Dodgeville chronicle. [volume] (Dodgeville, Wis.) 1862-current, 1867-07-12
Our First visit. TO a Circus.

Our First visit 10 a Circus.
Among the great events of last week was
the entrance, the performance and the exit
of French's Oriental Circus. The perform
ance was goo rather better than the usual
run. 1t is a positive fact, however, that
circuses, unlike everything else in our
country, do not make any progress; in
fact they are not as good they were thirty
wears ago, though we have to admit the In
f1uence of age upon our tastes. Oh, what
pleasure destroying, hfe-chilling thing is
old age! How it robs us OF our sweet
dreams, of fairy forms, delightful groves,
fragrant flowers, pure fountains and sweet
singing birds, and peoples our visions with
hideouss~ monsters, dark. caverns, black
foaming torrents, bleak and desol ate deserts
and unearthly sounds! Putthe best phase
you can upon old age and it is unlovely.
We fully realized this fact as,we sat, sol
emn and silent, where all were conYulsed
with laughter. We had full view of that
sea. of human faces, which had gathered
under that pavilion last Wednesday etee
nlng, and 9hstenedato that merry laugh
which burst from a Thousand joyful hearts
/ at the stale witticisms of. the clown, Which
would at one time have electrified us i'm the
some way, but under which we noW.cQuld
sit as suaen, and -demure as a supperlesss
owl. -. a-a so - t,jsd ''-Y -'.,''''''
When we were quite young, such things
as circuses and caravans were not known
in that wilderness country, Ohio, If here
had been, very few of the boys in those
days would have been able to raise quar-.
ter to get into the pit. We first gathered
our ideas of such things from our neigh
Dor, Captain Jonas Ward, who had in his
early life lived in Boston. The captain
was our neighborhood shoemaker, and
many long winter evening have we sat
listening with eager curiosity to the mar
velous things he had seen in Boston, while
he was putting a new sole on our cOwhide
Shoes Oh, how we longed to be big, so
that we could go where they had circuses,
theatres and caravans. We have now been
big great while, and have seen all those
things, and, like the preacher, we are ready
to cry, " Vanity" Age is the only thing
that will make a man cry, " Vanity!
Youth cannot see it. ta shyt
We were probably the first boy in our
neighborhood to visit caravan or circus.
If we had any enterprise when we were
young, it lay in that direction. Probably
we were to some extent indebted to the
tales of our neighbor for this enterprise.
IliC uIob CllCu0 we CfOI NlolbCuf we Wtllb W
gainesville, twenty miles, on foot, to see.
We had but twenty-five cents, just the fee
in those days to get in; but we had a
brother-in-law in the vicinity, upon whom
we could forage On our return, we, like
our neighbor, the captain, had marvellous
tales to tell to the boys in the neighbor.
hood, who, with gaping mouths and dIlated
visual organs listened to our rehearsal of
the sharp jokes the clown got eff at his
masters expense. But it was our first visit
to a caravan that has made the most lasting
Impression upon our mind. a1 ''4''
1t was late in the month of November,
1926, that news reached our neighborhood
that there was going to be caravan in
Burton, the principal village in that! Sec
ton, situated nine miles from our house,
and containing about one hundred inhabi-
tants, and looked upon as large place by
Us. Our mind was, of course, made up to
be there on that occasion, without taking
into consideration the difficulties, which,
we have since learned, await us whenever
we attempt any great enterprise. " '~.i''"
In those days. in that section Of the
country, boys could not have but one pair
OF shoes In year, and for two reasons
they could not get them until very late in
the fall The first was, the tanners could
not get the leather out, and the second was,
the shoemakers were always behind. There
fore, when the day of exhibition came, we
had no shoes. But that was no particular
drawback to u.s. for our feet had got scaled
over and nearly as hard as hoof They
would stand any kind of cold but snow,
and they could thaw that some The day
was extremely cold, and threatened snow !;
but we were bound to see the lion, and
made up our mind to brave the difficulty
But when we got ready to start, another
difficulty met us, which nearly wrecked
our hopes. We had two and sixpence in
money left out of three shillings, which
we had got for our shareo a bearskin,
which another, boy and ourself had killed.
we had spent. SIX cents on general training
day for gingerbread, which we divided
among Our poor playmates. We took the
two and sixpence and rolled piece of pa
per round it, and stuck it in crack in the
old log house-the only place Of deposit
we had-and when we got ready to start.
we had forgotten where we put it, WE'LL
you can imagine that there, was some foam
ing about that shantg. But it was Of no
avail; the change could not be found!9 AT
ter al fruitless search until almost dnoon,.
our father, seeing cur distracted condition,
loaned US shilling, and we broke for the
show, and we never stopped the run until
we struck Burton square; but to our DIS
may the caravan had not arrived there,
and it was doubtful whether it would, in
consequence of break down few miles
out of town. The snow was beginning to
fall thick and fast. We started once or
twice for home, but could not give up the
idea of seeing the lion. OIL Hlaa'
At last, just before dark, the show came
in. They did not have large tents in those
days. They usually got under shed, and
hung up canvass in front. 1t eeemed to us
that they never would get the thing ready.
But, finally, just at dark, the fiddle and ta'i-
angle struck up, the show was ready, and
the ground was getting white
We handed our shilling to the doorkeep-
er and passed in. There was a lion, buff
falo, pony, and three or four monkeys.
We have no recollection at this time,
whether we INDUCED in any romantic re-
Elections concerning the wonders of crea-
ton, or not. We recollect distinctly that
when we emerged from the shed it was
dark, and the ground covered with snow.
We took survey of our situation and let
on steam, and we never broke the Jump
until we reached home. But before we
reached there, however, the snow was two
inches deep.
The next day, all along The road, there
was great excitement among the old hunt
ers about the tracks of strange animal
which could be seen all along the road
coming from towards Burton, and of course
it was soon rumored that the lion had broke
loose and had been tracked to within mile
from our house, where, fortunately for us,
it was blotted out by drove of cattle The