Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1883-07-14
chariots were driven, terminating Il

SAASS AVN ~ ~
both ends in msilae, or goals. The games
were inaugurated by a procession from
the capitol, in which persons bearing
the images of the gods went first, and
were followed by the performers in the
games, the consuls and others. The
circus was particularly designed fol
races. A pitched battle was sometimes
represented. Sea fights were occasion.
ally exhibited. Vast sums of money
were expended under the empire fol
the killing of wild beasts. Pompey gave
public exhibitions in the circus for five
successive days, during which five hun
dred lions and twenty elephants were
destroyed.
1.-The circus of the future" said Mr..
Watson, s%'interests me much more than
the exhibitions of the days and years
gone by. Think of its possibilities! W.
can't do things on the scale of the Ro-
mans. The coming Snowman will con-
slider our big shows too big. Even now
people look with suspicion upon the
man who honestly advertises that he
can seat fifteen thousand people under
his anvas. But what a little handful
that is compared with the throngs who
were accommodated, as the existing
ruins show they could be, at Rome and
Athens and Alexandria. In Jerusa-
lem, it may interest some people to
know, there are the ruins of a great
circus building. But nom of these
were to be compared to Rome's Circus
Maximus, which had affairs and chap
els, images and statutes of the deities.
In it was an iron railing as high as one
man upon another, and also a ditch to
protect the people from possible injury
from the performers. Now, what this
suggests to me is that the circus of the
present will disappear; the circus of q
%half-century ago nobody wants. The
circus of twenty centuries ago we can
not have. What we shall have is a
combination. The magnificence and
permanence of structures of the Roman
empire, the simplicity and singleness,
so to speak, of the more recent days.
but no .three-ring displays. They sound
well when you read al advertisement,
but few people can look in two direc-
tions at once They are the best we
have, but by and by we shall have bet
ter; the best the world can afford in the
way of novelties and feats of skill and
daring, but as much superior infstyle
and surroundings to the show of to-day
as "a be imagined. A combination Of
European solidity with American enter
prise and liberality. Think of this for
a possibility-in Boston and New York
and Philadelphia, in Chicago and Gin
cinnati and New Orleans, suppose we
had substantial, handsome buildings
elegantly finished like those in Paris or
Berlin, or Il half dozen other European
cities. Would there not be drawn even
larger crowds than we have had here?
And there is another thing. Speaking
of the contrasts between the two conti-
nents-in the European cities where
companies are located for months, as /
would have them in the cities I have
named, there is a change of the bill
every night in the week. A man of
family a go tonight and see a differ
ent performance from what was given
last night. No more men would be
employed, but they would be able to do
more than one thing-they could ride
or perform on the trapeze or perhaps
do a half dozen things as might be re-
quired. See what a saving of expense
this would cause. A circus cheaper,
more fashionable, more varied in its
attractions, more pleasing to the pub
lie and less wearing upon the perform
ers-this is the circus of the future
Boston Herald.