ay I? ^6' r^7 CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY THIS BOOK IS ONE OF A COLLECTION MADE BY BENNO LOEWY 1854-1919 AND BEQUEATHED TO CORNELL UNIVERSITY DATE DUE ? i^np _Awr^$ « ^iMQiLu. h-^nft• « q 5^ H "Z C/J a M S fv{ (i< < S H . 1 G n >• g <: o w n. w „ 2 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS blood relative, perspiring freely as he helped in the erection of the booth that morning. Her kin are, of course, in a remote, uncivilized land, and as ferocious as the girl herself. The incredulous per- son saunters off Avith dim wonder at the remark- able likeness filling his mind, Clyde's frantic invi- tation to go inside pours out tirelessly, and Harry paints again and again the glowing picture of the snake-eating wonder. There is nothing like a spell of rainy weather to breed a feeling of despair in the showman. The route has been planned with the idea of evading as far as human foresight permits, unfavorable meteorological conditions, but it is inevitable that sometimes rain and mud and wind be encountered. There can then be nothing more mournful and dis- heartening than life with the circus. If, for a brief succession of days, performances have to be aban- doned, profits are consimied with a ruining rapid- ity. It is not infrequent that this form of mis- fortune bankrupts the scantily-financed circus which has started out with hopeful prospects, for the overwhelming expense of maintaining the organization is not reduced whether it remains huddled on the cars or is displaying its glories to lucrative crowds. So resolute and so prepared for exigencies are the bigger shows, however, that nothing less than a flood can prevent imloading and presenting some sort of an exhibition. If the rain is continuous, there is no immediate prospect 55 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS of relief, and the lot is a quagmire, the animal cages are often left on the cars. A staggering march to the marsh is made by the other vehicles and a semblance of show is given in the menagerie tent. In the space usually allotted to the animals, seats are put in position and a gallant effort made to get some financial return. A doleful, drenching sight it is, horses wallowing in the ring, acrobats and gymnasts shivering and slipping, and clowns feebly trying to call to life the smile of pleasure. Straw is littered over the premises in the endeavor to absorb the moisture, but avails little. Where the stretches of canvas are sewed to- gether the water penetrates through, and mutter- ing spectators leave reluctantly or elevate um- brellas. The heavy laboring of the groaning tent adds to the feeling of misery and melancholy. The circus people gaze longingly across the empty fields where are houses snug and tight. Then the heaped-up gloom of the night, the black, wet journey to the cars and a possible awakening to identical conditions in the morning. These are times that strain the buoyant temperament and the rugged constitution. Sunshine, however, re- stores human spirits, tarnished gilt and saturated canvas, and drives away the ghastly memory of it all. Exuberance reasserts itself and the panoplied colony emerges in all its former order, convenience and beauty. It is the first heavy rainfall of the season that S6 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS brings the most overwhelming woe. The custom of circus owners is to wash their tents with paraf- fine at the beginning of each season. The waxy mixture renders the cloth waterproof and pre- serves it from atmospheric influences. The treat- ment is not efficacious, however, imtil the fabric has been thoroughly soaked with rain and suc- ceeding sunshine has dried it out. So it is that a dull dread of approaching calamity fills every pro- fessional heart when the initial storm sets in. The water falls upon showman and patron as if no so- called protection was above. A wan and spectral "big top" it is at night, sometimes with vivid lightning filling it with sulphur-smelUng blazes, and the frail dressing-room tent clinging to it like a luminous bulb. 57 CHAPTER IV THE PARADE Breakfast over, active preparations are on for the parade. Well-fed horses and ponies in shining harness and waving plumes take their places before glittering vehicles; the sound of music is heard from bands perched hazardously high; clowns, charioteers, jockeys, Roman riders join the line; camels and elephants, some bearing a weight of feminine beauty in Oriental costume, make appearance, and a picturesque cavalcade nearly a mile long is in motion. One of the managers leads the line down to town and back. He has already been over the course once, noting its conditions with caution born of long experience. Sometimes his foresight bids him change the route, A corner is too sharp for the forty-horse team, a hill may be danger- ously steep, a bridge too low or unsafe, the road too rough, or perhaps the advance man did not appreciate that at a certain point the parade would "double" on itself. Behind him a drum corps blows and beats, and then Jeanne d'Arc, in polished armor, with clank- ing curtains of chain mail. The flush of tan is 58 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS beginning to tint ears and cheeks under her hel- met and her two mounted knights are very happy and proud. She is a young woman who was adopted by a wealthy aunt in Pittsburg, who sent her to Europe to keep her from entering circus life. Her sudden return, romantic marriage with a tattooed man, enlistment as a jockey rider in Cedar Rapids, la., and rapid rise to the front ranks of equestriennes is a matter circus folk never tire of discussing. Through densely crowded streets the procession measures its gaudy passage, a handsome lovelorn young acrobat yearning for the return to the tent, where an eighteen-year-old girl somersault rider eagerly awaits him; the stepmother behind, who doesn't approve of their devotion; a uniformed marshal, whose thoughts are for his wife, seri- ously ill in a Philadelphia hospital; a brother who fears for his sister, a bicycle rider at the performance, now high on the back of an elephant whose temper has been bad for several days ; Sul- tan, a majestic lion, viewing it all calmly from the top of a high cage; bands playing, horses pranc- ing, wagons rumbling, calliope screaming, clowns frollicking— truly a fantastic panorama. And sometimes ahead, then behind, again on the side, a tramp bicyclist, darting up steps and down, scaling fences, into stores and houses, often one wheel off the ground, seldom on both, but never dismounting. 59 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS By the side of the band wagons and behind the shrieking calliope a cloud of boys keeps tireless pace, reeling off mile after mile, but gorged with happiness. Street cars make time with the pro- cession, jammed with passengers and scores hang- ing to platforms, paying no fares but this elo- quent testimony to the passing show. The tigers and lions look bored, and the hyena yawns with accumulated ennui. Behind, the gorgeously capari- soned riders, men and women in tights and spangles and breastplates of shining gold and steel ; behind, the richly-decked camels with riders from the great desert and the elephants swaying to and fro with monotonous tread, and near the end of the gaudy line, the fairy outfit of Santa Claus, the old woman of nursery fame, Blue- beard in decapitation attitude and the other tableau wagons of burnished gold and flaming red. The clowns are very much in evidence. Behind all manner of steeds, from the camel treading like a dusty spectre with his cushioned feet, to the proud pony, and from the four-horse teams to the decrepit agricultural equine; on foot and on ele- phant and on bicycle; in costume weird and won- derful, they are an amusement-affording part of the cortege. Boys flock by their sides, and their ready wit is equal to all exigencies. Well has the press agent written : 60 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS Clowns on four legs, Clowns on two, Clowns the cutest you ever knew; Clowns on the earth, Clowns in the air, Clowns in the water. Clowns everywhere; Clowns in seal-skins. Clowns in hair, Clowns with whom no others compare; Clowns in motley. Clowns with wings. Clowns that accomplish marvellous things; Clowns in dress suits. Clowns in kilts, Clowns in long skirts, Clowns on stilts. Clowns that mimic every fad. Clowns that make the millions glad, Clowns that cause the buttons to fly. Clowns at whom you laugh till you cry; Clowns of every nation and clime, Clowns uproarious all the time. Clowns and more than you ever saw, Clowns that make the world haw-haw. The clowns' band is near the end. In grotesque attire, the "musicians" blow and beat on the top of one of the chariots. The production is what the alliterator of the show calls "a slaughter of symphonies, a murder of melodies, a wrecking of waltzes, a massacre of marches, a strangling of songs, a total of terrific tonal tragedies!" The inevitable hay wagon is in the column, and nimble acrobats toss lightly on its fresh-mown burden. Their costumes are bucolic throughout, 6i ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS but offer no impediment to their agile movements. Country boys look on and marvel. The clown in dilapidated wagon behind tottering horse is not absent. His countryman disguise is so perfect that his identity is not suspected. He narrowly escapes being run down by the big circus wagons; he is always in the way and impeding the smooth progress of the parade ; he becomes involved in all sorts of plights, but emerges unscathed. It fur- nishes great fun for the spectators. Sometimes policemen threaten and oftener take him in cus- tody. Then he tells who he is and the crowd roars again, this time at the bluecoat's expense. Hilarity reigns wherever is his presence. Above the shrill tones of the fife and the blast of the cornet and the clamor of drums and cym- bals, rises the oft-repeated admonition, "Look out for your horses, the elephants are right be- hind!" A clarion-voiced equestrian rides up and down the line of bespangled magnificence with this warning to those who view the spectacle in wagon or saddle. A quick, keen, trained glance reveals to him the probable effect the "led" animals will have on each equine within eye and scent. He knows, too, what the man who holds the reins is not aware of, that the animal with the hump alarms horses more than his ponderous compan- ion. Often the parade is brought to a standstill while this precautionary person insists that a horse displaying the initial signs of disquiet be 62 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS removed to a place of safety, or, while with the skill of long practice he assists in subduing a beast whom the distant approach of the proces- sion has already alarmed. Women are his bHe noir. They have full faith in their horsemanship, they tell him, and, anyway, their horses have been thoroughly trained and broken. Then he is gently but firmly obdurate, accepts with good grace the denunciation to which he is subjected, but sees that the possibility of disaster has been removed before he permits the line to pass. He is a saver of life and limb whose services few but showmen appreciate. Once the tents are pitched, no weather can be so unpropitious as to thwart the parade. Rain may fall in copious measurement; mud, perhaps, is deep to the knees. But on with the parade ! A much weather-beaten and woe-begone lot of per- formers, to be sure, and a drenched and blinking lot of drivers, but all forgotten when the sunshine comes again. This display is what circus folk call a "wet day" parade. Women and children are excused, much of the finery is kept in the shelter of the tents, men wear mackintoshes and rubber boots, and protecting canvas hides the gilt and glory of the chariots. It has been advertised as "positive," however, and the management must keep faith with the public or lose its confidence. Then, too, it serves to show some of the glory and fame of the organization, whets public curi- 63 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS osity and the possible return of clear skies will draw to the grounds the multitude which, with- out its promise, would have returned home for the day. Business instinct bids there be a parade without fail. Down in the town the press agent is paying the newspaper bills for advertising, distributing tick- ets, and seeing to it that editors and reporters are put in good humor, and arranging as far as it is in his power that notices before and after the performances are complimentary. Sometimes he accompanies a body of reporters to an advan- tageous position and they survey the parade to- gether. He buys cigars and refreshment— at the circus's expense — and impresses his companions as being affable, courteous and a good fellow gener- ally. They part company on fine terms of friend- ship, and he assmres them that he will consider it a personal aifront if they don't all come to the show and bring their friends. . Sometimes his hos- pitality has been so affecting that they will be tempted to write pretty things about him; that the "genial press agent" is with the circus, or, " the circus is fortunate to have so efficient an em- ployee" and, following a description of his virtues. But his prudence begs them to desist, for he knows "the boss" doesn't approve. The owner takes the view that newspaper space devoted to the circus itself is more to pecuniary advantage than an enumeration of the qualities of the press agent. 