the pictures that now followed one another across the canvas were better than any circus jimmieboy ever went to, for the reason that they showed a water circus in which were the finest imaginable sea-monsters doing all sorts of marvellous things; and then, too, the book the imp had turned on evidently had some reading matter in it, for as the pictures passed before the little fellow's eyes he could hear verses describing what was going on, repeating themselves from a shelf directly back of him.

first of all in the circus was the grand parade. a great big gilded band-wagon[pg 127] drawn by gayly caparisoned sea-horses went first, and then jimmieboy could judge how much better electric circus books were than those he had in his nursery, for this book was able to do what his had never done—it furnished music to go with the band—and such music as it was! it had all the pleasant features of the hand-organ; was as soft and sweet in parts as the music-box in the white-and-gold parlor, and once in a while would play deliciously out of tune like a real circus band. after the band-wagon there followed the most amusing things that jimmieboy ever saw, the trick oysters, twelve in number, and all on foot. next came the mounted scallops, riding ten abreast on superbly groomed turtles, holding the bridle of each of which walked lobsters dressed as clowns. then came the menagerie, with great sea-lions swimming in tanks on wheels; marine giraffes standing[pg 128] up to their necks in water forty feet deep; four-legged whales, like the oysters, on foot, and hundreds of other queer fish, all doing things jimmieboy had never supposed they could do.

when the parade was over a great circus ring showed itself upon the canvas, and as strains of lovely music came from the left of the tent the book on the shelf began to recite:

"the codfish walks around,

the bass begins to sing;

the whitebait 'round the terrapin's cage

would better get out of the ring.

the gudgeon is the fish

that goes to all the shows,

he swims up to the teredos

and tweaks him by the nose."

"that gudgeon must have been a sort of van amberg," thought jimmieboy. "he did brave things like that."

then the book went on again:

[pg 129]

"the oyster now will please come forth

and show the people here

just how he stands upon his head

and then doth disappear."

this interested jimmieboy very much, and he watched the canvas intently as one of the trick oysters walked out into the ring, and after kissing his hand to jimmieboy and bowing to the rest of the audience—if there were any to bow to, and jimmieboy supposed there must be, for the oyster certainly bowed—he stood upon his head, and then without a word vanished from sight.

"hooray!" shouted jimmieboy, whereupon the book resumed:

"now watch the ring intently, for

the sea-giraffe now comes,

and without any effort turns

a plum-cake into crumbs."

"huh!" cried jimmieboy, as he watched the sea-giraffe turn the plum-cake into crumbs. "that isn't anything to do. i[pg 130] could do that myself, and make the plum-cake and the crumbs disappear too."

the book, of course, could not reply to this criticism, and so went right on.

"the lobster and the shark will now

amuse the little folks

by making here, before their eyes,

some rhymes and funny jokes."

when the book had said this there appeared on the canvas a really handsome shark clad in a dress suit and a tall hat on his head, followed closely by a lobster wearing a jester's coat and cap and bells, and bearing in his hand a little stick with punch's head on the end of it.

"how do you do?" the lobster seemed to say, as he reached out his claw and grabbed the shark by his right fin.

"sir," returned the shark,

"if you would really like to know,

i'm very glad to say

that i am feeling pretty fine,

and think 'twill snow to-day."

"i'm very glad to see you, sharkey," said the lobster. "it is exceedingly pleasant to one who is always joking to meet a fish like you."

"i pray excuse me, lobster dear,

if i should ask you why?

pray come and whisper in my ear,

what your words signify."

"certainly, my dear shark," replied the lobster. "it is always exceedingly pleasant for a droll person to tell his jokes to a creature with a mouth as large as yours, because your smile is necessarily a tremendous one. i never like to tell my jokes to people with small mouths, because their smiles are limited, while yours is as broad as the boundless ocean."

"thank you," returned the shark. "that reminds me of a little song, and as i see you have a bass-drum in your pocket, i will sing it, if you will accompany me."

here jimmieboy had the wonderful experience[pg 132] of seeing a lobster take a bass-drum out of his pocket. i shall not attempt to describe how the lobster did it, because i know you are anxious to hear the shark's song—as also was jimmieboy—which went as follows:—that is, the words did; the tune i cannot here reproduce, but any reader desirous of hearing it can do so if he will purchase a bass-drum set in g-flat, and beat it forty times to the second as hard as he knows how.

"i find it most convenient to

possess a mouth like this,

why, twenty babes at one fell swoop

i easily can kiss;

and sixty pounds of apple pie,

plus ten of orange pulp,

and forty thousand macaroons

i swallow at a gulp.

"it's big enough for me without

appearing like a dunce

to stand upon a platform and

[pg 133]say forty things at once.

so large it is i have to wear

of teeth a dozen sets,

and i can sing all in a bunch

some twenty-nine duets.

"once i was captured by some men,

who put me in a lake,

where sadly i did weep all day—

all night i kept awake:

and when the morning came at last,

so weary, sir, was i,

i yawned and swallowed up that pond,

which left me high and dry.

"then when my captors came to me,

i opened both my jaws,

and snapped each one of them right up

without a moment's pause;

i swallowed every single man

in all that country round,

and as i had the lake inside,

they every one were drowned."

here the shark stopped, and jimmieboy applauded.

"and what became of you?" asked the lobster. "did you die then?"

[pg 134]

"well," returned the shark, with a puzzled expression on his face. "the song stops there, and i don't know whether i died or not. i presume i did, unless i swallowed myself and got into the lake again in that way. but, see here, lobby, you haven't got off any jokes for the children yet."

"no, but i'm ready," returned lobby. "what's the difference between me and christmas?"

"perhaps i'm very stupid,

sometimes i'm rather slow—

but why you're unlike christmas

i'm sure i do not know,"

replied the shark.

"oh no, you aren't stupid," said the lobster. "it would be far stupider of you to guess the answer when it is my turn to make the little ones laugh. the reason i am different from christmas is just this—now don't lose this, children—with christmas[pg 135] comes santa claus, and with me comes lobster claws. now let me give you another. what is it that's brown like a cent, is bigger than a cent, is worth less than a cent, yet costs a cent?"

"perhaps i do not know enough

to spell c-a-t, cat—

and yet i really must confess

i cannot answer that,"

returned the shark.

"i am very glad of that," said the lobster. "i should have felt very badly if you could, because, you know, i want these children here to observe that while there are some things you can do that i can't do, there are also some things i can do that you can't do. now the thing that is brown like a cent, is bigger than a cent, is worth less than a cent, yet costs a cent, is a cent's worth of molasses taffy—which the terrapin will now pass around for sale, along with my photographs, for the benefit of my family."

[pg 136]

then the lobster bowed, the shark and he locked fin and arm again, and amid the strains of music from the band marched out of the ring, and jimmieboy looking up from the canvas for a moment saw that the imp had returned.