1929-12-13 — Page 20

22

CHINA MAIL CHRISTMAS SUPPLEMENT, 1929.

"WHISTLING WILLY'S" CHRISTMAS TRIUMPH

(Continued from Page 20.)

*

"Well, my lad, what's your business?" he inquired, with a twinkle in his eye.

"Are you Mr. Williams himself?" de manded the boy importantly.

I am, indeed," replied "Whistling Willy.'

17

"Then you've got to come straight back with me to your wife!"

"To where?" asked Willy, as if in a dream.

"To your wife! She says you've got to come!" answered the boy. "I'll show you the way!"

The Clown Quite. Dazed

He probably expected the clown to get up instantly and follow him; but, instead, the man sat perfectly still as if quite dazed.

The boy's words had come as a great surprise, and little could the boy guess the tragic memories which this message had &roused.

It was an old story. During the hectic war days Willy had married a girl who had edmired his uniform; but when peace came. and Willy announced his intention of adopt- ing the clowning profession, his wife de- finitely and angrily declared that nothing on earth would induce her to live with him. That night, when the clown returned to their | home, he found his wife had packed up her belongings and had vanished. For days and weeks he waited and sought for news, but not the slightest trace did he ever discover. He had spared neither money nor effort in his search, for he had loved her; but all was in vain. She had dropped clean out of his life, and he was left with just the memories of the brief honeymoon snatched from seven days' Army leave.

Small wonder, then, that on hearing the boy's message he was overcome with sur- prise. Five years is a long time, and though no other woman had come into his life, yet he could hardly be expected to work up any great enthusiasm for this woman who had promised to "love, honour and obey," and had disappeared all those years ago.

Final Blow To Hopes Besides, he was not sure that he wanted to see her now. He had his own worries and anxieties this particular afternoon, and this final blow was enough to destroy any hopes he may have cherished of being able to give such a performance as would satisfy Roker.

Quickly he came to his decision. "I can't come now!" he told the boy, ho, hearing the message he was to deliver, hesitated.

"What are you waiting for?" demanded Willy.

"For you," replied the boy briefly. "I daren't go back without you!"

"Tell her if she wants to see me sle will have to come here!" answered the man, roing on with his dressing. He had to be the first to enter the ring, and on this after. noon he could not afford to be late.

The boy, seeing determination in the man's attitude, slipped noiselessly out of the tent, and ten minutes later a great shout went up:

"It's "Whistling Willy!"

The performance was timed to begin at two o'clock sharp, and all the seats were fill- ed as Willy took the ring; and, being anxious to be amused, it was not difficult for the clown to hold their interest until the time for the cther events arrived. Roker, keenly critical, smoking a big cigar, stood at a vantage point. surveying, and his spirits rose as he saw the packed tiers and heard their laughter. It augured well for the performances to follow,

|

and he was inclined to be mildly tolerant of the clown's efforts.

Willy's improved!" he commented to Blordin, the high-wire equilibrist, just about to thrill the onlookers,

woman enter and dash across the tan. Abruptly Willy's thoughts were disturbed as he was lifted by his feet bodily from the ground and carried across the ring by the woman. She was tall, muscular, and rather Audience Sat Spell-bound

good-looking, and seemed to find her burden Blordin nodded, and went on with pre-not particularly heavy, for, as she walked parations for his performance, and in a few with ease, she spoke to him. In the noise minutes he was balancing himself on a steel and laughter which was the accompaniment wire fifty feet-above the ring, while the of her progress across the tan, no one save audience sat spell-bound, watching with Willy could catch her words, but to his ears anxious eyes the little dark-haired man pass they came with startling clarity.. ing with steady movements over their heads. They realised that the slightest false move on his part would bring him crashing to the ground, perhaps never to move again. In pent-up excitement they gazed, while the man, as if all unconscious of the hundreds of eyes fixed on him, began a lively step-dance to the accompaniment of the orchestra. He kept this up for fully a minute, and then as

the music stopped he regained perfect equili- brium. Once more he stood still for a few seconds, and then began a series of wonder- ful hair-raising exploits. This Boxing Day audience at Cedborough had never seen the like, and they gasped as a wild whoop from Blordin broke the great silence and he gave a mighty leap and landed safely on his feet on the ground to conclude.