64 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS The keen eye of the general manager follows the parade on its tortuous journey. If there be acci- dent or delay, or any other unforeseen trouble, he is at the scene promptly and takes command. A two-seated carriage follows the line. In it he, the press agent, and the circus detective are conveyed back to the lot. It is a convenience which dis- penses with a hot, dusty walk or an uncomfortable journey in packed trolley cars. The " $10,000 Beauty" was a parade feature of one of the big circuses for several years. The owner, a man deep in many schemes for advertis- ing his tented organization, boldly asserted that he paid that amount of salary to a young woman who proceeded through the streets striving to live up to her reputation for grace and charm, on the back of one of the largest elephants. She wore a pained and anxious look as she clutched grimly to the animal's canopied hide, and there was little appeal to aesthetic nature. Later she exhibited her harmonious proportions in the menagerie tent. She is now embellishing the variety stage, whence she emerged upon the circus world, and where, perhaps, her costly beauty is better ap- preciated. Many will remember the telescopic affair which P. T. Barnum exhibited in his parades for several seasons in the early '70's. It was a massively carved chariot, and he called it the "Temple of Juno." When extended to its full height, by 5 65 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS means of internal machinery, it reached an alti- tude of forty feet. A gorgeous effect was given it by the precious metals which studded it and by numerous mirrors. Upon an elevated seat, just beneath a rich and unique oriental canopy of the most elaborate finish, sat, in perfect nonchalance, the representative queen, surrounded by gods and goddesses in mythical costume. Elephants, camels and dromedaries completed the tableau. During that period of his career, a season of great pros- perity, Mr, Barnum used frequently to lecture on temperance in his tents. He was shrewd enough to appreciate how much to his pecuniary advan- tage was his devotion to what he called the "noble cause." Crowds came as much to get a glimpse at him and to hear him talk as for a sight at the circus. 56 CHAPTER V THE SIDE-SHOW Order has come out of the confusion at the lot when the parade returns. All is in readiness for the performances, seats and stands and rings and trapezes in place, and every man at his post. The cages are dragged from the parade to the menagerie tent, the horses led to their canvas stables, and elephants push the red and gilt vehi- cles into place. Down drops the sidewall, ropes are set, and the preparation is com^fete. Stolid yokels fill the enclosure in front. Two men are proclaiming with fluency and skill and oratorical effect the wonders of the side-show, and a row of huge banners adds weight to their dis- course. Pictured by word and brush are the wild man, the midget, the Egyptian giant, the woman ventriloquist, the knife throwers, the for- tune tellers, the electric lady, the snake charmer, the others who make up the collection of oddities, and the group of negro jubilee singers. The band thumps seductively inside and frequently, as an evidence of good faith, one of the freaks is called to the front for a moment's survey. Doubts 67 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS vanish and the crowd hesitates no longer, when suddenly as the piece de resistance is brandished aloft, impaled on a slender iron rod, a raw hunk of beef. It is to be the wild man's dinner! By far the most interesting specimen in our side- show is this wild man. His history is long and eventful. The side-show lecturer tells it vividly, many times a day, and invariably the same when he is not in a facetious mood. The narrative, however, is always thrilling, never commonplace. A curtain shrouds the interior of the cage in which the creature "lives and subsists in a state of nature." Pulled aside, it reveals a gloomy den, half filled with hay, where crouches, clawed and tusked, and scantily clad in skins, the rude sav- age. The fleeting and obscure view of the mon- ster afforded is amply satisfying to the timid, and the venturesome see the curtain drawn, im- pressed. A discharged employee in a spirit of malice spread a tale of unexpected exposures. The fellow asserted that once the wild man was eagerly " shooting craps" with a colored canvasman, and a second time had hastily torn a clay pipe from his mouth and become again a weird, uncivilized being. The manager was very indignant over the infamous recital; and that very evening came a full exoneration. The wild man escaped. (Busi- ness had been unsatisfactory for several days.) The alarm was sounded throughout the town and spread terror. We all said we feared the 68 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS worst. Armed men were sent in pursuit. The fugitive was captured in a forest back of the lot and returned, shrieking, biting and fighting fiercely, to his den. Order was restored and the circus turned away a thousand persons for lack of room at the evening's performance. The side-show was not empty of visitors for a month afterwards. We retain the services of our wild man with some difficulty. His wife, a very indiscreet colored woman from Vermont, has a pernicious habit of appearing inopportunely and accusing our black prize of gambling away his wages and not provid- ing for the support of his family. She is ample of form, emphatic in manner, and prodigal of words, and when she begins to bellow and bolster, side- show proceedings stop abruptly and the over- whelmed orator hangs his diminished head and yields verbal supremacy. It is not until she re- ceives from the management positive assurance of a cash advance that she can be persuaded to retreat. At these times the wild man is a very meek and subdued person, and no amount of urging will lure him from the security of his cage until his wife is well out of town. The original circus wild man, the denizen of Borneo, was white, but his successors have almost invariably had dark skins. "Waino" and "Plu- tano," exhibited together, are now before the public. " Tom " and " Hattie," wild children from Australia, are dead. "Wild Rose" and "Wild 69 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS Minnie" are still in the field of savage honor, as is "Old Zip, the What-is-it?" whose head is con^ shaped, and who utters mournful guttural sounds. The life of the professional wild man is an un- happy one at best. The story is told of a Balti- more, Md., colored man, who, finding himself pen- niless in Berlin, Germany, enlisted as an untamed arrival from Africa with a small American circus then playing abroad. He endured the torture he was compelled to undergo for a month and then stole away to a hospital. He was required to explain how and why he came there. "You see, boss," he observed sadly, "I'se been working here, got ten dollars a week to play wild man. I was all stripped 'cept around the middle and wore a claw necklace; had to make out as if I couldn't talk. 'Twas mighty tiresome to howl and grin all day. Then times got hard. I had to eat raw meat and drink blood. The circus man, he stood oflf as if he was afraid of me and chucked meat on the floor to me. I had to lean over, pick it up in my teeth and worry it like I was a dog. It was horse meat and pretty tough, boss, but it brought crowds for a while. Then it got drefful cold for a nigger with no clothes on and they put a snake around my neck. I couldn't stand that, so I'se come to the hospital." He was given clothes and medical treatment, which he sorely needed, and a kindly American sent him back to Maryland. 70 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS Calvin Bird, a negro who hailed from Pearson, Ga., was a famous wild man for several years with divers small circuses, and toured most of the country, mystifying all who saw him and sending them away impressed with a conviction that he was all he was represented to be. Not until he appeared at a Syracuse hospital with a request that his horns be removed was the secret of his unnatural appearance disclosed. Under his scalp was found inserted a silver plate, in which stood two standards. Into these, when he was on exhi- bition. Bird screwed two goat horns. Thousands of people had paid admission to see the curved bone projections and hear him bark. The arti- ficial additions were the idea of a physician in Central America who gave the man an anaes- thetic and inserted the plate. The operation of removing the support was a simple one and Bird started for home from Syracuse with a normal head a few days later. The wild man business had got monotonous, he said, and an^iway, he had made enough money out of his deception to main- tain him in idleness for a long time. The " electric lady" is one of the phenomena of our side-show, and a source of great wonder to the gullible visitor. She is saturated with the mys- terious force. A continuous supply passes from her finger tips to whoever touches her flesh. Scoffers are confounded at the manifestation, and there is a general feeling among the side-show sightseers 71- ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS that she is a supernatural being. There is nothing indicating a violation of natural law in the lady's appearance, and nobody appears to enjoy the curiosity she excites more than her own merry self. A strange feature of the exercise of the in- visible agent is that it generates only for com- mercial purposes. For instance, the power leaves her when the performance closes for the night, and does not develop again until she is on exhibition the following day. Then, too, the current confines itself to a fixed spot. It passes away instantane- ously if she moves from her chair. The "electric lady" in private life is a very domestic and studious person. She is Mrs. E. N, Willis, whose husband is one of the managers of the tent and a recognized authority on "freaks." When I asked her for a contribution to the story of the side-show she took pencil and paper and evolved the following product. It was done under the circus canvas on a hot September afternoon in Illinois, while country visitors stared in wonder at the sight of the "freak" in the act of composi- tion and thought. It is attached in the exact phraseology in which it was handed to me. " So much has been written regarding circus life as seen only in the 'Big Show,' it will not come amiss to chat a while with a member of the side- show fraternity. When the parade returns to the show grounds, it is followed by a large crowd of people, who have been invited by men with mega- 72 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS phone voices to witness a series of free exhibitions which are used as a means of getting the people together for the opening of the side-show, which is the attraction until the ' Big Show' is ready to admit its visitors at one p.m. The side-show pre- sents a most attractive appearance to the rural visitor, showing as it does upon huge banners the many wonderful sights to be seen within. " As a means of collecting the followers, a plat- form is erected directly in front of the side-show entrance. In showmen's parlance it is known as a 'bally-hoo stage,' where, as promised the multi- tude, these free exhibitions are given. " Fearing that there may be a few stragglers or sweethearts who have failed to keep up with the procession, and wishing to give them all an equal chance, the band is called outside, and with great strength plays its loudest and swiftest selections. Then the principal orator mounts the 'bally-hoo stage,' and striking upon a huge triangle enjoins silence. In glowing terms he describes the row of paintings, proving the truthfulness of his asser- tions by bringing out a few of the subjects and dilating upon their merits. After this there is an- other 'hurry up' tune, and then pandemonium reigns supreme, as from their elevated stands the ticket-sellers, each trying to outdo the other in lustiness of tone, proclaim the price of admission- ten cents. Very few resist the eloquence of the orator and the cries of the ticket-sellers, and in a 73 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS short space of time the outside workers have a chance to rest their lungs, as nearly all have passed inside. " In the old days of circus business the side-show was justly styled the annex or museum depart- ment, and contained only living curios and a per- formance of Punch and Judy. Of late years this has been greatly changed, there being such a scarcity of freaks of nature that vaudeville acts, and even minstrel shows, have been introduced to fill up this vacuum. The interior is in charge of a lecturer, who is usually either a magician or a Punch and Judy man, he thereby serving a double purpose. " There is always a feature upon which the side- show revolves, either a giant or some other won- derful freak of nature, and it always occupies a high platform in the centre of the canvas. The other stages are arranged in horseshoe shape, and upon these the different curios are seated. All side- shows have a snake enchantress, this being an attraction that never fails to please, and the rural visitor stands open-mouthed, with a look ot astonishment as the lady lifts these large serpents one by one from their boxes and allows them to coil about her person. She is supposed to answer all questions put to her regarding the reptiles, and is asked many strange ones, such as ' Do you keep them on ice?' 'How do you feed them ?' 'Are they stuffed?' 