The Circus Comes to Town

by Lebbeus Mitchell

"—and Elephants to Ride Upon"

Jerry's new-found mother went quickly to Mother 'Larkey and placed a comforting arm about her shoulder.

"I am Mrs. Bowe, Gary's mother," she said, "and oh, how can I ever thank you for loving him and giving him a home? I never can repay you."

"That we can't, Mrs. Mullarkey," Whiteface interposed. "But what is this about taking Gary away? And Celia Jane?"

"Let's go into the house first," suggested Mrs. Bowe. "We have too big an audience here."

She led the way, her arm still about Mrs. Mullarkey's shoulder. Jerry and his father followed, though Jerry turned at the door to have another look at Sultana and the admiring throng of children gathered about her.

Nora and Celia Jane, who had lapsed into tongue-tiedness after learning that they were all going to see the circus that night, now started slowly into the house, Kathleen clinging to Nora's hand to keep from falling. But their eyes were turned back towards Sultana until they passed through the door.

Danny and Chris were also of two minds whether to follow the great clown or remain outside with the elephant, but their mother's statement that Mr. Darner had come to take Jerry away and was even then in the house finally drew them as a magnet, their eyes also directed towards Sultana until they stumbled through the door.

Jerry saw Darn Darner's father sitting by the living-room window and came to a stop. Mr. Darner was a dour, heavy-set man with a coarse, bristling gray beard. He glared at Whiteface through thick glasses.

"What does all this hullabaloo mean?" he asked Mrs. Mullarkey, in a gruff voice.

"It means," said Whiteface, answering for her and advancing towards Mr. Darner, Jerry's hand held tightly in his, "that Jerry Elbow has found his parents and the people have followed us here to show how glad they are."

"You his father? A clown in a circus?" asked Mr. Darner.

"Yes, I am his father and I am a clown in a circus," replied Whiteface.

"Mr. Darner is the County Overseer of the Poor," Mrs. Mullarkey explained. "He's been at me to give Jerry up and let him take him to the poor farm ever since my Dan died."

"It's for your own good and your children's—and Jerry's, too, if you weren't too blind to see it," the Overseer stated.

"After Dan's insurance money was all gone—and a good part of it went to finish paying for this house," Mrs. Mullarkey continued, "I couldn't make enough to keep the children decently. Mr. Darner's kept telling me that if I didn't let him take Jerry to the poor farm, I'd break down sooner or later and have to send my own children there or let them be adopted out. Mr. Phillips thought he could help—"

"Phillips is always butting into things that are none of his business," growled Mr. Darner.

"But this afternoon Mr. Darner came to take Jerry and I just couldn't hold out any longer—I haven't the money or the strength. And he wants Danny to go to a place in the country to work for his board and wants me to let Celia Jane be adopted by a family in Hampton who are looking for a girl. He thinks I ought to see if Celia Jane won't suit them."

"Mother! Take me away from home!" wailed Celia Jane aghast.

"I'm at the end of my string," Mrs. Mullarkey's discouraged voice continued. "I've never been able to make both ends meet since Dan died."

"She couldn't make them meet so's to give us money to buy tickets to the circus," Jerry explained corroboratively to his father.

"You'll have to come to it eventually, Mrs. Mullarkey," warned the County Overseer. "This is a good chance for Celia Jane. The Thompsons are well fixed; they'll give her a fine home and a good education."

Celia Jane at that sat down on the floor and let her body relax into a limp bundle.

"I won't go!" she sobbed. "I won't leave mother! What would I do without mother?"

Jerry was very much distressed at Celia Jane's misery and he looked pleadingly up at his clown-father; that extraordinary man knew without a word having been spoken that Jerry expected him to fix things so that Celia Jane could stay with her mother. Whiteface spoke at once.

"Don't cry, Celia Jane. Nobody is going to take you away. Both ends are going to meet now. You're all going to stay here with your mother."

"You talk big," grumbled Mr. Darner. "Now to come down to brass tacks. Who's—"

"As long as I have any money, Mr. County Overseer," said Whiteface, "or as long as I have the power to make any, the Mullarkey household will not be broken up."

"Of course it won't, Robert," chimed in Jerry's mother in a crisp voice, as she raised Celia Jane from the floor and comforted her. "You always know just what to do."

Jerry's father continued:

"We are going to take Gary with us now, but we are going to try to repay Mrs. Mullarkey a little for all she has done and suffered for our boy. I have some money saved up and make a good salary. I want you to go to Mr. Burrows, one of the proprietors of the circus, and satisfy yourself on that point and that I am a man of my word. While you are doing that we can arrange with Mrs. Mullarkey. We want to be alone with her. I'll see you again before to-night's performance."

Mr. Darner stood up.

"I do not doubt your desire or ability in the matter," he said, "and, as you wish it, I will consult Mr. Burrows. Nobody can be gladder than I am that things have turned out this way. I don't like breaking up families and taking children out to the farm, though some people say that I do. I have to do a lot of things that go against the grain. I've wanted to do what was best for you, Mrs. Mullarkey."

