and the circus hands came and took him away. Then the owner told pa who
Sullivan was, and pa almost fainted. But finally, after breathing hard
for awhile, pa went up to Sullivan and shook his hand, and said: "Mr.
Sullivan, you must excuse me. If I had known you were the great John L.,
I would not have licked you." Sullivan looked at pa and said: "Well, you
are a wonder, old man, and you did do me up," and pa and Sullivan became
great friends. Since then pa is pretty chesty, 'cause the circus men
point him out to the jays as the man who whipped John L. Sullivan.



CHAPTER X.


The Bad Boy and His Pa Drive a Roman Chariot--They Win the Race, but
Meet With Difficulties--The Bearded Lady to the Rescue--A Farmer's
Cart Breaks Up the Circus Procession.


Ohio was a hoodoo for the circus business, and Kentucky got the whole
bunch ready for a long stay at Dwight, Ill., but the agent routed us
into Pennsylvania, and pa has had nothing but a series of disasters
since striking the state.

Pa gave notice that when we got to his old home, at Scranton, where he
lived when he was a boy, he wanted to sort of run things, so his old
neighbors would see that he had got up in the world since he left the
old town. So the manager gave pa about 400 free tickets to distribute
among his friends, and arranged for pa to show off as the leading
citizen in the show. He was offered a chance to take the place of the