'Did you catch them yourself?' As ex- 74 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS perience has made her quick-witted, she is ever ready with a reply. The other curios are generally a midget, a long-haired lady, or a tattooed man. "Few would be considered complete without a mind reader or fortune teller, who by merely trac- ing the lines of the hand is able to foretell the future. So, when Mary and John stand before her, the lines of Mary's hand always read that John is the favored suitor and is to be her hus- band, while those in John's hand plainly indicate that Mary is for him alone, and that their union will be blessed with many little ones ; which good news sends them giggling and blushing on their way, thoroughly satisfied at having parted with their money, as it has brought them such good results. All curios have the privilege of selling their photos, which is really a part of their rev- enue, and many a stray dime is coaxed from the pockets of the country visitor to that of the curio who is collecting a ' pork chop fund' for the winter. The initiated photo-seller knows which States will be the most productive. This calls to mind a remark made by a giant while on a trip through Canada. One day after a fruitless en- deavor to foist his photos on the public, he de- manded : " 'How long here? Me want to go back to Yankee-land.' "Thus he proved that the Yankees part with their dimes more readily than the Canucks. 75 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS "In order to fill the side-show with small cir- cuses there is always a candy stand, and when- ever there is a lull in the proceedings the voice of the candy ' butcher' may be heard calling his wares in this manner : ' Strawberry lemonade, ice cold, is five cents to-day. Lemonade, peanuts, cakes, candies, everything is five cents.' "The space not taken up by stages is usually occupied by slot machines, and many a stray nickel is dropped into them during the day. The lecturer, after going the rounds and giving a de- tailed description of each curio, concludes the per- formance with Punch and Judy, which, though the oldest attraction before the public, is always a source of amusement for the little folks, and even the grown folks laugh and cheer as if they had never seen it before. This being finished, the reed manipulator steps from behind the frame and ex- plains to the gaping multitude how easily any one can do the same with the aid of a reed made by himself of silver and silk and ' only costing ten cents.' Children and grown folks alike, in their eagerness to obtain one, push and almost knock one another down, and within a few seconds old and young alike have them in their mouths trying to say ' Oh ! Judy, go get the baby.' The side- show has been likened to a church fair, there being something doing every time one turns around. "The band is always placed upon a high plat- form directly behind the entrance, so that only a 76 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS thin canvas separates it from the outside public. This is done in order that its noise may be easily heard by the passing visitors, whom the ticket sellers are always trying to entice to part with their dimes to see the many wonders exhibited within. This band stage is also used for the min- strel ajid vaudeville performances which are given as frequently as the occasion demands. The side- show may be justly termed a continuous per- formance, as there is always something going on to entertain the visitors, who are continually dropping in. When the eloquence of the orators fails to arouse the many hangers-on who have become listless, a curiosity is occasionally brought out upon the *bally-hoo stage,' and the huge triangle is struck upon to stir up those who are still wavering. There is no let-up until all the people have left the big show and concert. There is then an opportunity for these hard-worked people to eat supper and get a rest until 6 : 30, when the side-show is again opened and remains ia operation until the big show is over, about ten p.m." Hassan Ali, the Egyptian giant, eight feet two inches tall (one has the orator's word for it), comes each year from the land of his nativity to arouse American wonder and earn American money. He is the pest of hotel keepers on the route, for on Sunday nights he chooses to pass the time for slumber away from the cramped 77 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS recesses of the circus car and in the regulation bedstead of commerce. The view of Hassan, dreaming of his far-off home, with his brown legs protruding, from the knees down, over the foot- board and his skull rammed against the head- piece, is a sight people flock from all parts of the house to witness. About midnight, generally, there is a noise like an explosion, a rattle, crash and shimmer. The other circus guests turn over and resume sleep; they know the familiar sound, it is the shattering of the giant's bed. The land- lord, hurrying to the apartment, finds Hassan on the floor, enveloped in slats, sheets, counterpane and mattress. This is almost a weekly perform- ance and causes Hassan to breathe awful Egyptian imprecations against modern American furniture. No visitor to the side-show has ever approached him in height, and only one person, an aged man wearing a G. A. R. badge, has been able to seize, by standing on a chair, the photograph guaran- teeing circus admission which the giant holding between upraised fingers and resting on the floor is accustomed to offer as a reward for the feat. Hassan was much mortified over the veteran's accomplishment, but finds balm in the conscious- ness that no one else has duplicated the achieve- ment. His favorite exploit is to spread his ex- tended fingers from edge to edge of the top of an ordinary waterpail. If you think it a simple digi- tal trick, try it. 78 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS The whole energies of a slender man with a trim figure are devoted to entertaining the side-show visitors. He talks almost unceasingly from morn- ing until night in brief but lucid descriptions of the assembly of oddities. His addresses are de- livered with great ostentation and search after effect. He is a man of easy wit and repartee, and of tact and practical intelligence; qualifications neces- sary to the successful conduct of his vocal calling. Each "freak," barring the "wild man," has for sale personal photographs, the receipts for which the management lays no claim to. This is an important part of their incomes, and the lecturer's failure to call attention to the oifering brings upon him reproach and censure. I attach one of his harangues, exactly as he delivered it one afternoon before an audience of grinning Con- necticut countrymen. It is interesting as a truth- ful reproduction of a style of unique oratory which prevails nowhere else. "Now in about five minutes we will start our regular show in here and have it all over forty- five minutes before the circus commences. (The band blows hard for five minutes.) Everybody pay your attention this way. We commence our show here first. I call your attention to Signor Arcaris and sister. They will entertain you with a wonderful performance known as the im- palement act, better known as knife-throwing, without a doubt the best act of its kind in the 79 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS world. (The act and music.) Now down this way next. I take great pleasure in introducing Princess Ani, the wonder worker and mind reader. We will have what is known as spirit calculations on the blackboard. We will have a number of gentlemen place some figures on the board. The minute you place a figure on the board she knows what figure you place there, although she is blindfolded. She can describe anything and tell you while blindfolded what you are thinking about. "Now, ladies and gentlemen, I am going to tell you how this lady tells fortunes. She reads the lines of your hand. Every line denotes some peculiar trait in your character. Tells you what you ought to do for your own benefit; tells you what talent you possess; tells you when you are going to get married ; tells you how many children you are going to have, if any. The line is there in your own hand, you can't get away from it. Tells your lucky day, lucky number, family af- fairs, love affairs. Tells how long you ought to live by the life line of your hand ! Now, it is all private. She don't tell it out loud. First she explains about the large lines. She whispers so that no one can hear but yourself. And for the small lines you get what is known as the number. The rest your hand-reading calls for is all printed on this slip of paper. No two alike. Every one's fortune is different. Just show her your left hand. So ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS The price fifteen cents all the way through. Walk right up and show her your left hand. " Now to the stage. I call your attention to the smallest lady ever placed on exhibition, Miss Bertha Carnihan, twenty-nine years of age, stands thirty-nine inches in height and weighs thirty- eight pounds. The most perfectly formed little lady on exhibition. She is well educated ; has been all over the world. Step up and have a talk with her. She will answer all questions in regard to herself. She also has her photographs for sale. "Now direct your attention to the large stage in the centre. You will be entertained by Pro- fessor Lowry's Nashville students. (When the negro concert is finished, the "big song book, words and music, fifty songs, five cents a copy," are sold.) Now, fix your interest this way, please. I call your attention to Miss Millie Taylor, better known as the Queen of Long-haired Ladies. This lady has without a doubt the longest hair of any lady before the public. The length of the lady's hair is seven feet four inches. Step up and ex- amine it for yourselves. She also has her photos. Now we come to Miss Julien, the world's greatest snake hypnotist. The lady will entertain you with her large den of living monster reptiles, in- troducing anacondas, boa constrictors, pythons and the turtle-head snake of Florida. (The per- former coils snake after snake around her form.) The lady now has one hundred and sixty-eight 6 8i ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS pounds of snake around her body, neck and arms. You will find her entertaining to converse with. She will tell you all about snakes, etc. She also has her photographs for sale. " Over this way next. I call your attention to the crowning feature of our side-show. The tallest man in human history, Hassan AH, better known as the Egyptian giant. Born in Cairo, Egypt, twenty-six years of age, stands eight feet two inches in height and weighs three hundred and twelve pounds. To give you a better idea in re- gard to his height and reach we will allow the tallest man in the audience to stand on this high chair. The giant will stand on the ground. If the man reaches up and touches the photograph Has- san Ali holds up between his fingers, we will make him a present of a ticket, taking him all the way through the big show. There (pointing) is a tall man. Would you be kind enough to stand on this chair and reach with him. All right, you see (turning to the audience) he comes about six inches from it. This gives you an idea in regard to the size of the giant's hand. Here is a good- sized water pail. See how far you can span it. Goes about half way. The giant spans it. His fingers go two inches over the rim. Now, he has no thick soles on his shoes, no high heels. There's his foot, No. 1 8. He also has his photographs for sale. " Now pay your attention over that way. That's 82 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS Neola, the electric lady. By shaking hands with her, you will receive a slight current of electricity, the same as you would from a battery. Don't be backward, walk right up and shake hands with her. She won't harm you. She also has photos. " Now, the wild man ! Down this way for the wild man! Now, stop that crowding there! Take your time, remember there are ladies and children in the crowd. (He pulls the curtain aside and pokes at the inmate with an iron bar.) There he is, with flat head and low forehead, showing he has very little brain. You notice the maniac look of the eyes, just the same as a beast. He has teeth just like a lion, arms four inches longer than our arms and walks on all fours. Captured in the everglades of Florida, a little over four and a half years ago. Handcuffed and shackled ever since he was caught. Now if you stop to think, you know there is a cause for a monstrosity of that kind. Just before he was bom his mother was frightened by a beast. It left the mark on that freak of nature, just as you see for your- selves. Half Indian, half negro, don't understand a word, don't talk, growls like a beast, eats noth- ing but raw meat. (He draws the curtain.) "Now pay your attention there. You will be entertained by musical Swarts. (A man gets melody from bells and various instruments. ) Over this way next. The old-time funny Punch and Judy. (He enters a booth, gives the familiar 83 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS show and reappears.) Now, I will show you how I change my voice. It is done with a reed, made of silver and silk. All you have to do is place it on your tongue and talk right. The sound of the words goes through the reed just like this. (He illustrates.) That's the way to do it. There are full directions how to use it. Ten cents, three for a quarter. If they don't blow as I represent, hand them back and I will give you back your money. (When the sales are finished he concludes in loud tones : ) The big show commences in five minutes. All over in here." The lusty-lunged orators on the outside make a great clamor as the crowd passes out, and one of them shouts : " The gentlemanly lecturer will now pass around again, explaining the curiosities, monstrosities