THE NEWBERRY SUN. NEWBERRY. S. t.
WfiaiOHcORMR
She Floats Through the Air
By JOHN H. HOSE
Tony silently worshipped the petite trapeze queen but she did not
know he existed until his heart and imagination combined to bring
about a unique introduction.
T ONY had just emerged through
the rear flap of the sideshow tent
when he heard the steady rumble
of the snare drums sounding from
P ie big top just a few feet away. He
urried across the straw-littered
tareaway which was the actor’s en
trance to the circus. The gayly col
ored pennants floated in the breeze
high above the mammoth canvas.
Performers in gay costumes lounged
liesurely about the rear of the tent
awaiting the grand finale. Lumber
ing elephants pushed and heaved to
move the animal cages into the
menagerie tent. The big, tawny cats
snarled viciously in anger at hav
ing been returned to confinement
again after their performance.
But Tony was oblivious to all this
activity as he moved intently into
the tent, and slipped quietly onto
the grass near the end of the hippo
drome track. His position gave him
a commanding view of the space di
rectly over the center ring. Multi
colored spotlights played upon the
spangled figure of a dainty lady
silhouetted against the tent top.
The gentle music of a waltz now
wafted through the tent from the
bandstand. Poised upon the tiny
platform, 80 feet above the ground,
stood the petite Annette—queen of
the aerialists. Many said she was
the greatest since Langtry. The
swinging bar floated rhythmically
back and forth as she swung it
gently and evenly away from her.
Far across the space atop the tent,
her assistant swung a similar bar
back and forth.
Annette was readying herself for
the highlight of her performance—
the feature attraction of America’s
greatest circus. She was about to
perform her triple somersault, defy
ing death, as she swung her lovely,
slim body through the top of the
tent. There were no nets beneath!
The slight- ~t miscue would spell
instant dealt) for the intrepid An
nette.
With the 4,000 spectators, Tony
stared upward as the drums again
began their ominous roll, and An
nette floated out on her swinging
bar. A silent pause! Then the drums
increased their pace furiously, and
the leading lady of the big top
hurtled out and up toward the root
her body revolving once—
’ 'Tah-ah-a h-a h-a h-a h-a h-r u m p! ”
beat the drums.
Twice — “Tah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-ah-
rump!”
Three times — "Tah-ah-ah-ah-ah-
ah-ah-rump!”
She met the bar swinging out to
her with perfect precision, and in a
trice, stood upon the platform on
the opposite side, smiling down on
the vast sea of faces below.
A great ‘‘Ah ....'’ of relief es
caped from the crowd, and then the
applause resounded throughout the
tent.
Tony sat entranced as Annette
acknowledged the plaudits of the
multitude. Then she quickly slid
down the rope to the ground, took
several graceful bows, and scamp
ered toward the exit. Already the
performers and horses were pour
ing into the tent for the grand
finale; but Tony watched only the
movement of the raven-haired beau
ty, Annette.
Twice each day he came to the
main tent to watch the star of the
high swings. How his heart yearned
for the little French actress, but
Ann’tte was entirely unaware of
his affection for her.
Tony was billed as Anthony
Fragiotto, creator and manipulator
of FRAGIOTTO’S MARIONETTES.
He was part of the sideshow, and
had been with the circus about six
months, joining them two months
before they left winter quarters.
Tony was in love with Annette.
But the shy lad from Vicenza
Euganea province in far-off Italy
scarcely dared speak to the star of
the show, let alone declare his feel
ings for her. Tony had been a farm
er’s son, working in the fields of
those rolling plains when a boy.
But Guiseppe Fragiotto was no ordi
nary farmer. He was the village
wood carver, and for years had de
lighted the peasants in the Vicenza
region with his puppet shows. Nat
urally, he taught his son, Antonio,
the art.
When Tony was big enough to as
sist his father in the manipulation
of the gayly-costumed dolls, they
traveled to Vicenza, Como, and
even Padua to present the Fragiot
to puppets at the street carnivals.
Then the war had come! The
Fragiotto family had gone under
ground when the Germans flowed in
to Italy. Eventually Tony had come
to America. And with him he had
brought his precious puppets. He
found work as a farm hand in Penn
sylvania where he exhibited his
puppets one evening at a Red Cross
benefit show. Not long after that
night, the circus agent had con
tacted him, and he was on his way
to the circus quarters. There he
became part of the strange con
glomeration which comprised the
side show.
During the months in winter quar
ters, Tony had seen Annette prac
ticing her feats on the rings and
bars high above the ground. Each
day he became more enamored
of the beautiful aerialist. But how
could a poor youth who scarcely
spoke English express his admira
tion for the star of the show?
