I guess you will want to know how this was done, that I’m going to write
about, so I will tell you about it, then you will know how to make one
out of Tommy, but I guess a bigger boy would be better. It doesn’t make
much difference about the size, if he can keep a sober face while
somebody tells a story about him, and do the things he’s told to. I
couldn’t guess how ’t was done till Bubby Short told me. Bubby Short was
the dwarf. He was invited on purpose, because he is up to all kinds of
fun, and can act dialogues, be an old man, or old woman, or anything you
want him to. I will tell you exactly how ’t was done, so you will know.
And I will send you the Narrative to copy. But you can’t keep it very
long. It was given to Bubby Short. The showman was Maud Grey’s cousin.
He was dressed in a turban, with long robes, and he had black rings made
round his eyes, and his face was tatooed with a lead-pencil. Course he
made up the story and made the pictures to it too. But he pretended he
got them in the dwarf’s country, that was named “Empskutia.” I thought
maybe you’d like to read it, then if you made one you could think of
something to say. ’T was only meant for the little ones, he said, but we
all liked to hear it. No matter if it was nonsense, we didn’t care. Now,
I’ll begin.
First, they had a table, with a long table-cloth on it that touched the
floor. It must touch the floor, so as to hide the _real_ feet of the one
that’s going to be the dwarf. When Bubby Short was all ready he sat down
to the table, same as if he’d been doing his examples or eating his
dinner,--sat facing the company and waited for the curtain to rise.
Course you have to have a curtain. The table-cloth covered the lower
part of him. His own hands and arms were turned into feet and legs for
the dwarf. I’ll tell you how. The arms had little trousers on them, and
the hands were put into nice little button-boots, so they looked like
legs and feet. He was all stuffed out above his waist, and had on a
stiff shirt bosom, and breastpin, and necktie, and false whiskers, and a
wig made of black curled hair, and a tasselled cap, with a gilt band
round it. He crooked his arms at the elbows and laid them flat on the
table, with the button-boots towards the curtain, so when the curtain
went up it looked like a little dwarf sitting down, facing the company.
Now I must tell you where the dwarf’s arms and hands came from. For you
know that Bubby Short’s arms and hands were made into legs and feet for
the dwarf. Now to make arms, he had on a little coat, with the sleeves
of it stuffed out to look like arms, and then a stuffed pair of white
cotton gloves was sewed on to the sleeves, to look like hands, and these
gloves were pinned together by the fingers in front of his waist so as
to look like clasped hands.
The showman asked him to do different things. Asked him to try to stand
up. Then Bubby Short began to get up, very slow, as if ’t was tough work
to do it, and let his arms straighten themselves down, and looked just
as if there was a little short fellow standing on the table. I thought
like enough you’d like to know how, so as to make one some time, out of
Tommy or some bigger boy that knows how to whistle. The showman made his
dwarf whistle a funny tune, and told us ’t was an air of his native
country. Then made him step out the tune with his little button-boots,
and it seemed just like a little dancing dwarf. The showman said that
was the national dance of his country. I guess Uncle Jacob would like to
see one. I guess his eyes would twinkle.
When the curtain went up you ought to ’ve heard the folks roar! Some of
them thought ’t was real. When the company asked him if he could move
his arms, he shook his head, no. Then the showman said he could make him
do it, by whispering a charm in his ear. So he went close up and
whispered, and took out the pin that pinned the gloves, in a secret way,
and then the arms dropped apart. All the way he could move his arms was
by shaking his body, and then only a little. The showman said the
fearful accident that stopped his growth lost him the use of his arms,
though he could dance and whistle and make a bow [_here he made him make
a bow_], and could scratch his ear with his boot [_here he scratched his
ear with the button-boot-toe_], but his brain was strong as anybody’s.
Then afterwards he told how much he knew. But you can read about it in
the Narrative. He made him crook his knees sideways. He could do this
easy enough, for ’t was only the elbows bending outwards. Then he made
him sit down again. I don’t believe any of you ever saw anything so
funny. The showman kept a very sober face all the time, and ’most made
us believe every word of his story was true, and at the end he spoke
very loud and acted it out, like an orator.
Your affectionate Cousin,