and freaks of nature. Come on! Come on !" The heartless band lures with brazen notes and the scene is repeated without variation. No feature of the side-show is more keenly rel- ished in the country towns than the Punch and Judy show. The lecturer works the figures and carries on the dialogue. The movements of the puppets are managed simply by putting the hands under the dress, making the second finger and thumb serve for the arms, while the forefinger works the head. Punch's high back, distorted breast and long nose give an increased zest to his witticisms, and his career of violent crime is fol- lowed with absorbed attention until he is dragged 84 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS away to expiate it, and the curtain falls amid the shouts of his conqueror. The freak business is divided into about three varieties, foreign, domestic and fake. In the first class, the collectors travel all over the world in search of rarities, but the very best freaks come from India and the Malay peninsula. In those countries there are people who breed freaks. They buy young children and animals and deform them while their bones are soft, by all manner of means. Then they are constantly on the lookout for genuine, natural freaks, and in those lands the birth of a freak occurs very frequently. The head- quarters of this business is at Singapore. There are, too, a number of men who devote themselves to the discovering and placing of freaks of all kinds and varieties, and scarcely a day goes by in winter that we do not receive photographs and illustrated circulars from some freak merchant or other. Of course, there are faked freak men— a perfect host in themselves. If the proprietor of some little show needs an additional attraction and does not have any money to hire something good— for, like everything else, freaks have their price — he can get something for little money that will serve his purpose. The real, genuine, live freaks always command high prices — from $50 to $800 per week each— and travel all over the world in order to exhibit themselves. 85 CHAPTER VI AT THE MAIN ENTRANCE I have always regarded the two men who sell tickets with a feeling of profound awe and solemn wonder. There is something almost uncanny about their daily exhibition. Their flying hands put to shame the clutching display of the octopus. No quicker-brained, more resolute or more pe- culiarly gifted men are with the show. They face, undaunted and calm, twice a day, a scene of con- fusion, disorder and clamoring demand which would put to his heels one not fitted perfectly by nature and experience for the part. To see them working their hands with lightning rapidity, di- recting, advising and correcting, is to me as inter- esting a study as the whole passing show af- fords. When the crowd begins to gather about the ticket wagon ready with the price of admission, it would make infinitely easier the work of the men inside if the sale began then. But business astute- ness bids delay. The throng grows fast, fills the enclosure and swarms over the grounds. The side-show orator, meanwhile, directs his seductive eloquence at the perspiring mass and reaps a 86 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS harvest. This is an advantage gained by no undue haste in distributing tickets. While this preliminary maneuvring is very gratifying in its results to the management, the burden it accumulates upon the two anxious men in the ticket wagon grows every minute. When finally the signal to begin operations is given, they face a sea of upturned, distorted, perspiring faces, and aloft the air is peppered with hands brandish- ing admission money. Everybody is irrational, unreasonable and excited. Children cry, women are on the verge of collapse, and men push and strain and mutter strange oaths. Uniformed em- ployees strive in vain to maintain order. The wheels of the red wagon have been buried to the hubs, or it would be swept away in the rush. The mad, violent struggle continues for an hour, and thousands force their path or are carried bodily to the window and labor away with the cherished strips of printed pasteboard. A mountain of bills and coin grows and is toppled into baskets at their side. Soon these are filled and money litters the floor. There is no chance to assort or collect it now. With eyes fixed steadily before them, fingers and hands never lingering or sluggish, but intercepting a counterfeit offering like a flash, they work as if human automatons. Not until solitary arrivals denote the end of the rush do they relax. Thousands of dollars have changed hands in the brief period, yet the scene will be duplicated a few 87 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS hours hence and the day will record a balance as correct in detail as the most exacting banking institution's. There is a popular misapprehension about the moral purposes of the men in the ticket wagon. The impression seems to prevail among many sensible persons that they are modern highway- men, lurking there for prey. An intimate knowl- edge of their character and conduct makes a definite denial only fair to them. In the swift shuffle of money, there is no intention on their part to take advantage of the circus's patron. It is the fixed design of the management to inspire a feeling of security and confidence, and the selection of ticket-sellers has this end in view. Dismissal and possible criminal prosecution would be the penalty of detected "short change" or other swindling methods. There is only one legitimate source oi outside profit, and that is furnished by the " walkaway," circus vernacular for the person who unconsciously leaves his change behind. He is legion, strangely enough, and more remarkable still, it seldom seems to occur to him to return for his own. When he does it is promptly given him. Ticket- sellers insist vehemently that the "walkaway's" contribution is not more than enough to reim- burse them for mistakes in count which are una- voidable in the tumult, and more frequently than not to the benefit of the purchaser. Whether their 88 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS comrades accept this assertion without reservation is not a subject to be discussed here. Rates of admission are conspicuous everywhere. Children under two and a half years of age are admitted free; from that age to ten a half-ticket is required, and older persons must pay full charge. Wonderful and varied are the devices resorted to in the effort to evade legitimate payment. Chil- dren who at home are in their teens have dwarfed to babyhood at the circus entrance. Parents glibly insist that robust offsprings are under nine years, and panting fathers and mothers present themselves, in the palpable attempt to deceive, with an armful of boy or girl who has reached the full-rate limit. Watchful and inexorable door- keepers receive them, demand and finally are handed the correct sum, and composedly hear themselves styled "a pack of villains and swin- dlers." Ill-grace characterizes those who would cheat the circus. To the main entrance come the hundreds of written orders for tickets, issued by the advance agents who have covered the district with bills and posters. As a precautionary measure against imposition, two sets of keen-eyed employees have subsequently prowled over the routes and made note when storekeeper or householder has not kept faith. If the flaring advertisement has been removed, disfigured, or hidden under that of a rival -show, a memorandum is made. Thus a list 89 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS of those who are and who are not entitled to recognition is in the hands of the management when the doors open. Each claim presented to the ticket taker has a corresponding number on the large sheet of paper which the general man- ager holds, and whether or not the holder enters' free depends on its report. Very crestfallen and embarrassed, generally, is the man who thought he could profit without rendering service in return. He had not calculated on the thorough business system with which he was in contact. If the ap- plicant has kept his promise he is welcomed to the show, given what his order calls for in the way of seats and number of admissions, and passes inside. Each one of the men at the main entrance un- derstands his manifold duties perfectly and there is no confusion. Annoying problems enough pre- sent themselves, but the quick-witted, ready circus man solves them without hesitation. Complaints innumerable flow to the main entrance, but every- body receives a fair hearing and just treatment in so far as human effort can bring it about. Fault- finding women are the bane. There is almost no extreme of compromise to which the showman will not go to rid himself of the presence of a member of the other sex when she is wrought up over a conviction that she has been imposed upon. She blocks the passage way, gesticulating madly, protesting volubly and threatening all manner of 90 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS things. She is generally tall and angular, wears spectacles, carries a cotton umbrella, has a crying child by the hand and is famous in the town as a virago. Dutch and Curley cower before her out- burst, and the general manager promises her all she demands if she will only pass on. With a parting volley of abuse she flaunts into the men- agerie tent and a feeling of great relief pervades all. Her reappearance, with a lament about the unsatisfactory locality of her seat, may be confi- dently expected later. Vigilant canvasmen picket the stretches of cloth, alert lest the small boy or his older relative crawl imder the fabric and gain free admission. The duty is one demanding keen eye and active body, for once the canvas folds after the invader he is generally secure from capture ; a scamper un- der the low rows of seats or into the crowd eludes successful pursuit and recognition. So watchful, however, are these patrolmen and so obdurate against pleading juvenile persuasion that sur- reptitious entrance is effectually barred. The circus-fascinated but impecunious youngster must needs vicariously satisfy his longing by turning handsprings outside the barrier. The stirring band music carried to his ears conjures immeas- urable pleasures in his mind and is madly irri- tating. The press agent receives his newspaper guests at the main entrance. They have been provided with 91 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS tickets bearing his name. To the reporter as- signed to write up the circus and to the responsi- ble heads of the newspaper he gives slips of paper passing them into an enclosure from which is afforded an undisturbed survey of all that is transpiring, and brings to closer view the excelling features of the performance. Later he joins them there, explains the show's superiority over all competitors and is generally entertaining. He presses peanuts and lemonade upon them and sends them away in friendly mood. That manly young fellow who appeared from the inner recesses of the festive tent for a whis- pered conversation at the main entrance with the general manager is Fred Ledgett, equestrian. He is one of the principals in the season's romance of the circus. Dallie Julian, eighteen years old, who turns back somersaults from the broad, rosined haunch of her horse Gypsy, is the other party to the charming affair. What they dared and suffered before they could win the countenance and support of management and relative and carry out their matrimonial longing, only those who know inti- mately the prosaic circus institute can appreciate. If there is one thing frowned upon more than all others in tented life, it is adventures of the heart. But Fred and Dallie emerged triumphant and con- quering, and the seed of love sown in April came to golden harvest in Iowa, many miles trans- planted, where an earnest, curious company of 92 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS show people witnessed the wedding ceremony and participated in the celebration. My mind reverts to the early spring when little Dallie, done up in a heavy coat and sitting on one of the tubs which served as a seat for a trick elephant, was holding an informal reception in Madison Square Garden. Preparations for the opening of the circus were in full swing— literally in some instances — for the acrobats, practising for the first time in a new place, were suspended by " mecaniques" — the leather belts with rope attach- ments that made living pendulums of them when they missed their try. Even one of the bareback riders, forming a pyramid on her husband's shoul- ders, while he went around the ring on three horses, had the life-saving apparatus around her waist. For she was new at the business and her husband was not letting her take any more chances than he could help. And while father and mother were doing their great aerial act on horse- back, both of them looking as though only boy and girl, their two-year-old baby cooed down at the ringside, brought over from Boston to spend three weeks with them. She thought it was fine when her mother jumped and balanced, but her mother thought of nothing except not to fall off" and not to hang her husband with the rope that was her safeguard. They were in the middle ring and beside it, swathed in top coats and wrappings of all kinds, were performers waiting for their 93 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS turns to go in. From beneath their street clothes came gUmpses of pink and white fleshings with slippers to match, and over the slippers were clogs, wooden-soled shoes, with leather tops, to prevent their feet from being injured while walking in the ring. The circus was