DANDY THE BEAR.
We have a dancing bear in our village. His name is Dandy. He belongs to Mr. Werner, a German, who leads him about the streets, and makes a show of him. We children all give Dandy some of our spare cents when we see him; for a bear has to be fed like you and me.
"Come, Dandy," Mr. Werner will say, "here are the young ladies and gentlemen, all with plenty of cents in their pockets to give you if you perform well. They are good judges of high art. They can admire the poetry of motion. So do your prettiest."
Mr. Werner has a monkey and a pet dog. The monkey is called Captain. He wears a hat with a feather in it. The name of the pet dog is Grip. He is fat and greedy; and, if he sees a boy with a cake, he begs for a piece of it; indeed, he wouldn't object to the whole of it. I wonder if you can spy out Grip and the Captain in the picture.
But Dandy makes more fun for us than all the rest. "Now, Dandy," Mr. Werner will say, "make your most stunning bow to the ladies, and then give us a turn on the light fantastic."
By the "light fantastic," Mr. Werner means "the light fantastic toe." He has made this joke so many times, that we know what he means by it.
Thus encouraged, Dandy will bow, raise himself on one of his hind-feet, and whirl round in a pirouette. (If you do not know what a pirouette is, you must get some one to explain and pronounce the word for you.)
You would laugh to see Dandy imitate the great dancers. Though he can hardly be called graceful, he is very amusing; and we children willingly pay for the sight a cent each when the Captain passes round the hat.
Mr. Werner thinks of taking Dandy to other towns to show off his accomplishments. If you should ever see him, I hope you will treat him well for my sake. I am the boy in the picture with a slate under his arm; and my name is
Richard Roe.