In the early part of the season,
Tony began to formulate a plan
whereby he might show Annette
how he felt for her. During the
hours when he was not exhibiting
his puppets, Tony carved furiously,
creating new properties, scenery,'
and characters.
The triumph of this frenzied ac
tivity was a beautiful doll—the very
image of Annette. Soon Jhe trap
pings were completed. It was
The leading lady of the big top
hurtled out and up toward the
roof.
Tony’s plan to assemble the minia
ture circus on a Sunday when the
show would be laying over. He had
planned how he would invite An
nette to see his new act!
“What if she won’t come?” he
thought. But surely she would not
refuse this simple request. The
thoughts raced through his mind
as he watched the object of his
affection leave the tent.
Slowly he arose from the grass.
He would wait until she had changed
her costume. Then he would go to
the mess tent. He knew the exact
moment when she would enter for
her evening meal. After an interval
that seemed literally hours to Tony,
Annette came into the dining tent
Shyly he approached her,
««E'XCOOS, please, Signorina An-
■ L ‘ nette . . .”
“Oh, M’sieur Fragiotto,” trilled
Annette, “and how are you today?”
Tony was pleasantly surprised that
the circus queen knew who he was.
“If the lady has the little min
ute," he stammered, “I—Antonio—
have created the new poppets. They
are the pairformairs of circus,” he
mouthed the words carefully in his
broken English. “I would like,
please, the advice of the Signorina
about them!”
"How very charming,” laughed
Annette with a toss of her dark
hair, and a merry twinkle of the
sparkling, blue eyes. “I would be
delighted, M’sieur Fragiotto. Per
haps you could show them to me
tomorrow when we have no per
formance?”
"That is what I was theenking,”
said Tony. "I will have them as
semble in the side show tent after
dinner tomorrow.” *
“Fine," replied Annette. "I have
often watched your charming show.
I would be delighted M’sieur Fra
giotto. Perhaps you would be so
kind as to show me how to make
them work?” This was even more
than Tony had dreamed might be
possible.
“Indeed! Indeed!” he shouted
enthusiastically. “I shall expect
you then tomorrow.”
The next afternoon, Tony was
ready with the puppets long before
the dinner hour. He talked to them
affectionately as he put them
through their paces. To Beppo, the
clown, he chuckled:
“And now, leetle fonny man, you
make the boys and gurls to laugh,
no?” The beautifully carved wood
en horses pranced and danced as
gracefully as their real counter
parts in the big tent across the
way. But the truly artistic master
piece was the Teplica of Annette.
Tenderly, he placed thl tiny pup
pet into place on the aerial swing
in his miniature arena.
“My beautiful one,” he almost
whispered, "we shall see if you can
do the triple soubresaut, reesking
your lovely life!” As the graceful
puppet tumbled through space at
the behest of Tony’s nimble fingers,
he became entranced in his work.
He did not see Annette slip into
the tent. He was startled when she
exclaimi-i, i
"But ... it is perfect!” She
scampered behind the scenes to ex
amine the trappings of the new
show. She oh-ed and ah-ed at the
beautifully wrought details of the
tiny circus, and when Tony handed
her the tiny duplicate of herself,
shd was utterly speechless. Finally
she said:
“Oh, Tony, it’s beautiful . . . too
beautifuL I don’t really look like
that, do I?” she queried, looking
coquetishly up into his eyes. The
blood rushed to Tony’s face, and
he stammered weakly:
“Oh, Tony, show me how to make
her work,” pleaded Annette, danc
ing up and down excitedly like a
child with a new toy. “Can you
really make her do a triple somer
sault like myself?”
“Yes,” laughed Tony, "but it
is not easy. You must practice. Now
see,” he said, placing the toggle
sticks in her hands as she clam
bered onto the platform beside him.
"When you move thees one so, the
arms and legs do your heeding.
When you move thees one so,” he
indicated the other stick, "the head
and body move at your command.”
Annette moved the sticks awk
wardly, and the little doll gyrated
wildly in her hands. In her effort
to disentangle the puppet, she be
came involved in the strings. Tony
reached around her shoulders to
straighten up the entanglement,
when she raised her face, brush
ing his chin with her soft hair.
Her lovely feminine fragrance held
Tony entranced, and acting im
pulsively, he kissed her upturned
lips.
“Flees, forgeev me, I ... I
. . ." he stammered. But Annette
was not angry. Rather she seemed
pleased. Ever so tenderly, she cud
dled against Tony, and speaking
softly, she said:
“But, Tony, little Annette is still
all tangled up. She will surely nev
er make the somersault if you do
not help me.”
Tony’s heart was making the
somersaults now, as once again he
put his arms about her. Then the
words came pouring forth . . . the
words he had whispered to the pup
pet Annette.