getting ready to open and every- body was practising to start in a blaze of glory. In one of the end rings a woman was riding bare- back, "the best hurdle jumper in the business" said one of the men. It looks easy to run and jump on a horse, but it requires work and prac- tice. Not being a dress rehearsal, every one was in working togs, and the women were wear- ing bloomer suits, with waists of red, pink and blue, and with that innate sense of decoration that is part of the true artist in the ring, each wore a rosette in her hair that matched the suit. Dallie's interest was centred on the ring where her aunt, who is also her foster mother, was breaking in a new horse. " Many of the people use the company's horses, but my aunt has her own and so have I," she explained. " She always breaks them herself and this one is new to the business ; that is why there is a rope on him and the ringmaster hangs to it. You see the horse might get frightened and bolt over the side or try to go through the doorway," pointing to a niche that served as an entrance; 94 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS "there is a man standing at the door to prevent the horse from going out." The horse was perfectly well aware of the fact and not altogether reconciled, although he was , fast approaching that state. Ropes swinging from all sorts of corners where trapezes and " looping-the-loop" contrivances were being put up disconcerted him, but the rope and whip were arguments that appealed in inducing him to stay. "He will be all right before the performance," Dallie went on with the air of a connoisseur. "There will be two more rehearsals to-day and some chance to practise to-morrow. I am riding the same horse I ride always," she went on, tuck- ing her small feet out of the way of dirt and draught, "and it is lucky for me because I have only been practising two weeks this season. You see I was in the hospital last winter, and all I got of the circus was hearing the band play as I lay in bed while all the others were getting ready for this season. But I practised a lot this year and now I do better than I did last year." In the upper ring the Rough Riders were putting their horses through their acts and the horses were not altogether pleased. The thing they hated most was being made to lie down when they did not feel the least bit tired, and many of them were inclined to argue the matter until the whip convinced them that really they preferred to do what was wanted. The whip as a convincer in 95 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS a circus is a great ethical force. At one end of the course were the acrobats doing a complete double shoulder twist. They were swinging by ropes attached to their belts when they missed a leap. "You see," said Dallie, shedding the great white light of information, " they have never done their turn here before and they are used to a smaller place, so they are practising to get distances. If one of them should miss and fall it would hurt, for they haven't any net under, but the 'meca- nique' will keep them swinging clear from the ground. You ought to see the ' mecanique' in the rings of the winter quarters. They are put on people just learning to go bareback. Sometimes they miss a horse and the persons go swinging round and round the ring until they land on their horses again. It is awfully funny. Some of the people are scared this season because they are new and there are a lot of new horses and so they are nervous. My aunt told me the other day she could not sleep nights for worrying about me and how I would get through, but I told her she was silly. I will get through all right and there is no use any way in worrying, even if anything does happen." "And isn't it remarkable that some persons do not get hurt?" she went on. "Now, here are all of us and there hasn't a thing gone wrong to hurt any one. Why, yesterday one of the walking tight wires broke when there were five people on it. 96 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS There was not one of them hurt; but a little boy that was on the end had every one fall on him and it scared him pretty bad and bruised him a little, but he is practising to-day as usual." Her aunt's horse by dint of much persuasion was taking some baby hurdles while the aunt hung on behind clinging to a strap, for the horse did not seem to care about having a person perched on his haunches, but he accepted it for the same reason thai he had all the rest. But at last he was led fronr the ring and some one called "Dallie!" She jumped down from her tub, dropped off her long skirt, danced into the ring and up to a big white horse. She wore a short skirt over her dark bloomers and in her hand was a very weather-beaten little whip. " I have tried a lot of others," she said, as she bent it, " but I cannot turn somersaults with any other. I am so used to this and the way it feels in my hand that I cannot get along with any other. I have lost this several times but some of the men always find it and bring it back to me." Her horse, with its tightly checked head, waited for her and she felt the head strap with the air of an old professional. Dallie stood up like a bit of thistle-down and, poised lightly on her horse, went riding around. First one of her feet and then the other went for- ward to balance, and then suddenly both went tight together and she took several preliminary 7 97 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS leaps in the air to fet herself limber. Having stretched her muscles, she gave a little cry. Three men, lined up together to catch her if she fell, got ready, and up and over in the air she went like a little human ball. The first time she did not land on the horse but in the ring. But after that she ^id her turn all right and was driven out to make room for others needing practice. Cupid had picked the little horsewoman out for his mark in these early days of the circus, but so closely guarded was the secret that it was days before we knew that her heart had taken up its lodging in young Ledgett's breast, and his breast had become the cabinet of her affections. Shy glances and low and tender voices in secluded spots finally told a revealing tale and we watched the progress of the devotion with intense interest and some concern. We knew the stern traditional circus antipathy toward affairs of the kind and wondered whether the fixed opposition of the aunt could be overcome. No comrade was so disloyal and unchivalrous as to carry the story to those in authority, but soon the love-making conveyed itself to their very eyes. Then began a systematic effort to end it abruptly, and the memory of the courage and faith and hope which forced surrender to Hymen's cause will linger with us long. The burden of obstructions was directed at the girl— he was too strong and self-reliant ; and when her aunt was not advising against her conjugal 98 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS plans, the ringmaster engaged himself in telling that marriage would jeopardize her future. So it was that between the prodigious shakings of the head and the love that absorbed her, Dallie grew thin and pale and unsteady in her work. Her judge of distance, so necessary in her dangerous aerial revolutions, became bad, and often she alighted on wooden ringbark or horse's head or tail when her feet should have been fixed to Gyp- sy's moving back. She became a bruised and humble maiden, but with piu-pose unwavering. Her aunt's vigilance was unrelaxing and unrelent- ing; she vowed that the two should not have each other's company. To the casual circus goer, this determined dis- approval of innocent attachment may seem brutal and unreasonable, but there are reasons under- lying which those directly involved feel justify their course. It is the history of circus love affairs which progress during the active season that they impair performances. Once the yearn- ing enters show persons, indolence and indifference characterize them in the ring. It is not a desire to oppress, but a warning instinct of professional deterioration, that causes sardonic smiles and harsh flings. To the relative who has acted as mother for years, the prospect of premature sepa- ration is naturally obnoxious. It was not until summer was on the wane that we saw signs of approaching capitulation. Dallie 99 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS had risen supreme over her temporary weakness and was again the skilful mistress of the ring, Fred, patient and artful, had won first an endur- ing place in the aunt's esteem and then her per- mission and encouragement. The management yielded before their combined eloquence. So it was that one Sunday afternoon, Dallie, swaying under a great breadth of silk, and her sweetheart, awkward in encumbering black, but looking very proud and joyful, started hand in hand down the long road of life. A very glorious supper was served that evening in honor of the event. The owner gracefully proposed the health of the bride, and the tent resounded with the en- thusiasm of the response. Fred expressed his thanks in well-put words, and Mrs. Fred blushed prettily in her happiness. And best of all, about the corners of the aunt's lip there rested a smile of pleasure, of approval and of contentment. loo CHAPTER VII THE MENAGERIE TENT Into the menagerie tent, with its great variety of animals caged and unconfined, streams the open-mouthed human parade, stopping to com- ment and observe on its way to the "big top." The Hons and tigers pace up and down their cages with hungry eyes that gleam in green and gold. They stare steadily through the iron bars but take no heed of the pigmy humans who stare back. There is something in those shining eyes that tells of thoughts far from the circus, perhaps of a jungle in far-oif Asia. The insatiable elephant swings his greedy trunk tirelessly, and the black leopard sulks in the darkest corner of his den. Watching closely the scene in all its aspects is a jovial, deep-voiced man who urges the immediate necessity of securing advantageous seats under the adjoining canvas. He controls the peanut and lemonade privilege. Long experience has taught him all the arts and devices of his business. He appreciates that his sales will not begin in any volume until the audience is comfortably settled inside. Then he displays his commercial craftiness by overwhelming the big area with peanut and ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS popcorn vendors. No lemonade is in evidence. Thirst comes on apace. Throats become dry and salty, and there is clamor for liquid. When its as- suaging presence is finally seen in the hands of dozens of hawkers, the sale is invariably tre- mendous. If sudden rain comes on during the performance, he varies his sales with the disposal of umbrellas. He is ready for any meteorological condition. He has been associated with red wagons and white canvas for many years, and there is no department of circus life in which he has not at some time excelled. As a clown his fame covered all parts of the country. He was, an old-time programme before me tells, "a grotesque, whim- sical satirist. A wit brimful of ridiculously ex- travagant, fanciful mirth and eccentric humor, comic attitudes, funny songs, derisive sayings, quaint arguments and pleasant drolleries ; entire- ly devoid of low jests and vulgar tricks and postures." The monkey cage is the most popular institu- tion in our menagerie tent. We have outgrown the "variety cage" of old days, which was a col- lection in one den of monkeys, pigs, cats, dogs and rabbits. It was an interesting collection, I suppose, to country people, but an insufferable nuisance to the showman. Circus monkeys die in droves. The show which starts the season with one hundred and fifty of the animals and returns I02 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS to winter quarters with twenty-five is fortunate. The climatic changes act with quick fatality upon the sensitive creatures. Tuberculosis, animal doc- tors call the killing disease. There is always a bully in the cage and always an inmate ready to give battle for the honor. The privileges of the bully are alluring. He takes for himself the choic- est morsels of food, chooses the most comfortable perch or corner, gives orders and demands instant obedience, and cuffs and bites and annoys his fel- lows until one, rendered desperate, tiurns and administers a thrashing and succeeds to the posi- tion. The monkey cage at nightfall is a sure register of the degree of generosity of a com- munity. In some towns they are gorged with food; the audience has fed them lavishly. Again, they give pleading indication of hunger ; the place has probably a reputation for penuriousness. Those who believe in the Darwinian theory assert that the resemblance between the human race and the monkey is most marked in sick monkeys. Several scientists who watched our sick chimpan- zee noticed many peculiarities of a child. It coughed like a child and made wry faces Uke one when asked to take medicine. Doctors felt its pulse and it received all the care and attention of a child of the rich. Natural history is one of the most interesting and absorbing of all studies, and the visitor to our menagerie finds much zoological gratification. 