"We are sure you meant things for the best, Mr. Darner," said Jerry's mother. "Good-by."

Mrs. Mullarkey was looking so hard at Jerry's parents that she did not return Mr. Darner's "Good afternoon" as he left the house or seem even to have heard it.

"It can't be true, what you just said," she at length articulated in a choked voice. "Such things don't happen to us."

"It is true," Jerry's mother assured her.

"We shall not forget what you have done for Gary," said Whiteface. "I calculate that I owe you at the least one thousand dollars for taking care of him—"

"A thousand dollars!" gasped Danny. "Why, that's as much as father's insurance! I didn't know anybody could get that much money unless they died!"

Mrs. Mullarkey said nothing; her lips were trying to smile though the tears still stood in her eyes.

"Besides which," continued the clown, "Helen and I will help you look out for the children and we want you to call on us any time that you may be in trouble."

"We do, indeed," said Jerry's mother. "You cannot work so hard and take care of your children the way you want to. If you only lived near us—"

"Helen," interrupted Jerry's father, "I've been thinking, now that we are going to settle down in business, it would be a wise thing for Mrs. Mullarkey to sell her place here and move to Carroll with us. Then we'll know how they are getting on and can look after the children some. I'll help her dispose of the place here and buy one in Carroll, if she would like such an arrangement."

"Would you, Mrs. Mullarkey?" asked Jerry's mother.

It took her such a long time to answer that Jerry looked up and saw her lips were twisting. She was crying inside so that you couldn't hear her. Jerry knew how that hurt—to cry when you didn't dare cry out loud. He had often done it in the night, before he ran away, so the man with the big red scar wouldn't hear him. He left his mother and Kathleen, climbed up on Mother 'Larkey's lap, put one arm about her neck and with his other hand patted her wet cheek.

"An' then Kathleen won't cry for me," he coaxed, "'cause I'll be right there an' can run over any time, couldn't I, Mother?"

"Yes, of course you could, dear."

"There, you see," he continued.

"I should love to," Mrs. Mullarkey replied at last to Mr. and Mrs. Bowe. "It would be such a relief to have some one I could go to for advice about the children. It's not that they're wayward or bad, but Danny is hot-headed like his father and thoughtless. I'm sure, he didn't mean to steal Jerry's ticket to the circus—"

"Why, mother!" exclaimed Danny. "I didn't steal it! He gave it to Celia Jane of his own free will and she gave it to me, didn't you, Celia Jane?"

"Yet it was stealing," replied his mother, "for you put Celia Jane up to it. Nora told me all about it and Nora never tells what is not true."

"You gave your ticket to Celia Jane, didn't you, Jerry—I mean, Gary?" appealed Danny.

"Yes," Jerry replied hesitantly.

"There, you see, Mother, I didn't steal it," Danny defended himself.

"Because you put Celia Jane up to getting Jerry's ticket for you," continued his mother, "you must stay home to-night and—"

"Not go to the circus!" exclaimed Danny. "When it don't cost nothin'!"

"And Celia Jane can keep you company. I've told you again and again that you couldn't impose upon Jerry just because he's not a Mullarkey."

"Stay home from the circus!" wailed Celia Jane, appalled, and then she burst into a flood of tears. Jerry was sure they were not crocodile ones this time, for her body shook with the sobs of anguished disappointment. He wanted Celia Jane to see the circus and Danny, too, and he knew Danny was sorry.

"Mebbe I wouldn't never have seen Whiteface—Father," he said to Mother 'Larkey, "if Danny hadn't gone into the circus."

"That is true," Whiteface corroborated. "I found him crying outside the tent and told him he could speak to me inside if he recognized me. He did recognize me and that was undoubtedly one of the things that led to the discovery of his identity."

"Danny likes me," Jerry added. "He fought Darn Darner when he said they was goin' to take me to the poor farm."

"So do I l-l-like you, J—J—Jerry," sobbed Celia Jane. "—I—I'm sorry I—" A fresh outburst of sobbing prevented further speech.

Jerry's heart was touched at her grief and his own lips began to twist.

"I want Danny and Celia Jane to see the circus, too, Mother 'Larkey," Jerry protested. "I ain't mad at them any more."

"Please let them come," urged Jerry's mother. "I am so happy that I can't bear to think of them being so terribly disappointed. And Gary's pleasure would be spoiled knowing they were here at home while the rest of you were at the circus."

"It does seem hard-hearted," Mrs. Mullarkey relented, "but Danny knows he can't pick on Jerry and not suffer for it. They can go to the circus, but I'll leave it to them what they shall do as a reminder that they mustn't pick on Jerry again. Danny, what will you do?"

Danny hesitated a moment and then said without a tremor:

"Jerry can have all my marbles and I'll feed his white rabbit for him all summer."

"Not all your marbles?" queried Jerry, knowing what a pang it must have cost Danny voluntarily to decide to part with all his agates and glassies and pee-wees and commies and steelies.

