hey can so walk up it," stoutly declares one boy. Hurrah! A champion
to the rescue! The others edge closer to him. They like him.

"Nah, they cain't. How kin they? They'd cut their feet all to pieces."

"They kin so. I seen 'em do it. The time I went with Uncle George I seen
a man, a Japanee.... Yes, sharp. Cut paper with 'em.... A-a-ah, I did
so. I guess I know what I seen an' what I didn't."

The little boys breathe easier, but fearing another onslaught, make all
haste to call attention to the most fascinating one of all, the picture
of a little boy standing up on top of his daddy's head. And, as if that
weren't enough, his daddy is standing up on a horse and the horse is
going round the ring lickety-split. And, as if these circumstances
weren't sufficiently trying, that little show-boy is standing on only
one foot. The other is stuck up in the air like five minutes to six, and
he has hold of his toe with his hand. I'll bet you can't do that just
as you are on the ground, let alone on your daddy's head, and him on a
horse that's going like sixty. Now you just try it once. Just try it....
Aa-ah! Told you you couldn't.

Now, how the show-actors can do that looks very wonderful to you. It
really is very simple. I'll tell you about it. All show-actors are born
double-jointed. You have only two hip-joints. They have four. And it's
the same all over with them. Where you have only one joint, they have
two. So, you see, the wonder isn't how they can bend themselves every
which way, but how they can keep from doubling up like a foot-rule.

And another thing. Every day they rub themselves all over with
snake-oil. Snakes are all limber and supple, and it stands to reason
that if you take and try out their oil, which is their express essence,
and then rub that into your skin, it will make you supple and limber,
too. I should think garter-snakes would do all right, if you could catch
enough of them, but they 're so awfully scarce. Fishworms won't do. I
tried 'em. There's no grease in 'em at all. They just dry up.

And I suppose you know the reason why they stay on the horse's back.
They have rosin on their feet. Did you ever stand up on a horse's back?
I did. It was out to grandpap's, on old Tib.... No, not very long. I
didn't have any rosin on my feet. I was going to put some on, but my
Uncle Jimmy said: "Hay! What you got there?" I told him. "Well," he
says, "you jist mosey right into the house and put that back in the
fidd