PERSONS REPRESENTED [BILLY MILLER JOHNNY WILLIAMS TOMMY WELLS] [The Rivals Conspirator] TIME -- Noon. SCENE -- Country Town -- @3Rear view of the@1 Miller Mansion, @3showing Barn, with practical loft-window opening on alley-way, with colored- crayon poster on wall beneath, announcing:@1 -- "BILLY MILLER's Big Show and Monstur Circus and Equareum! A shour-bath fer Each and All fer 20 pins. This Afternoon! Don't fer git the Date!" @3Enter@1 TOMMY WELLS @3and@1 JOHNNY WILLIAMS, @3who gaze a while at poster,@1 TOMMY @3secretly smiling and winking at@1 BILLY MILLER, @3concealed at loft-window above@1. TOMMY [@3To@1 JOHNNY] Guess 'at Billy hain't got back, -- Can't see nothin' through the crack -- Can't hear nothin' neether -- No! . . . Thinks he's got the dandy show, Don't he? JOHNNY [@3Scornfully@1] 'Course! but what @3I@1 care? -- He hain't got no show in there! -- What's @3he@1 got in there but that Old hen, cooped up with a cat An' a turkle, an' that thing 'At he calls his "circus-ring"? @3What a "circus-ring"!@1 I'd @3quit!@1 Bet @3mine's@1 twic't as big as it! TOMMY Yes, but @3you@1 got no machine W'at you bathe with, painted green, With a string to work it, guess! JOHNNY [@3Contemptuously@1] Folks don't @3bathe@1 in @3circuses!@1 -- @3Ladies@1 comes to @3mine@1, you bet! I' got seats where @3girls@1 can set; An' a dressin'-room, an' all, Fixed up in my pony's stall -- Yes, an' I got @3carpet,@1 too, Fer the tumblers, an' a blue Center-pole! TOMMY Well, Billy, he's Got a tight-rope an' trapeze, An' a hoop 'at he jumps through Head-first! JOHNNY Well, what's @3that@1 to do -- Lightin' on a pile o' hay? Hain't no @3actin'@1 thataway! TOMMY Don't care what you say, he draws Bigger crowds than you do, 'cause Sence he started up, I know All the fellers says his show Is the best-un! JOHNNY Yes, an' he Better not tell things on me! His old circus hain't no good -- 'Cause he's got the neighborhood Down on me he thinks 'at I'm Goin' to stand it all the time; Thinks ist 'cause my Pa don't 'low Me to fight, he's got me now, An' can say I lie, an' call Me ist anything at all! Billy Miller thinks I am 'Feard to say 'at he says @3"dam"@1 -- Yes, an' @3worser@1 ones! an' I'm Goin' to tell his folks sometime! -- An' ef he don't shet his head I'll tell worse 'an @3that@1 he said When he fighted Willie King -- An' got licked like ever'thing! -- Billy Miller better shin Down his Daddy's lane ag'in, Like a cowardy-calf, an' climb In fer home another time! Better -- [@3Here@1 BILLY @3leaps down from the loft upon his unsuspecting victim; and two minutes later,@1 JOHNNY, @3with the half of a straw hat, a bleeding nose, and a straight rent across one trousers-knee, makes his inglorious -- exit.@1] | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...STAR-TALK by ROBERT RANKE GRAVES THE SONG OF HIAWATHA: HIAWATHA'S WOOING by HENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW THE RUBAIYAT, 1889 EDITION: 19 by OMAR KHAYYAM GOOD-NIGHT TO THE SEASON by WINTHROP MACKWORTH PRAED PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S BURIAL HYMN by WALT WHITMAN BETWEEN WAND AND WELT by MARGARET AHO |