Jeemes Henry's "Pappy" has left the farm, and gone away to "make a pocketful of money." One Day as "Mammy" and Jeemes Henry were picking cotton, Jeemes sees a white man pasting an enormous picture on the tobacco barn. It was a poster for the coming circus. Jeemes Henry wants to go very badly, and encounters many challenges trying to earn fifty cents to attend the circus.
The story ends with Jeemes Henry , scared, because his cousin has been lost in the crowd, being invited into the cage of "The Wild Man from Borneo". The "Wild Man" turns out to be "Pappy", earning "a pocketful of money".
A charming story, with beautiful charcoal illustrations, and heavy dialect.