Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1879-06-09

; that was good for anything began t.
travel, my father-in-law, Aaron Tur
ner, was proprietor, and when h,
!, started in 1874 he rented his animals
which were few in number, from tn,
proprietor of a menagerie located il
that city. but after he had travelled {
couple Of years he began to purchase
his animals, and owned a host of then
during his life. When he first went
out his whole menagerie was carted
around in eight wagons, and now ii
takes fifty or more to carry the ami
mails.
"Itell you it's fun to travel with a
show like this. A man gets meals
and sleep regularly, and it's no worse
than travelling as a drummer, or with
a theatrical company. When | went
into the business we often had no
chance to sleep more than an hour or
two, and then get a breakfast at 9
o'clock in the morning and start on a
trip to the next town. 1t used to be
tough once in a while when it was
dark and stormy, and we had to 90
through a country that we knew moth
ing about. Many a time | have had
to take a circus, Turner's or my own,
through a country when we had to use
torches in order to see our way over
the toughest kind of roads, and | N.Y.
self have often gone ahead of the
wagons on foot, walking many miles at
night and in early morning finding the
way for the teams to follow. Often
my men have had to stop and repair
roads and build temporary bridges so
that we could get along and reach our
destination, and the times | have met
with such annoyances and surmounted
all sorts of obstacles is almost innu-
merahle. In those dnys we always
used to have a great many young peo-
pie travelling with us as apprentices.
Nowadays you don't see them in cir
cuses because it is against the law
to use the children in most of the
States in this country, and also in
France, Germany and England,
where many of our best perform
ers come from. These Lawmakers
think it is cruelty to children to make
them do such work. That is the
veriest bosh, and while there may be
instances where children are cruelty
used by their trainers, the rule is
directly contrary, and such exceptions
have resulted in the establishment Of
laws that will eventually do away with
our business, and it has tended to a
constant increase in salaries because
there are so few in the business, and
none coming on. In the old times a
boy was taken when young, and the
first thing he was taught was to turn
Aip-Aaps and tumble around as the
old gymnasts did. When they were
young it was easy to teach them this,
but now we cant teach any one until
he is over sixteen years of age, and
then he is so well developed that it is
impossible for him to teach his
bones and muscles to do what he
wants them to do, Afeg he could
we'll he was taught to ride on
the pad, and then his education was
complete but now he would be of no
use unless he could ride bareback and
turn a somersault while doing so.
How can we train them to do this un-
less we can get hold of children? 1t
impossible, and SO the ring business
is falling away, aud the use of trained
and other animals il taking the
Of the regular circus perform
lnees; and before many years riding
and tdmbling will have passed almost
out of existence as a profession, and
The old-time menagerie and schools of
.rained animals will take their places
n tent shows"