improbable.
Crusoe's island undoubtedly exists somewhere "near the mouth of the
great river Orinoco."

PHILEMON'S CIRCUS.

BY MARY DENSEL.

"--together with fifes and drums. The gigantic procession, headed by the
stupendous gilded chariot, will move through the town at seven o'clock
A.M. precisely,'" ended Tom Tadgers, quoting from the handbills.

"Through _this_ town?" asked Philemon, much excited.

Tom Tadgers gave him a withering glance.

"Do you suppose that N. Ticeum and B. Phoolum's 'Great Moral Show,' with
'six tigers, five elephants, a giraffe, hippopot_a_mus, kangaroo,
in-nu-mer-a-ble monkeys, wild men of Borneo, living skeleton, educated
bull, and a ship of the desert,' would come to a mean little village
like this? Skowhegan's the town it's going to move through, and it will
pass Tucker's Corner at five o'clock to-morrow morning. So Silas Elder
says to me, 'You get into the back of my milk cart, Tadgers'" (Tommy
felt deeply the dignity of being "Tadgers"), "'and I'll give you a lift
as far as the Corner, Tadgers. Then you can follow the procession, and
go to the show at Skowhegan, Tadgers,' says he. Now, Philemon, how would
you like to come along too?"

"And Romeo Augustus with me?" questioned Philemon, eagerly.

Tadgers shook his head.

"Come by yourself, or not at all," said he, firmly. "What's more, you
must be on hand by four o'clock to-morrow morning."

How could Philemon wake at that early hour? It was his wont not only to
"sleep like a top all night," but also to "sleep at morn."

Tom, however, agreed to manage that. So when Philemon went to bed at
night, it was with one end of a piece of stout twine tied to his ankle,
while the other end hung out at the open window.

Neither Elias, John, nor Romeo Augustus, who shared his chamber, spied
the cord. Philemon waited till they were sound asleep before he arranged
it.

The sun had not begun to show his face above the horizon when there came
a brisk twitch on the twine. Philemon was broad awake in a twinkling,
and rolled out of bed to dance a one-footed ballet, by reason of a
series of jerks given to the cord by the sprightly Thomas below. It was
only after Philemon had knocked over two chairs and a cricket that he
managed to hop wildly to the window, and to call out in a hoarse
whisper, "You'll wake the whole house if you don't quit," that Tom
condescended to desist; and a few minutes later the two comrades were
climbing into the ba