"My dum!" says Silas. "They won't leave us buy no tickets. They say the show is free."
"Free!" says most everybody but me in chorus.
"They say they ain't no ticket wagon, and they ain't going to be," says Silas. "What you going to make out that?"
"Blisterin' Benson!" says Timothy Toplady. "What I think is this, they're kidding us."
Lucy stood opening up a little bag she had.
"Here's one of the slips they threw round this morning," she says; "I dunno—"
She had it out and we studied it. We'd all seen them blowing round the streets, but nobody had paid any attention. She held it out and they all stared at it:
FRIENDSHIP VILLAGE
IS INVITED TO COME TO THE CIRCUS
THIS AFTERNOON
FREE
NO TICKETS ON SALE
FREE ADMISSION
FOR
FRIENDSHIP VILLAGE
"My gracious," says Mis' Sykes, "I never heard of such a thing since the world began."
"Land, land!" says Mis' Toplady. "But what does it mean?"