Connecticut western news., 1882-03-15
THE WAYS OF A CIRCUS.

W. o. Stoddard in March S
 Nicholas, writes as foIlows:-The most important business, after the tents are up, is the formation of the "ring" and the setting up of tke gymnastic machinery for the performance of the acrobats.
 The "ring is generally little more than forty feet in diameter, and it looks like rude enougu affsir, but it's prep aration calls for both care and skill. The ground for it is leveled with nicety, the barrier, a circular mound of earth of about 125 feet inside circumference, is raised to height of somewhat over twenty inches on it's inner face. It must be thick, firm, and strong, to bear the hard blows of horses feet or the sudden leaning upon it of an elephant. It must, therefore, be banked, and pounded with sledge- hammers, until no strain to which it can be subjected can break it down, and it must retain no looseness or uneveness, to trip horse or endanger the life of rider. It is the work of few hours only, but there is 8 man busy upon almost every square yard of it while it is rising.
 As to the machinery for the acrobats, simple as is the appearance of the uprights and cross-bars, they must be set up with especial care, so as to leave no possibility of their breaking down. The performer using them must be able to trust his appliances absolutely, or he could never have the nerve and conti- dencs to delight the crowd at the risk of his neck. All bis feats of skill and daring, moreover, have relation to the exact distances at which he has practised them, and there must be no variation from those precise measurements in the daily adjustment of his machinery. He, or she, az the case may be, is sure enough to meet with what are called
 "accidents. When "great show '
 recently came to the city of Brooklyn,
 a family group of three persons sat down
 together in the breakfast tent. They
 were acrobats of unsurpassed agility
 and skill. A sad-faced woman, young
 man of middle size, girl just entering
 her teens. There had been four of then
 prior to recent performance, but the
 "star," an older girl, the most daring
 of them all, had "missed her motion , in feat of uncommon peril, and hac
 fallen upon the receiving net. "Sh, was but slightly injured" all were tolt
 who cared or thought to ask, but thu
 little group at the table knew that sh' was dying. They performed their part that day, as skillfully as ever, thougl l with so much more weight than usual l. carry, but when the evening exhibition
 was over there were, indeed but thre of them. The fourth had gone forever } Such an accident may come to tn . best-trained and most experienced per former, and yet it is 8 mistake to sur
 pose that acrobats are necessarily 2 short-lived race. The constant exercise 3 the enforced temperance, the out-oI 3 doors life, amount, in fact, to a carefr
 observance of welt-kno VII laws of healtt v If professional athlete escapes tn :, more serious disasters which are GOT a tinually possible to him, it is his CIV @ fault if he does not remain for man 8 years @ man of comfortable body.
 His worst perils do not come to hil
 in the "1ilg," but during the lon months when he. is necessarily ul " employed, and when he has I Q immediate and pressing need for car4
 ful training. For in this interval. he n in danger of relaxing his habits of car, e full living, and Q very little ove 9 indulgence will put out of order tn h wonderful mAchine-his body-on u 10 perfect condition of which depends h n power to do the feats req uired of him.