Page 109 - 1918 VES Meteor

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.1. ou ow, to-day we get the crowds and the big tents ancl all, but the old day:~ of clowning have passed away. In my father's time tho tents were small one-ring affairs, and the clown was the whole show. Ho could sing and talk. H e was a real actor, not the mechanical fools we have to be," he added quizzically. Then their call had come and they had
scampered into the ring. As he performed that clay he kept thinking of Grimals.s. If he could only bring a ray of sun- shine into their lives!
As soon as the afternoon pel'forrnance was over he tlre~secl
hurriedly and ronfided lti:; idea tQ the manager, who insisted
on "going in with bim" to the tune of a gene>rous donation.
In short, he hnd determined to pmC'hase a small tenl, awl,
with a few <'Omrades, start n little one-ring show "ovC'r
there," free of charge to the ROlclier:'l, cheerilJir anfl helpincr l:l n
the wouncled.
TLe sun brat down hotly. Within a little black-topped tent, blackcued leo;t .he lights nt night make a target for the Tiun aviators, Jules wHs clowning. There was no huge banu playing nor gayly d1·essed crowds, but within the tent were
'grouped les invalides-tbe maimed, the halt, the feeble, the blind. Some wo1·e the smile of resignation, others the tenible, Yacnnt stare of the hopeless, and still others with
Grimaldini ttu·ned his head slightly, anu said with a smile c n:r kn '