"Yes," said Mrs. Mullarkey, "every last one. Now, Celia Jane, stop your crying and tell us what you will do."

"I'll sweep the kitchen every day and do dishes without grumbling," Celia Jane sniffled, while Danny was off upstairs at a run.

"That will remind you to be more careful," said Mrs. Mullarkey, "and remember you are to work willingly, without any grumbling."

"I will, Mother," sobbed the girl.

"And now," Jerry heard his father saying, "it is time for us to be going back to the circus and of course Helen wants Gary with her now. We'll keep him with us for three weeks and then, when we play Hampton, I'll bring him back here for the rest of the summer. When our season closes we'll come for him and take him to Carroll."

"And we hope you will decide to move there, too, Mrs. Mullarkey," said Mrs. Bowe.

"I will if Mr. Bowe thinks it will be best for the children," she replied.

"I do think it so," said Whiteface. "To-morrow I'll mail you a check for one hundred dollars and the rest of the thousand I'll send to you as you want it. We'll arrange that when I bring Gary back. I have nothing with me now, as I haven't any pocket in these clothes."

"I have," said Mrs. Bowe and took several bills from her bag and pressed them into Mrs. Mullarkey's hands.

"I can't thank you," said Mother 'Larkey. "I don't know how."

"You've loved Gary, Mrs. Mullarkey. He wouldn't love you so much if you hadn't. That is more thanks than I want. We owe more than thanks to you. Tell them good-by, Gary. We must start."

Jerry was awfully glad that he had found his parents and that he was going with them and was much excited at the thought of traveling with the circus for three whole weeks and getting real well acquainted with Great Sult Anna O'Queen, but his throat grew all lumpy at the thought of leaving kindly Mother 'Larkey, loving Kathleen and gentle Nora and Chris and—yes, and Danny and Celia Jane, too.

Mrs. Mullarkey gathered him up in her arms and kissed him.

"Good-by, Jerry. You've brought good fortune to this family and put food into the mouths of my children and clothes on their backs when I couldn't see where they were to come from. You must love your mother hard for all the time she has been without you—and your father, too."

"I will," Jerry promised and squeezed her neck very hard and kissed her. Just then Danny came tumbling breathlessly downstairs and thrust a little cloth sack, which was very heavy, into Jerry's hand.

"Here are my marbles," he said. "All thirty-two of them."

"I don't want them," said Jerry.

"Take them with you, Jerry," Mother 'Larkey urged him. "It will help Danny to remember some things which he mustn't forget."

Jerry consulted his mother's eyes. She nodded her head and he took the marbles. Then he shook hands with Danny and Chris and Nora and kissed and hugged Kathleen, leaving Celia Jane till the last, because she was still sobbing.

Celia Jane did not feel entirely forgiven because Jerry seemed to avoid her and she abased herself before him.

"I—I'm s-s-sorry, Jerry. I'll n-n-never do it again. You ain't mad at m-m-me any m-m-more, are you, Jerry?"

"No, I ain't mad at you," Jerry assured her.

"Then will you m-m-marry me when we are g-g-grown up, Jerry?"

Jerry flushed uncomfortably at that and felt that Celia Jane was taking an unfair advantage of him, so he did not answer.

"W-w-will you, J-J-Jerry?" Celia Jane besought him.

"No," said Jerry at length.

"Why w-w-won't you?"

Jerry felt himself flushing still more hotly from head to foot, partly at the smile he saw his father and mother exchange and partly at Celia Jane's importunity.

"Because," he said.

"I'll g-g-give you my silver ring if you will, Jerry."

"No," said Jerry more firmly.

"Why won't you, J-J-Jerry?"

"Yes, Gary," interposed his father with a dancing, twinkling light in his eyes, "why can't you promise it to oblige the lady?"

"'Cause," Jerry informed him gravely, "when I grow up I'm goin' to marry Kathleen."

Jerry was somewhat dumfounded at the burst of laughter which followed his announcement. They did not know, he thought, that Kathleen had given him her old, adored rag dog of her own free will.

"The darling!" cried Mother 'Larkey, after she had stopped laughing. "But there is plenty of time to change your mind yet."

"Then you must be very kind to Kathleen, always," said Jerry's mother.

"He has been," said Mrs. Mullarkey.

Kathleen looked up at Jerry and gurgled.

"Never mind, Celia Jane," consoled Nora. "He'll be in the family, anyway."

Celia Jane was greatly cheered by that consolation and brightened visibly, much to Jerry's relief. She kissed him good-by, throwing both arms tightly about his neck in her impetuous fashion.

It was with a sad and yet singing heart that Jerry followed his father and mother out to Sultana,—sad at leaving behind all that had made his life and his world the past three years, and singing at the thought of the new world and the new life he was about to enter into, with a father and mother of his very own, a circus twice a day, every day in the week but Sunday, and elephants to ride upon.

Transcriber's Note: All punctuation normalized.