have the
deserving people gather at the park the next morning, which was Sunday,
and wait there until the managers of the show could count the money, and
prepare to distribute it, honestly and impartially, with the advice of
the local committee. That seemed all right, and the committee notified
the citizens to meet in the park at nine o'clock the next morning, and
receive the money the citizens had so kindly contributed to such a noble
cause, and they went away.

Our show has got out of a good many tight places, but we never got out
of a town so quietly and unostentatiously as we got out of Memphis
during that early Sunday morning. There was not noise enough made
getting our stuff to the train to wake up a policeman, and before
daylight the different sections of the train had crossed the big bridge
into Arkansas, and were on the way to the Indian Territory. Pa and the
other managers were on the platform of the last car of the last section,
as it pulled out across the river, at daylight, and even that early it
seemed as though the whole colored population of Memphis was on the way
to the park, to secure good positions, so they could receive their share
of the money. As the train got to the middle of the river, and safe into
Arkansas, the whole management breathed a sigh of relief. The boss
canvasman said: "It is like getting money from home," and pa said: "It
is like taking money from the tin cup of a blind organ grinder," and the
treasurer of the show said, as he put the day's receipts in the safe in
the business car: "It looks good to me." Then they all turned in to
sleep the happy hours away, that beautiful Sunday on the way to Indian
Territory and Oklahoma.

Well, sir, you can never make me believe that money obtained dishonestly
will stay by a person, or do him any good, and that was demonstrated in
the case of our show the next day. We got acquainted with an old showman
who was out of luck, who used to run a wild west show, but got busted
up, and as he didn't care where he went, we took him with us on the
train, and all day Sunday he talked about his show experiences, and
finally he said if we had any horses with our show that could run races,
we could make a barrel of money at Guthrie, where we were to make our
next stand. He said the Indians and half breeds all had Indian ponies
that they thought could beat any horses that ever wore shoes, and that
they would bet every cent they had on their ponies, and as they