"Oh, my beautiful Annette,” he
sighed, “these long months I have
loved you. I never dreamed . . .”
but his words were lost, for An
nette’s lovely face was lifted to
his, and her warmth and beauty
engulfed him as he kissed her long
and tenderly.
And Annette—the doll—somer
saulted again and again at the end
of her tangled strings.
| “Zkis Same ffesus”
Grace Noll Crowell
T c
1
â– lODAY on the read I met Him:
The very same Jesus who trod
The old, old lanes and the highways
On His beautiful errands for God.
I was troubled and heart-sick and weary
With a load too heavy to bear;
I cried aloud in my weakness
And suddenly He was there.
His gentle hand on my shoulder
Was lifting the burden from me.
And He dried my tears, and I knew Him,
It was Jesus of Galilee:
No different at all from the Mailer
On the Jericho road that day;
No different at all from the Saviour
Along the Samaria way.
And I am so glad that I met Him!
I knelt and I called out His name.
And I am so grateful I found Him
Unchanged and forever the same*
Efficient Fertilizer
Use Boosts Yields
Good Soil Management
Must Aid Plant Food
Every ton of fertilizer can be
stretched or used more efficiently,
boosting crop yields at the same
time. Many farmers, says Middle
West Soil Improvement committee,
use fertilizer as a crutch. They try
to make it substitute for good man
agement practices. They put plant
food in the soil without making
sure the plant can send out its roots
to use it.
Fertilizer is essential in giving
the soil plant nutrients to feed
crops. But fertilizer can’t do the
whole job. It must b^ teamed with
other practices that build and main
tain soil structure and keep the top
soil “nailed down."
The soil needs good Structure so
roots can grow and reach out for
plant food. Roots need air and wa
ter to live. When a soil is packed
down and tight, there is no room for
the air and water needed by roots
and plants for high crop production.
The way to build soil, structure is
to grow legumes and grasses regu
larly in the rotation. These legumes
make a thick layer of good soil.
YOU CAN 1
S-T-R-E-T-C-H
YOUR
They add organic matter. Such soil
has plenty of air space. Water soaks
In quickly and more of it is held.
Weak, scattered stands of legumes
won’t build soil structure. For
strong, leafy stands and vigorous
roots, the legumes need phosphate
and potash that can be added in
commercial fertilizer. Getting thick
stands isn’t the whole story eij^fer.
All these crops can’t be cut for hay
or graze close and still be expected
to build the soil. At least a part of
these crops must be turned back to
the soil.
Private Life of Bossy
In the current craze for dissect
ing private lives even Bossy is not
Immune. The inevitable prober
comes up with these statistics:
Bossy grazes only seven and a
half hours daily, regardless of how
much feed she gets. She does 60
per cent of her grazing during
daylight hours, 40 per cent at
night. She spends five hours a
day eating at a rate of 50 to 70
bites per minute. She chews her
cud seven hours a day and spends
12 hours lying down, at nine dif
ferent times. While grazing, she
travels two and a half miles in the
daytime and one and a half at
night. She drinks 10 times a day.
Erosion Takes Alarming
Toll of Good Crop Land
, Erosion is taking an increasingly
alarming toll of good crop land in
the United States. Estimates by
the department of agriculture indi
cate that about 100 million acres of
once good crop land have been
ruined or nearly ruined for profit
able cropping by erosion, another
100 million acres have been badly
damaged and still another 100 mil
lion acres are eroding too fast
There are now approximately 460
million acres of good crop land in
the U. S., including acreage now in
crops as well as about 100 million
acres that need clearing, drainage,
irrigation or other improvement.
All but about 7% million acres of
this 460 million acres are subject
to erosion unless protective meas
ures are adopted.
Planting of Windbreak
Will Improve Farmstead
Ranked as a major farmstead im
provement project, planting of a
windbreak around farm buildings
not only improves the appearance
of the farm but also saves fuel and
gives wind protection to the build
ings and livestock.
In addition to the regular wind
break on the north and west of the
farmstead, many farmers also are
planting a garden windbreak on the
south and west of the garden.
SCRIPTURE: I Kings 4:21-11-13.
DEVOTIONAL, READING: Psalmf
33:12-ae.
His Hand in History
Lesson top October 24, 1948
mm
S UPPOSE you were given a long
flexible wire and were asked to
arrange it on a pattern which would
represent history, what would you
do to it? Some
people would cut
that wire into little
bits and let them
(all in a pile like
jackstraws. Histo
ry,'they would say,
is a meaningless
collection of dis
connected events—
it has no real pat-'
tern. ^
Someone else
would arrange the wire like a long
arrow pointing upward; others
would make it into an arrow point
ing downward; these would be the
pure optimists and pessimists
among historians.
