Page:Dapples of the Circus (1943).pdf/155

 Freckles learned to love the circus people. For the first time in his short life he experienced real love. Mr. Williams, Big Bill, the head canvas-man, the circus mother, and a dozen others Freckles claimed for his friends. Good friends they were, and true, for there is a sort of fraternity that attains in the circus. The hard daily grind and the risk that many of them run make them all brothers and sisters. That was why Mr. Bingham always called the circus people his family. They were always loyal to each other. If any one attacked any of the circus people, he attacked all. They stood together and they always stood for the circus.

With the children there was not a more popular feature in the whole show than the stunts of Freckles and Sir Wilton. They first attracted the little ones in the morning parade, and held their attention until the lights went out at night. This pleased Freckles greatly, for he had always felt himself as out of place in the world, but