The Circus Boys on the Flying Rings!

Chapter 1--The Lure of the Circus

"I say, Phil, I can do that."

"Do what, Teddy?"

"A cart-wheel in the air like that fellow is doing in the picture on the billboard there."

"Oh, pshaw! You only think you can. Besides, that's not a cart-wheel; that's a double somersault. It's a real stunt let me tell you."

"How'd you like to be a circus man, Phil?

"More than anything else in the world," he breathed, "some day when I'm old enough, maybe."

What are you going to do--be a trapeze performer or what?"

"Sometimes, I think I would rather be a clown."--From The Circus Boys on the Flying Rings, or, Making a Start in the Sawdust Life (1910), by Edgar B.P. Darlington.

(Credits: Dr. Phil from (take me now, Jesus) DrPhil.com; Teddy Roosevelt from the North Dakota State Historical Society; Gorey "Pshaw" cartoon from Ephemera; and cartwheel(s) from the Miniature Barn Miniatures Gallery (alert the Department of Redundancy Department!).