[THE STERN EDUCATION OF CLOWNS]
clown out of work for many weeks had trudged the country roads, footsore and hungry, vainly seeking an engagement. At length, one afternoon, he arrived at a certain village and spied the canvas tent and the painted wagons of a traveling circus. This sight put a pale hope into his sad heart, and he approached the tent as bravely as he could to find the proprietor of the show. Sad as was his heart, his face looked sadder; and he did not, it is to be feared, make a very impressive appearance, as at last he found the proprietor sitting on the side of the sawdust ring, eating lunch with the Columbine. The circus proprietor was large and swarthy and brutal to look on, and his sullen, cruel eyes looked sternly at the little clown, who, between a sad heart and a long-empty stomach, had very little courage left in his frame.
"Well!" roared the proprietor. "What is it?"
The little clown explained his profession and his need of an engagement; and stood there, hat in hand, with tremulous knees.
The circus proprietor looked at him a long time in contemptuous silence, and then, with an ugly sneer, said:
"Have you ever had your heart broken?"
"Indeed I have," answered the clown. "For to have your heart broken is part of the business of a clown."
"How many times?"