nt of the freak he was lecturing about and
move to the next platform. That didn't happen often, but whenever we had
a Circassian Beauty among the freaks Merritt's poetry got so sentimental
that no one but a bride and groom could stand for it--and it had to be
early in the honeymoon at that. He would ring in turtle doves and azure
skies and all the wishy-washy things in natural history and mythology
and it was positively sickening.

"He sure had a soft place in his heart for Circassian Beauties, and as
they were as common as wire tappers on Broadway under a reform
administration he was always getting sentimental. We used to get a new
lot of freaks each week; our agent in New York engaged 'em and sent on
the advertising matter ahead, and when we looked over the list I could
see Merritt's face brighten up if there happened to be one of the fuzzy
blondes included in the bunch.

"Business was good, in spite of Merritt's poetry, so that I didn't kick
when I saw that another one was coming. It was a good assortment: a
Legless Wonder, The Man Who Breaks Paving Stones With His Bare Fists, a
pair of Siamese Twins, a Leopard Boy and a particularly fuzzy Circassian
Beauty. I saw Merritt's eyes grow soft when he looked at her photograph,
and I prayed for a large proportion of the newly wedded among the
audience that week.

[Illustration: _"He made sheep's eyes and threw a chest."_]

"Well, Merritt starts in with the Stone Breaker and restrains himself
pretty well; the only sentiment he got in was a fervent wish that 'a
certain blonde beauty, with eyes of cerulean blue, would not break a
heart which time would prove tender and true,' as ruthlessly as this man
cracked rocks. He was gradually working up to the blonde, you
understand, and he got warmer as he approached. The next one was the
Legless Wonder, and he got a little tangled up in his comparisons when
he sprung his poetry about him and tried to ring in the Circassian, and
he had to blow his whistle like blazes to spare the blushes of the
audience. The Siamese Twins gave him a good opening about 'bonds
eternal' and the 'season vernal' and he didn't do a thing with it. The
Leopard Boy was a cinch for him as he declaimed that

"'They say that beauty is but skin deep.
And as you gaze upon this freak,
You will, I think, agree with me,
That though beneath he fair may be,
You'd much prefer to look the same
As the fair being who next will claim
Our a