by pouring a tray of
lemonade over me.

When my eyes opened, I saw a sight that I shall never forget. It seems
that when the horses fell down, the chariot and the other two horses and
pa and I had landed all in a heap right on top of the lemonade and
peanut concession, and carried it up onto a row of seats near the main
entrance from the menagerie. The elephants that were to come on next
were in the door waiting for their signal, and they were scared at the
crash, and they came in bellowing, the keepers having lost all control
of them. The audience was stampeding, and the circus men were trying to
straighten things out.

Pa struck on his head against a wagon wheel and his brass helmet was
driven down over his face, so when he yelled to be pulled out of the
helmet his voice sounded like a coon song, coming from a phonograph. It
was the closest call from death pa ever had, 'cause they had to cut the
helmet with a can opener to let pa out, like you open a can of lobsters.
When they got the helmet opened so pa could come out, he looked just
like a boiled lobster, and when the chief owner of the circus came up on
a run, and asked if pa was dead, pa said: "Not much, Mary Ann; did I
win?" and the manager said it was a pity they ever opened that helmet
and let pa out. The man told pa he won in a walk, but the chief of
police of Scranton was going to arrest pa for exceeding the speed limit.

[Illustration: Pa Struck on His Head Against a Wagon Wheel.]

They took pa to the dressing-room on a piece of board, and when the
woman driver saw him, she got an ax, and wanted to cleave him from head
to foot, but the bearded woman stepped in front of her and said: "Not on
your life," and she shielded pa from death with her manly form, which pa
says he shall never forget. Pa's old friends in Scranton gave him a
banquet that night, but pa couldn't eat anything, cause the rim of the
brass helmet cut a gash in his Adam's apple.

After the chariot race the managers concluded they wouldn't let pa have
any position of importance again very soon, and I made up my mind you
wouldn't ever catch me in any game that pa was in; but in the circus
business you can never tell what is going to happen from one day to
another.

On the train on the way to Wilkes Barre there was a hot box on one of
the sleepers, and the car was side-tracked all night.

When we arrived at the town about 40 wagon drivers that were in the car
did not show up, and they had