led: "Balloon! Balloon! Balloon!" And they crowded up closte to that
rope.

Doctor Kirby has been getting off the wagon, but he gets back on her,
and stretches his arms wide, and motions of 'em all to come close.

"Ladies and gentlemen," he says, "please to gather near--up here,
good people--and listen! Listen to what I have to say--harken to the
utterings of my voice! There has been a misunderstanding here! There has
been a misconstruction! There has been, ladies and gentlemen, a woeful
lack of comprehension here!"

It looked to me like they was beginning to understand more than he meant
them to. I was wondering how it would all come out, but he never lost
his nerve.

"Listen," he says, very earnest, "listen to me. Somehow the idea seems
to have gone forth that there would be a balloon ascension here this
afternoon. How, I do not know, for what we advertised, ladies and
gentlemen, was that the balloon used by Prof. Alonzo Ackerman, the
illustrious aeronaut, would be UPON EXHIBITION. And there she is, ladies
and gentlemen, there she is, for every eye to see and gladden with the
sight of--right before you, ladies and gentlemen--the balloon of Alonzo
Ackerman, the wonderful voyager of the air, exactly as represented.
During their long career Kirby and Company have never deceived the
public. Others may, but Kirby and Company are like Caesar's wife--Kirby
and Company are above suspicion. It is the province of Kirby's Komedy
Kompany, ladies and gentlemen, to spread the glad tidings of innocent
amusement throughout the length and breadth of this fair land of ours.
And there she is before you, the balloon as advertised, the gallant ship
of the air in which the illustrious Ackerman made so many voyages before
he sailed at last into the Great Beyond! You can see her, ladies and
gentlemen, straining at her cords, anxious to mount into the heavens
and be gone! It is an education in itself, ladies and gentlemen, a moral
education, and well worth coming miles to see. Think of it--think of
it--the Ackerman balloon--and then think that the illustrious Ackerman
himself--he was my personal friend, ladies and gentlemen, and a true
friend sticketh closer than a brother--the illustrious Ackerman is dead.
The balloon, ladies and gentlemen, is there, but Ackerman is gone to his
reward. Look at that balloon, ladies and gentlemen, and tell me if you
can, why should the spirit of mortals be proud? For the man that rode
her like a master and