Pa said to me: "This race is going to be on the square, and you watch my
smoke. Do you think I would let that red-headed dish washer beat me? Not
on your life."

The play is to have a little boy kiss the male driver good-by, and a
little girl kiss the female driver good-by, as though they were taking
their lives in their hands. I had climbed up to pa and put my arms
around his neck, and kissed him, and a girl kissed the female, when the
gong sounded, and both four-horse teams made a jump, before I could get
out of the chariot, so I got right in front of pa and peeked over the
dashboard of the chariot, and, gee, but didn't we fairly whizz by the
poles, and the audience looked like a panorama.

Pa got the pole and kept it, and we went around three times, and found
the female chariot ahead of us, cause pa had gone around twice to her
once. She turned out a little right by the band-stand, and pa run his
team right inside her chariot and caught her wheel, and when he yelled
to his team, her cart, team, and all were thrown right into the band,
which scattered over the backs of the seats. The horses were all mixed
up with the instruments, and the female driver was thrown into the air
and came down in a sitting position right into the bass drum. She went
right through the sheepskin, so her head and hands and feet were all of
her that remained outside the drum.

[Illustration: Her Cart, Team and All Were Thrown Right Against the
Band.]

She yelled for help and the circus hands rolled the drum, with her in
it, into the dressing-room, where they had to cut the sides of the drum
with an ax, to get her out, while others caught her horses and pulled