Instantly the orchestra blared out, and "Whistling Willy" capered into the ring. It was his part to relieve the tension which Blordin's thrilling acts had created, and though some still gazed at the wire suspend- ed above them, the majority watched Willy's antics with keen enjoyment, as a perfect con- trast to the preceding five minutes' breath- less excitement.

Something Surprising

Suddenly something surprising occur- red. Willy was standing on his head in the ring at the opposite end to the entrance, and did not see, as most of the audience did, a

DAYS OF CHARLES II.

There was something very fascinating in the old-fashioned Christmas which pre- vailed in England from the days of Charles II to the reign of Victoria. Everyone made it his duty to see that it should be a season of peace upon Earth and goodwill towards inen and carried it out with boisterous jollity and an exuberance of natural spirits, of which we see too little to-day. Everyone was bent on enjoying himself to the utmost of his capacity and in adding to the enjoy ment of others. It was a great day for the children and the poor were not forgotten. There was magic in the very name of Christ- mas. It exorcised disccrd and jealousy, old quarrels were forgotten. hatchets were buried and for one day in the year humanity had a glimpse of the kingdom of heaven.

GREATEST FESTIVAL

Christmas is the greatest festival of the Christian year. It is so joyful a solemnity that when it falls on a Friday, that day of the week. in all other circumstances a fast, is transformed into a feast.

|

"I've got you at last, my beauty, then!"! she shrilled. "I've been trying to trace you for years, and had no luck until now. I heard you whistle on Christmas Eve as you walked past my house at midnight. You woke me up, in fact. I was dreaming about you, and I sent up to the Circus for you to come to join me at Christmas dinner yesterday. And to-day you told my messenger that if I wanted you I was to come for you. Well, I've come for you, and when I get you out- side I want a good talk with you!"

It is not easy to speak when one is sus- pended from the feet, so it is not surprising that Willy kept silence. Meanwhile the audience, not realising the actual meaning of the woman's entrance, shrieked with laughter, which gradually increasing, reach- ed its crescendo at the moment when she passed with Willy from the ring and the swing doors closed the view. Then she al- lowed Willy to stand on his feet, and he, swiftly observing the presence of interested members of the company, said to her:

"Come to my tent. We can talk there."

First Talk For Five Years Strangely enough, she obeyed, following him, and in a few moments they began the first long conversation they had had for live years. In its course many of the misunder standings which had kept them apart for so long were dispersed, and presently Willy, forgetful of his engagement to entertain his employer's patrons, found himself holding his wife fondly in his arms while he was clasped tightly in hers.

He came back to earth when the door of the tent was thrust open and the big form of Henry B. Roker was framed in the door;

way.

"See here!" he said crisply. "Just what's the game, young man?"

Quickly Willy disengaged himself from his wife's arms, and she turned with an en gaging smile to the showman and said mine- ingly.

"How do you do, Mr. Roker? Have you got a place for me in your Circus?"

Cutest Bit Of Novelty

Henry B. Roker smiled broadly. "Well, I guess I have," he answered. "Your little business just now with Whistling Willy' was about the cutest bit of novelty I've seen in- ɩroduced for a verra long time. I told him he had to freshen up his turn; but I didn't- think he'd bring another name on the pay- roll to do it. Still, it's worth it, and you can consider yourself engaged at his old salary, while he gets a twenty per cent. increase. Will you take it?"

Forgetful of all her old-time objections to circus life, and conscious only that by ac- cepting she could be with the man she loved and had wanted for years, she took Roker's outstretched hand and thanked him.

Dazed and scarcely comprehending, the clown looked from his wife to his employer, and then, as a great shout arose from the ring, the light of understanding dawned in his eyes.

"They want you," said Roker, nodding towards the ring, and his eyes sparkled.

Leading his wife by the hand, Willy entered the ring, and rapturous applause greeted him as he pointed to her and shouted cheerily: "My new partner!"

It was the hour of his triumph!

i