The Cheyenne daily leader. [volume] (Cheyenne, Wyo.) 1870-1884, 1884-01-11
THE sAW-DUST RING.
Notes From an Interview With a
Circus Manager.
big Risks and Large saIarIes---CIr-
Gus Vacations From n Humane
tartan Point or Siew---
Hard Work


aptitude, and even with that, many years OF
patient study and laborious practice before
excellence can be attained. People outside
the business wonder sometimes at the seem.
ingly large salaries we get. They do not
know how hardly and at what risks they
are earned, and what has been gone
through to qualify for them. 1t takes seven
or eight years steady work, in public during
summers aud in private through tho winters,
for a young man or woman to become SUI
heIently proficient to earn more than a mere
living salary. Season after season their com
pensation Increases slowly, according to the
progress they make In their art. And all the
while they are in training, and after they
have attained the Experimentation prize of
a good position, they are liable at any mo-
ment To be thrown out of work and perhaps
crippled for life, by the stumble OF a horse,
the slipping Of a foot. an unlucky wrench in
the air, the momentary carelessness of a ban
nsr holder, that prosaic and common fend,
the rheumatism, or some other one Of many
hazards to which they are daily exposed.
Should they not be well paid to counterbal-
ance such contingencies
lcould tell you of a charming young wo.
man, the daughter of an old circus man, who.
three or four years ago, as the result of prac-
tice from almost her infancy. seemed to
have a brilliant future In the ring before her.
All who saw her ride said she was bound 10 be
the American equestrian queen, for shs had
all the requisites of grace, daring, skill, and
beauty. One day she met with an accident,
an unlucky fall from Il badly-trained horse.
1t might have been more serious in some
respects, but certainly not so far as her pros.
poets were concerned. When she got well
she was found TO have a slight but incurable
limp, enough to quite unfit her for ever rid
ing in the ring again, On the street, or ON
the stage, where she found employment at
one quarter of what she could ave earned
In the ring, yov would not notice any defect
in her walk, but she can never again safely
stand upon the back OF u horse or leap over a
banner.
DO riders ever take apprenticesi Well.
occasionally, but rarely in this country. They
are shy OF 1t. Teaching 4 boy or girl to ride
IL a very long job. generally a thankless and
seldom a profitable one. A parent will teach
his own children, OF course, and the best
riders come from old circus families in which
riding may be said to have become a hcredi-
tary trait, and learning the business of the
ring Is commenced in childhood and is COM
paratively easy for them. Others get into IL
by degrees. knocking around a circus as help
ers Of some sort, or as tumblers, and so on
working their way to riding il they feel that
that is their vocation. There are some ap.
prentlces, but not many. One thing that
mitigates against them is that the law respect.
ing the public employment of children pre-
vents their doing anything for their teachers
until years after they should commence their
training. A child may sell papers in the
streets, suffer hunger and cold, be blighted In
soul and ruined in body, and that is all
right, from the s. f. T. p. o. C. T. c. point
OF view, but it is monstrously and out
rageously wrong for it to do a iittlo dance OF
a rAaFarFIKr 1aF. trnNllfnn not 80 s
the ring. or, as it gets older, TO go around the
ring standing on the broad pad of a perfectly
trained, sure old horse, where it is Just as Sc
cure from harm as ii world be in bed. Ii
Is long after childhood, after the years In
which the law protects them, that they are,
il at all, put to the dangerous work of the
profession, or even allowed TO attempt it. The
risks they knowingly take in their daily
work, and the consciousness that at any mo
ment they may be made dependent upon the
kindness of Others, undoubtedly nave that ef
feet upon them. and there is not one real per
former worthy OF the name who would treat
a child with wanton cruelty. If you hear OF
one who jabs d boy with an elephant prod or
wilfully jerks him OFF a horse to hurt him
you may set IL down that that fellow is no
good in the ring himself. Oh, no; Pm not
specially alluding TO that Forepaugh case.
Pm just speaking in a general sort of way.
How are beginners taught to ride for the
ringf Well, at first with the mechanic, a
long arm that sticks out from the centre pole.
from the end OF which bangles a rope fastened
to a belt around the learners waist at one end
and the other end in the Teachers hand. The
pupil stands on a broad pad on the horses
back, and the supporting arm goes around as
the horse goes. So long as the pupil keeps
his balance there is no strain on the rope.
When he tumbies off. or Is likely to, the rome
stoadies and s~ustsins him. It gives confidence.
aud that is its principal use, but it also pre-
vents falls. When the pupil can stand well
without it its use is abandoned. For
Il long time nothing is attempted but
TO teach the pupil to stand easily, safely on
the horse, and to balance himself gracefully
to the horses stride Then he learns to do
the came riding backward, which is harder.
Then he jumps up a little, an inch or two
only, and keeps at it until the fact is i'm.
bedIed In his mind that he takes his forward
impetus from the horse and only has 10 jump
up and not forward, and for that the me-
chanic probably has to be again brought In
play to save him from ugly tumbles by his
jumping out over the horses shoulder or on
his neck, Each thing must be learned well
before a new thing Is tackled, and nothing
learned must ever be allowed to lapse for
want Of practice, Slow work, you sea. I've
~ uOuDA II NOhAd pt " leAIu wreck
would for a Greek, any way.
Where do these lessons go on during
the winteri In several places about
New York, such as Stones, down in
Jersey, and Stokes's, in Fordham, and
CAROLS, in Westchester; but the most
perfect iu all is the one Barnum has
in his wintaring buildings up at Bridgeport.
All these establishments are Ia constant &C.
tive use through the winter, often engaged
by performers for certain hours each day for
seasons ahead. You see, we AVE to supply
our own performing horses, and not only
keep our old ones up to their work, but edu-
cate new ones as the old wear out. A good
cold-blooded horse, one that never
gets nervous or excited, doesn't break
his gait, knows enough not to step on
his rider should he fall, has the sense to feel
il the rider makes a somersault a little out OF
true, and sway to catch him right as he comes
down-that sort OF a horse is valuable to us,
and to get one that way we must work a long
willis with him. That we have got to prao-
tice ourselves you know already. Pm at
work now, and shall be until the season
opens, getting up in something new that I
expect will make a sensation IL l don't break
my neck at 1t before l get a chance 10 show
1t in public"
It Is a poor town which has no murder
mystery these days,