible to an extent for the failure of
many promising young men. Many persons regard exaggerated praise
necessary to the advancement of youth. A boy entering almost any
profession or trade can be unfitted for his labors by fulsome
flattering.

Alfred's best friends filled him with the false idea that he was a great
actor, that he was being abused and thwarted. Had his friends been
sincere, he could have side stepped many stiff punches that he walked
straight into. Most fortunate is the boy who gets knocked through the
ropes early in the bout of life; his youth will enable him to come back
the stronger.

The King Solomon of showmen, P. T. Barnum, the father of fakes,
originated the "Gift Show"--the giving of pres