103 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS The hippopotamus, sleeping or floundering in his tank, and raising his head at intervals above the surface of the water for the purpose of respiration, is never without a wondering audience. His is a harmless disposition and he is a pet with the ani- mal keepers. His den is too small for the water to cover him completely and frequently he is scrubbed with soap. He enjoys the operation immensely unless the soapsuds enter his cavernous mouth, which surely is annoying enough to pro- voke the most mild-mannered being. His skin is of a dark reddish-brown color, full of cracks, chaps and cross-etchings, with dapplings of irregu- lar dark spots, and is probably two inches thick. He is more than ten feet long and nearly six feet high. When he gives voice, the lions are humili- ated and the tigers acknowledge defeat. It is a deafening kind of interrupted roar, between that of a bull and the braying of an elephant. His daily diet is bushels of potatoes, apples, carrots, oats, bran, hay and salt. Keepers say that the only hippopotami born in captivity are in the zoo of one of the big cities. Ignorance permitted the first one which saw the light to die. Keepers feared to put it in the water, thinking it would droAvn, and tried to nurse it with a bottle. It was dead in ten days. Then it was decided not to interfere when the mother brought forth its next young. The result was the discovery that it nursed under water. The first genuine hippopota- 104 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS mus ever seen in America was exhibited by Bar- num in his New York museum in August, 1861. He advertised the animal extensively and ingeni- ously as the "great behemoth of the Scriptures," and thousands, including many biblical students, flocked to see it. Circus people will travel miles into the presence of a giraffe. They want the animal with the elongated neck to rub their hand with its tongue. They say that good luck is sure to follow the operation. The privilege is one rarely accorded, for giraffies are very costly and delicate, and, though popular menagerie inmates, are infre- quently seen nowadays. The first one born in captivity in America saw the light of day in Cin- cinnati on October 20, 1889. It was five feet high. Daisy, measuring eighteen feet from the ground to the tips of her ears, and the last giraife then on exhibition with any travelling show, was killed during a voyage to Europe— a lurch of the ship broke her neck. Circus owners are vainly searching the jungles of India and the wilds of Africa for rhinoceroses. There are none in the open markets and the world's visible supply is limited to twelve speci- mens. The market value of the beast ranged from $4,000 to $S,ooo until the present shortage set in. Now a large circus would willingly pay many times that sum. The rhinoceros has always been a problem to animal keepers, for captivity i°5 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS generally results in early death. He is a beast so essentially of the wilds that all efforts at breeding in captivity have failed. Old showmen remember the attempt to take performing liber- ties with one of the spike-nosed monsters in a small town in Illinois in 1872. He killed two men, upset four dens of animals, tore down a museum tent, stampeded people for blocks and finally brought up in a vacant house, the door of which stood open. No fixed desire to exhibit a rhinoceros has ever since been displayed. To many persons who go to a circus there is probably nothing that causes more wonder than to see the keepers of the lions, tigers, leopards, panthers and other wild beasts sitting in the cages among them, patting them on their ugly heads, slapping them on their saliva-dripping jowls, or fearlessly lashing them with their whips- if necessary. Mastery expresses better than train- ing what the keepers have accomplished with the beasts. " There is a tremendous amount of work to be done in winter quarters, of which the public knows nothing," explained our keeper, as he surveyed the scene in the menagerie tent early one August evening. " We are getting new wild animals all the time, and as they come to us there is not a man living who would dare go into the cages with them. During the winter we have to break those beasts so that we can handle them on the road. 106 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS When they come to us they have thick leather col- lars around their necks, with heavy chains at- tached. The beasts are then more savage than they were before capture, that having served only to bring out all that is ugly in them. They will spit and growl at anybody who comes near their cage, and jump at the bars until they exhaust themselves. We begin to teach them manners the very day we get them, and they take a lesson in etiquette every day after that until the show starts out. My men catch the end of the chain fastened to the collar and secure it in such a man- ner to the bars that the beast can move only a short distance. Then I take a stout rawhide whip and strong club and enter the cage. I take a chair and sit down in a corner. The instant I get in, the beast will give a roar and spring for me. I would be torn to shreds if I were within reach; but the chain holds and instead of getting at me, the lion, tiger, panther or leopard is brought up with a shock that sends him in a heap to the floor and I give him a lash with the raw- hide. "The beast is at me again in an instant; again he goes down and again I lash him. I always keep the club handy, but never use it unless it is absolutely necessary. I keep drawing my chair a little closer to the animal as this goes on until I get so close he can touch me with his nose but cannot bite me. Then I just sit there and talk to 107 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS him and you would be surprised at the power the human voice will finally be made to exercise over wild beasts. They seem to understand much that is said to them. " While I am talking just out of reach of their teeth," he went on, "if they get ugly and attempt to spring at me I give them the rawhide. I keep this up, and after a dozen or fifteen lessons they get so they only snarl and growl at my entrance to the cage. As soon as I think it is safe I try the beasts without a chain. It is a little ticklish business at first but I have plenty of help ready for the first effort. If it is a success the first time, you generally have your beast mastered, although once in a while a brute that has been tractable enough will break out and go for his keeper. We had such a case once when an experienced lion tamer was clawed by a lioness and nearly killed. We usually cut the claws of the cat species, how- ever. Lions will not stay in the same cage with tigers. We tried this once, putting a lioness in with a Bengal tiger. There was a fierce fight and the lioness nearly killed the Bengal." Our keeper takes very little stock in the theory of the power of the human eye over wild beasts. The organ plays an insignificant part, he thinks ; it is the power of the man behind the eye and the qualifications he possesses that are efficacious. " It is a pretty thing to say, and that is all," he said. "The man who wants to subdue a wild io8 H < ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS beast has to be fearless and go about his task in a courageous way, and of course the eye plays its part. The man who attempted to handle a wild beast that was not chained, with nothing else than a fearless eye would be in a pretty bad hole, though. What the man must have is a good heart, plenty of pluck and lots of sand. The secret of successfully handling wild beasts is to be- come imbued with a confidence that all wild beasts are really cowardly, especially if they belong to the cat family. If you are not afraid and you know how to do it, it is easy enough." "A circus man once determined to put the ques- tion whether the human eye has power over wild animals to the test. Approaching a large ostrich he gazed fixedly at it, and to his delight the mes- meric glance seemed to meet with instant success. The bird crouched and flapped its wings nervously. Some hours later, however, the man's body was found with the ostrich alternately sitting and jumping upon it. The negro guide of a circus expedition, it is told, was more successful, al- though there is some doubt as to whether it was the power of the eye that gave him victory. He surprised two lion cubs at play and began to play with them. They liked it so much that when he would take his departure they refused to let him go. Their cries of enjoyment finally brought the mother lioness. The negro was paralyzed with fear, and kept his eyes glued to those of the 109 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS lioness. Man and beast kept steadily watching each other. The lioness moved around the negro several times but he never shifted his gaze. Sev- eral times the lioness crouched as if to spring, but finally after what seemed an age to the negro she called her cubs to her side and disappeared in the forest. This is the story brought home from Africa. "A man once experimented with a wildcat in our circus, and only the bars of the cage pre- vented him from being badly scratched for his pains. As soon as he looked into the eyes of the wildcat the animal sprang fiercely at him. "Some interesting experiments were made at our winter quarters in Bridgeport one year with the object of ascertaining the exact influence of music on animals. That animals like to hear a violin played seems to be clearly proved. A zo- ologist played in the menagerie many times, and found that the music pleased them. A puma, at the sound of the violin, stretched himself at full length in his cage and listened quietly as long as the music was soft and low, but the moment it became loud and fast he sprang to his feet, lashed his sides with his tail and began to pace ner- vously up and down his cage. A jaguar at the sound of lively music showed great uneasiness, but became quiet when soft music was played. He thrust his paws through the bars of the cage to detain the violinist. On leopards the music made ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS hardly any impression. A lioness and three cubs seemed somewhat disturbed, but as soon as the player started to go to the next cage they came forward and lay down. He then played soft music which seemed to please them. He followed it with a lively dance, at the first sound of which the cubs sprang up and gambolled wildly about the cage. On the other hand, two striped hyenas, when they heard the music, drew back to the other end of their cage and tried to get out through the bars. "I remember well the year 1889," he continued, "because then the question of electrocuting, in- stead of hanging, prisoners condemned to die came up. A party of scientists came on to our winter quarters and conducted a series of electrical exper- iments upon the animals. Mr. Bailey placed the entire menagerie at the service of the scientists, and twenty of us keepers assisted in the work. The instruments employed were a powerful battery of forty-two Leclanche cells and a resistance box of one hundred thousand ohms. The experiments began at eleven o'clock in the morning and con- tinued until nightfall. "The first animal experimented with was a savage baboon, which fought furiously before he was tied. He bit one keeper severely and tore the clothing off another. A sponge, that was used as the end of one wire, was forced into his mouth. A second sponge was fastened on one of his paws. Ill ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS A current of two cells was then passed through the simian and was promptly resented by a fierce attempt to break his bonds and escape. The baboon's irritation increased with the current until twenty-eight cella had been used. When forty cells had been used, the animal became lethar- gic and almost comatose, looking for all the world like a man overcome by strong drink. The highest point of resistance was eight thousand ohms, a surprisingly large figure. When finally released, the baboon became wild with rage and attacked the nearest keeper, inflicting a dozen scratches on him. A tame seal was next operated on. It allowed the experts to fasten one roll of copper wire around its neck and a second around its tail flippers. The moment the current was ap- plied it snapped viciously in every direction. The savants sprang right and left, upsetting chairs and writing materials in their haste to get out of reach. When the current was increased the seal gnawed at the wires and succeeded in disengaging itself from both. The resistance could not be ascertained on account of its wet coat acting as a conductor to the electric fluid. " The gnu or horned horse, did not take kindly to science. When one of the savants entered its cage it attacked him so savagely, that three keep- ers were obliged to go to his assistance. The ani- mal showed a resistance of eleven thousand ohms and seemed paralyzed the moment the current was II? ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS turned on. The small monkeys behaved very much like little children. The moment they felt the current they screamed and seemed to be undergo- ing agony. When the wires were removed, they appeared puzzled and three of them took up the electrodes as if to study them. A large blue monkey was so interested that when released he seized the large sponge and began to tear it apart as if to see what it contained that hurt him so. The mon- keys offered a resistance of from five thousand to seven thousand ohms. The hippopotamus and sea lion took the full force of the current without, wincing; but a dog, after having a moderate cur- rent passed through his brain, showed signs of hydrophobia and had to be killed. The wild carnivora showed much sensitiveness to the elec- tric current, manifesting every symptom of rage and distress when only a single cell was employed. A wolf to which a mild current was applied, stood upon its haunches and cried piteously. " But the elephants proved the star attractions. They actually enjoyed the sensation in every in- stance, except when a strong current was passed through the trunk. When only a few cells were employed, the huge beasts did not seem to observe the fact, but when the full battery was employed, they rubbed their legs together, caressed savant and keeper alike and squealed their pleasure. No odder sight was ever seen than an elephant with mouth wide open, with one scientist holding a 8 113 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS sponge to the huge tongue and a second another to the root of his tail, and manifesting every sign of glee. " The manner in which animals endure pain al- ways awakens our sympathies. Horses in battle are a striking example of power of endurance and unyielding courage. After the first stinging pain of the wound, they make no sound, but bear their agony with mute, wondering endurance. Ele- phants also suffer agonies without flinching. When they are shot in a vital spot they sink down on the ground with a low cry, and silently pass away. A dog will go for days with a broken leg without complaint, and a wounded cat will crawl to some quiet place and brood silently over agonies which humans could not endure. A stricken deer will go to some thick wood and there in pitiful submission await the end. Lions, tigers and other beasts will do the same. Seldom do they give utterance to cries of pain. Cattle will meet the thrust of the butcher's knife without a sound, and a wild dove, with shot from a hunter's gun burning in its tender flesh, will fly to some high bough or lie on the ground to die, and no sound will be heard save the dripping of its life blood upon the leaves. The eagle, stricken high in air, will struggle to the last, but there will be no sound of pain, and the proud defiant look will not leave the eyes until the lids close over them and shut out the sunlight they love so well." 114 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS Sunday is fast-day in the menagerie tent, and every occupant, caged or uncaged, knows when the day arrives. When the week-day feeding hour — five o'clock in the afternoon — approaches, not one of the animals betrays the feeling of eager desire on Sunday which characterizes them all the other six days. They understand instinctively that there will be no meal. Then on Monday the " cat" animals begin to pace their cages nervously and peer through the bars awaiting the coming of the keepers. They are well aware that liver, which they relish keenly and which keeps them in good physical condition, will be the food. The Sunday abstinence is deemed by the trainers an aid to good health, as copying to some extent the habit of beasts in their native haunts, where food is not obtainable every day. There is little sickness in the menagerie. The animals are studied closely and given assiduous attention if the slightest in- disposition is manifested. "S CHAPTER VIII LIFE WITH THE PERFORMERS The art of seating the audience in the big tent plays a prominent part in the receipts of the day. " Fill the highest rows first," is the instruction forced upon each usher, and censure or dismissal is the penalty of disobedience. By skilful and systematic arrangement of the crowds, it is possi- ble to utilize every inch of seating space in the vast enclosure. Indifferent or careless performance of the duty leaves the tent, to the casual observer, packed to completion, but in reality here and there are spots not occupied. Hence all ingenuity must be brought to bear to prevent this condi- tion and its consequent financial loss, for the sale of tickets stops when no more seats are available. Sometimes a prosperous day has not been confi- dently expected and the management orders a four- instead of the usual five-centre-pole tent raised. The difference in seating capacity is sev- eral hundred. Then, but not often, for circus foresight is keen, people flock to the lot in thou- sands and there is no room for their accommoda- tion. The owner is shame and mortification per- sonified. ii6 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS On the hippodrome track one of the clowns, clad in sober black and looking to be all he repre- sents, waits with imitation camera and tripod for victims. He is an experienced master of human nature. With exaggerated politeness and scrupu- lous care of detail he poses unsuspecting new- comers, to the boisterous amusement of those already seated. Sweethearts stand in affectionate attitude, mightily pleased and unsuspecting, while he pretends to impress their likeness upon photo- graphic plates. Sometimes he turns their faces from him, tells them not to move until instructed, and then moves quietly away. Very infrequently they take the joke seriously. When anger and retaliation are manifested, he is agile enough to escape punishment. A boy sings on the topmost seats. His voice is powerful, but pure and sweet, and the tent is filled with the sounds of approval when he finishes. The musical director discovered him in Rochester, N. Y., and has great hopes for his professional future. The military band is discoursing popular selec- tions, and the equestrian director makes a last critical survey of the network of suspended bars, trapezes, rings, perches and wires. Finishing touches are being added to the " loop-the-loop " apparatus. A score of men have been putting it together since early morning. Now the band is at the dressing-room exit and the cornet sounds 117 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS a melodious call. The inaugural tournament is on, comprising, the press agent is telling his guests, "spectacular pageantry, zoologic, eques- tric, hippodromatic and aerial elements, indicative of the limitless resources of this colossal consoli- dation of circus chieftains, collection of celebrities and congress of champions; a comprehensive, kaleidoscopic and illustrative review upon the ellipse of the hippodrome, upon the two stages and in the three rings." Then the clowns' carol, the herds of trained ele- phants and the circus performance that is familiar to the young and old. The ringmaster's whip cracks merrily ; ponies and dogs show the results of patient teaching; slack wire equilibrists, head balancers and daring horizontal bar heroes are innumerable ; there are graceful flights upon flying trapeze and swinging rings ; living classic statuary pleases the eye; hurdle riding, a hazardous form of equestrianism, gives the audience a thrill; prancing thoroughbreds engage in a Cakewalk, and the clowns burlesque it; a crowd of acrobats and jugglers fill the rings simultaneously, while a septette of men and women engage in fancy and trick bicycle riding^ and the most intrepid wheel- man rides down a ladder which stretches to the dome of the canvas; a performing bear shows al- most human intelligence, and some one dressed like a monster rooster evokes general mirth; a young man, standing on the pedals of a single ii8 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS wheel with no support save his nerve, makes his perilous journey up and down a spiral arrange- ment, which has a curious effect upon the snare drum ; an eighteen-year-old girl turns somersaults upon a moving white horse's back, and the on- lookers read that she is the only one of her sex accomplishing the feat. So the show progresses to the rushing hippo- drome races, contests between women on fiery thoroughbreds, double standing Roman bareback races, tandem hurdle races, jockey races, pony races with monkey jockeys, clowns in comical competition, and the breath-taking chariot race. It is now that the country crowd perhaps gets a thrill that is denied the New York city audience. In Madison Square Garden the hippodrome track is dry and firm and smooth and true. The coun- try course offers none of these conditions. No time is granted to make it perfect. And so it is that sometimes there is a wild cry from rider or driver, a confused heap of hoofs, legs, wheels and dust, breathless silence from the thousands of onlookers and then, generally, a loud burst of ap- plause as horse and human struggle to their feet, not seriously damaged. The danger of disaster is especially great when the four fleet horses are dashing with the heavy, low Roman chariots. Great skill is required to prevent collision or col- lapse on the abrupt course; and rough, uneven grounds make serious strain upon the vehicle. 119 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS The accidents seldom have disastrous endings. I remember vividly when an axle broke in a Penn- sylvania town. The woman driver jumped and escaped with a sprained wrist. The band in- stantly stopped its thumping. The horses, racing madly and unguided to the finish post came to an abrupt standstill. The audience, on a verge of a panic, resumed their seats, marvelling. They did not understand, that as a precautionary measure against just such accidents, the fiery animals are trained to run with the music. They have been taught not to move rapidly until the band begins and to stop whenever its melody ceases. It will be observed that the women who rush around the hippodrome track in the jockey races ride in an opposite direction from that of the other sex, and the reason is not apparent to the lay visitor. The explanation is that thus their feet swing on the horse's side not exposed to the supporting quarter-pole, as would be the case did they follow the course of the men. Disregard of this precautionary measure has resulted in serious injury in many circuses, for the circus woman makes light of danger in many forms which would appall her unprofessional sister. The natu- ral route is the men's, and she would take it every time did the equestrian director permit. Of course, most skilled performers " stall." That is, in the execution of a particularly dangerous or difficult feat, they pretend to barely escape a seri- .-^ 1 =■? 1^::.. 1 1 ' *% '''k' ^^^^H^BH ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS ous fall or make an unsuccessful attempt at ac- complishment. It gives the audience an exagger- ated idea of the extreme peril or difficulty of the undertaking, and ensures an outburst of applause when finally triumphantly done. It is a sidelight on the mild vanity of the circus man, but inci- dentally serves a commercial purpose, for he knows that public approval carries with it re- newal of engagement at no smaller salary. Nearly all on the list of circus performances have inherited their strength and skill. They have been literally born to the arena. Some of them represent the third and fourth generations of famous circus families. The boys and girls of our circus, comprising two tiny concert dancers, a smart young bicycle rider, several acrobats and gymnasts and two Japanese boys, are a modest, healthy, honest party of playmates whose parents find time each day to hear lessons and give ad- vice in manners and morals. They are "chums" in all the word implies, and an occasional clash with words or fists always ends without the call for parental adjustment and serves to cement the juvenile friendship. Of young men and women, those who have not yet reached their majorities, we have half a dozen, all of whom have conspicu- ous parts in the show. One of the girls, a skilled acrobat, 'took up riding recently and bids fair to achieve fame, the veterans say. The act does not interfere with her other performance and she is in 121 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS receipt of a handsome income. The most finished tumbler among the lads is a boy who also partic- ipates in a wire-walking act. In this perform- ance he is disguised as a girl, for the feminine sex always lends interest to any feat. The deception is perfect, but it was very annoying to the man- agement and embarrassing to the youth when his blonde wig dropped off one afternoon and he stood revealed in his masculinity. So it is with a " family" who do a graceful and dangerous aerial act. The youngest member of the troupe is a boy, although appearance indicates the other sex. They are both eagerly biding the time when age will do away with the disguise. The training of these children begins almost at birth. Indeed, in the vast majority of cases there is the powerful effect of heredity, which exercises an influence upon the child and helps it to over- come obstacles to others well-nigh impossible. The chief effort is to create courage and daring, to develop those qualities where they already exist. The lungs are expanded and broadened by hearty exercise, and the muscles are hardened and de- veloped by athletic work. At the same time it has been found by the modern gymnast that the body, to perform this extraordinary work, must be well nourished. The necessity for a clear head, a steady eye and unflinching hand requires that the brain shall likewise be well nourished; so the education of the little pupils is not neglected; 122 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS indeed, many a gymnast has mental abilities often -lacking in the ordinary man. He has to under- stand some geometry and mathematics, else how can he calculate the exact distance of a jump, a fall, a somersault? He very often is the inventor of his own apparatus and this has to be exact in shape, size and strength. The suppleness of the limbs and joints comes from long practice, not, as is usually thought, from straining the soft joints of a child. The result of such straining would be weakness, not strength. Only those whose busi- ness it is know or understand what can be done with those joints, how much strain they will bear and which will endure the greatest strain. When to hold on and when to let go are important items, too, in