Others would arrange it is a
series of up-and-down curves—
history, they would say, some
times goes up and sometimes
down, but it never gets any
where. Others again would
make an immense circle; his
tory goes around and around
in cycles, repeating Itself.
Others still might take that wire
and shape it into a kind of spiral,
almost repeating itself but never
quite, often seeming to go backward
but actually making some progress.
mm*
God’s Chosen People
A GOOD deal of the Old Testa
ment is taken up with history.
Starting with Genesis and going
through Esther, most of what you
read is history. But it is not mere
chronicles, that is to say it is not
a mere listing of events.
The historical parts of the
Bible were written by men
who had a theory of history.
They would agree that the
Golden Age is ahead of ns, not
behind.
They would all agree that the
most important figure in human
history is not a human being at all,
but God the Creator. They would
all agree that his hand can be
seen—if you look for it—in the
events, of man’s existence here.
And they all affirm that among all
the nations of the earth there was
one which could be called truly
God’s chosen people, the little na
tion called Israel, the people we
know as the Jews.
The whole of Hebrew history
Is a sort of sermon on this text:
Righteousness exalteth a nation,
bnt sin is a reproach to any
people. The history of any na
tion, ancient or modern, would
illustrate that text just as well;
only the Israelite historians saw
it most clearly. They showed
hoV, when their people followed
God’s leading and his laws,
they prospered; when they went
their own stnpld, selfish ways
they suffered.
* • •
Somehow Good
O NE great lesson the Old Testa
ment history teaches is that
God’s will is good, and that when
man defies and disobeys that will,
he does it to his own destruction,
but that God can bring good out of
eviL
People often act from bad mo
tives; yet even the worst of mo
tives God can overrule. David
waded in blood to his throne, and
he treated -cruelly many • of his
enemies. That was not good; yet
God brougl t out of that a national
independence and strength.
David put Solomon on the
throne because he was the son
of his favorite wife; that was
pure favoritism. Yet God
brought good out of a choice
which was selfish.
When the Israelites were tempted
to fall for the cheap and nasty gods
whose shrines filled the land, that
was bad; but it gave the prophets
their great opportunity to make
perfectly clear the difference be.
tween false and true religion.
m m m
The Voice of God
H ISTORY is no bucket of ashes.
If you have ears to listen, it is
the voice of God. These ancient
tales of a nation long since dead,
that lived in all scarce 500 years,
carry God’s voice to us today.
The diseases which are fatal
to a nation’s life are here de
scribed; the foundations on
which alone true national wel
fare can be built are made
quite plain.
Up to now, all nations have per
ished sooner or later. We can see
some of them decaying in our own
time. That is because no nation
ever yet has built its life on God’s
design. But the pattern is there,
the lesson has been written. God
still waits for a people who will
learn his lesson in how to live.
(Copyright by the IatornMtiooMl Council
of Religious Education on behalf of 40
Protestant denominations. Released by
WNU Features.)
Neat Style Features
Popular Side Closing
1736
12-42
Slenderizing Style
T OOK neat and pretty about
' your household chores in this
slenderizing style that features
the popular side closing. Buttons
in threes are a nice touch; a nar
row belt snugs in your waistline.
Pattern No. 1736 comes In sizes 12, 14.
16. 18, 20? 40 and 42. Size 14. 3% yards
ol 36 or 39-inch.
SEWING CIRCLE PATTERN DEPT.
$30 South Wells St. Chicago 7, IU.
Enclose 25 cents in coins for each
pattern desired.
Pattern Nr. sire
Address
To Relieve Your
Cough, Mix This
Recipe, at Home
You’ll be surprised how quickly and
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Make a syrup by stirring 2 cups of
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No coqking needed—it’s no trouble at
nil (Or you can use corn syrup or
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Then put 2% ounces of Pinex (obtain
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Pinex is a special compound of
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Money refunded if it doesn't please
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Pinex la Past Relief!
Cop-Brush Applicator j
jUSY BLACK LEAF
DASH IN ZIATMIRsTNi 0 MUCH
OR SPREAD ON ROOSTS
w a
He’s trying to
msk« a go of
things here.
When we trade
oet of town, we
iet our veterans
down.
Yes, Camels are so mild that noted throat specialists, mak
ing weekly examinations of hundreds of men and women
who smoked Camels exclusively for 30 consecutive days
— on the average of one to two packages a day — found not
one single case of throat irritation due to smoking Camels,
MONEY-BACK GUARANTEE I
Smoke Camels for 30 days. If, at any time darias these 30 days, you are
not convincea that Camels are the mildest cigarette you’ve ever smoked,
return the package with the unused Camels and we will refund your
full purchase p»ice, plus postage. This offer is good for 90 days from
this date. R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
30-tty Te&v? tfarT-Zbae