an acrobat's training. These can be learned only when young. It is natural for a child to " catch at something" when it thinks it is falling. It must be taught to do the catching only at precisely the right moment, and to turn at the instant when required. In these days, the net is an element of safety in all mid-air feats. But so fearless and confident do gymnasts become that they hardly know and certainly do not notice whether it is in place. There is a piece of apparatus largely used among circus riders when training or learning new feats called the "mecanique." It consists of a belt, which goes around the waist of the performer, to which is attached a strong, elastic rope, which is 123 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS again fastened to a wooden, gibbet-like arm. The tyro knows that he cannot possibly fall beyond the length of the rope and that, therefore, no matter how many times he fails, he cannot by any possibility come to physical grief. The use of this machine is deprecated by some performers as reducing the nerve training to a minimum. It is, however, in great favor with all whose nerves are already steadied by experience and who are trying new tricks. In the case of women and children the "mecanique" is very frequently employed. There is no phase of work that requires more patient and faithful study, more steadiness of nerve or a greater command of the muscles than feats of balancing on trapeze, rings and slack wire. To balance well, one must be systematically developed, and each muscle must be ready to act instantly and do its work with certainty. The legs must be strong and firm to sustain the body in its various poses. The back must be sinewy, so that the recovery may be made quickly and the upright maintained without a chance of failure, and the arms and hands must be hard and strong; for when a man, falling from a trapeze, grasps at the bar, he must catch it and hold to it if he desires to emerge unhurt. Balancing on the slack wire is essentially different from trapeze balancing. On the slack wire the balance must be kept by working the body from the waist down, and is mainly done with the legs. It is the reverse on 124 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS the trapeze, where the legs must be kept rigid and the balance worked from the leg up. The slack wire is harder to learn at first than the trapeze, as it is radically different from a person's natural balance, which is kept more with the arms and body and less with the legs. The triple somersault has slain its scores, yet as long as men tumble over elephants in the circus, and as long as springboards are made, the acro- bats will be trying to accomplish this most diffi- cult of feats. There have been acrobats who have done it. They are dead now. They were carried out of the ring to a hospital immediately thereafter, and lived for the various periods of from one to three days. There have been men who have asserted that they can turn the triple. They are generally the acrobats who have left the circus ring forever and are devoting the last years of their lives to the sale of cigars or some other stirring occupation. The men who have followed the circus all their lives say that no man has ever turned the triple from a spring- board and lived to boast of his triumph. The triple somersault is done from a flying trapeze, but it is simply a series of revolutions in the air as the performer drops. Even then it should be called two and a half revolutions, for the acrobat falls on his back in a net and depends upon the rebound to hurl him to his feet. He can make these two revolutions and a half from a spring- 125 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS board, sometimes, with the difference that nine hundred and ninety-nine times out of a thousand he alights on his head or on the back of his neck which brings instant death. A man who even falls that way in a net is a subject for the coro- ner. It is circus tradition that in 1842, when even the double somersault was deemed a difficult and dangerous feat, a performer tried the triple turn. It happened in Mobile, Alabama, and the rash acrobat broke his neck. W. J. Hobbes, a tumbler, was killed attempting the trick in London four years later. John Amor, a Pennsylvania circus leaper, who was a famous double somersault revolver, paid with his life for his ambition in 1859. He was travelling with an English circus, essayed the death-dealing act, struck on his fore- head and died. The somersault, whether it be single or double, is a feat which requires the most assiduous prac- tice and the most accurate calculation. The first thing which the tumbler learns is to jump from a springboard. The sensation of springing through the air is an uncanny one. Next is the "stock" somersault, which consists of merely springing up in the air and slowly, and with practically no muscular exertion, turning over. The motion is so slow that the spectators hardly realize that the man has revolved. Then begins the drill for the real somersault. The acrobat learns the "tuck," 126 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS which consists of grasping both legs tightly half way between the knee and ankle and pressing them closely together. At the same time the acro- bat puts the muscles of his shoulders and back into play. This muscular force acts like the bal- ance weight of the wheel. It aids him to complete the revolution. The taking of the "tuck" requires the nicest calculation. The acrobat must wait until he has sprung as far in the air as the force of the springboard or his legs will carry him. If he "tucks" too soon he will fall like a coffee sack. If he waits until too late he finds himself cast, a human wheel at a dead centre. He is likely to have broken bones in either case in spite of carpet or mattress. The double somersault requires more muscular force. The trained acrobat knows ex- actly where he is at every point in the revolution. He has a strange sense which makes him feel it. It is when he summons his almost exhausted energies for a third turn that he feels like a ship without a rudder. Harry Costello, Wm. Kinkead, John Armstrong, Arthur Mohring, and "Little Bob" Hanlon, well-known circus performers, have broken their necks and died in executing the double somersault within a score of years. The dressing-rooms— the "green room" of the circus— are as convenient to the centre of the tent as the topography of the lot will permit. Passing through the canvas connection, the women of the show enter quarters to the lefb and the men's 127 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS accommodations are on the other side. Betv/een, stand the horses and wagons and other "prop- erty" which for various reasons cannot be stored near the rings. Very cosy and comfortable are the two canvas compartments, although room is at a premium. Trunks replace chairs, and mirrors are of a dimension to discourage vanity. The process of "making up" is a laborious, and tedious under- taking, but accepted as one of the conditions which are unavoidable. Of cold water there is a plenty, and soap and towels abound. Naphtha lights furnish illumination. Electric experiments have never been successful. The music of the band furnishes the circus man's cue. He knows by its brazen notes when to leave the dressingrroom for the ring. If the musical director changes an air, the dressing-room inmates must be thoroughly informed to avoid delay and confusion. No performer is permitted to leave until the entire show is over. The danger of accident in the ring is never absent, and as many do several "turns" others must be ready if one becomes incapacitated. When the nights grow cold in the early and late season, the chill air which penetrates the canvas would drive any but the hardy circus folk to a sick-bed. Their trained systems are equal to all demands the ele- ments put forward, however, and a cough or a cold are almost unknown. A miserable enough place it is when the rain falls freely. Scant as is 128 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS the dressing-room protection, the journey to and from the rings is infinitely worse. Performers re- turn to their trunks wet in the feet and generally bestrewed with drops from the head down. Pretty costumes are spotted and the effect is very de- pressing. There is peril to life and limb, too, when bars and trapezes and rings and other ap- paratus becomes drenched. Hands may slip, feet may not hold, a horse may stumble^ and there are numberless other chances of misfortune. The equestrian director decides whether or not the possibility of disaster is too great for the act. If he deems the risk not too venturesome, the per- former accepts cheerfully, no matter what is his own conviction. Sometimes he enters upon the duty with grim forebodings as to the outcome, for he appreciates that perhaps the director, in his desire not to disappoint the audience, has imposed a critical undertaking. The circus con- cert offers opportunity for a display of talents other than those presented in the ring. Many per- formers with nimble foot or tuneful voice add to their incomes by this extra work. Circus performers are persons of large and un- wearied charity and compassion. No comrade is deserted in affliction or distress. Contributions of money and sympathy flow in upon him, and none fails to subscribe. If the situation requires more money than one circus is able to provide, word of the need is sent to friends with other 9 129 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS similar organizations and there is always prompt and ready response. I know of a dozen invalids who are to-day being supported solely by the liberal benevolence of comrades. Two benevolent societies are with the Barnum & Bailey circus, the B.O.S.S. and the Tigers. Each makes a weekly collection from the members and pays $15.00 weekly to the sick or disabled. Last year $9,000 was collected and $8,000 disbursed. The balances remained in the treasurers' hands for this year. Many of the people of the circus accumulate competences after a few years' work, and there is no reason why all who live prudently should not soon be financially independent. Their expenses of travel, board and bed are all borne by the man- agement, and other requirements of a circus cam- paign are few and small. It is a common practice with some to draw only a small share of their salaries each week. The accumulated balance awaits them in the money wagon at the close of the season. Then, there is the "mother" of the circus with whom many of the unmarried men and the boys deposit a weekly stipend. No plea, how- ever piteous, will force her to disgorge, they know, until the last stand has been played. Then the amassed wealth is handed to them with a parting kindly injunction to be moderate through the winter and return next year with as much unspent as consistent. This interest in his welfare 130 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS has started many a circus man on the road to prosperity and fortune. The " mother" is one of the most interesting characters of the circus. Her hfe is devoted par- ticularly to the welfare of the woman performers under tents. Her official duty is as matron of the women's dressing-room. She it is who supervises their wardrobe, mends sudden breaches in the tarlatan and bespangled skirts and cares for her charges in case of illness or accident. Should an equestrienne fall from her horse, it is the "circus mother" who brings the cup of black coffee, which is the only stimulant ever given to gymnasts and acrobats in such an emergency. At night, after the performance, she presides over the performers' luncheon of sandwiches and tea, which the circus women enjoy in the sleeping car. In short, she is a general chaperon, hospital nurse, friend and counsellor in one. Our " mother's" long experience in circus life has made her familiar with every detail of the business and she knows what to do, without any prompting, whenever any emergency arises. Men and women alike come to her with the petty troubles that are bound to occur in the uncertain and strenuous existence they lead. She is cheery, sympathetic or admonitory as the occasion may require, and no one leaves her presence without being the better for having come into contact with the motherly matron. It is an axiom among circus people that 131 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS the good-will of the "mother" is equivalent to lasting favor with the management, and that to incur her ill-will is to stand an imminent risk of losing an engagement. A large part of her duty is the care of the circus wardrobe, and during the winter she devotes her entire time to it. With her deft fingers and the judicious use of naphtha she makes old circus cos- tumes look like new. Trappings which are worn by the animals in the grand entry are all made by the "mother" and her assistants during the idle winter season. She is as expert at cutting a pattern for the costumes of the animals as a Fifth avenue modiste is at cutting those for her smart clientele. She is, in short, the Worth of circusland. Although nearly sixty years old, she is as lively as a woman half her age. The domestic instinct is very strong among the circus women for the reason that they are de- prived of home life, a great part of every year. It finds arv outlet in many little ways, one of which is an appeal to the chef in charge of the dining car to be allowed to bake a cake. If he is in a mood to give them permission they are pleased as children^ and begin a hunt for eggs and milk. The tr&jn may be standing just outside of some village, and they run out and buy the things and come b