The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-07-26
TRAVELLING WITH A CIRCUS.
II Summer Tour Both Profitable aud Pleas
ant to the Performers.


New York Commercial Advertiser.
Circus people, take them as class. are
splendid body of men aud women. Constant
exercise develops them physically, they must
necessarily be temperate in order to remain in
proper condition for the work laid ont for them
and they are loyal and tender in their attach.
ment to each other. All of them, too, are NOT
strictly professional. Under the humble gart
of a groom, or the spangled feshings of
'tumber" there may be hidden the body of AN
athletic aristocrat. The tenting season is full
of life and adventure, and there are to-day mem
bers of the Union and Union League clubs who
are more than fond of telling of the summers
when they travelled with a circus and did rough
work ''for fun" Indeed, there are instances when
this peculiar style Of fun" has been recon-.
mended by we'll known physicians to patients
whose physical condition had run down The
exercise, to be sure is arduous, but it is health
full, and the constant change of scene, the ex-
element, and the novelty of the whole thing
compensated for this and, all combined. have
brought health to many wearied aud shattered
frame.
These eymnasts of the drawing ROOM as they
may be called, cast their lot cheerfully with
their humble comparions-eat the same bill of
fare, and share the same tasks. The roughing
during the summer gives them an increased
stock Of health and muscle to fall back upon
during the winter, and the exactions of society
find them equal TO a Patriarch's ball one night
and cancan at the Cercle de Harmonic the
next The tenting season and tumbling in the
tan bark have sent fresh blood coursing through
sluggish brains, and brought the color to cheeks
pale with the exercises of dissipation. H
But there are other aristocpats of the tents be-
sides the genuine ones who masquerade as
supers. The salaries of the more noted per-
formers large; some of the more expert
riders receive as much as $500 q week, and
female gymnasts earn anywhere from $50 to
800. Edwin Forrest commenced his professional
life i'll a'eircus, but salaries were not as high in
those more primitive days, and the future
Metamora received only very modest remuner-
alton AT the present time it would be fair, in
firstclass circus, to strike general average of
the salaries Of all the people whose names appear
upon the programme at about 500 each Added
to these there are the salaries Of the different
attendants, tent men, agents, bill posters and
others, so that it can readily be seen that so
large sum of money is eaten up in expenses
that the receipts must also be very large to
bring in profit. Barnum's expenses for in
stance are estimated at over 81 900 a day and
yet his profits have averaged over 800, 600 every
season for several seasons back. Next to him
less, and the other shows follow in the order of
their size and Importance All this means
simply that the circus is an institution that like
love, levels all ranks and levies contributions
upon all classes and conditions of men, women
and children. To tho jaded dweler in cities it
comes as a relief from the ordinary routine Of
dramatic entertainment. and to the tier of the
soil its appearance is an event of as much import
and consequence as the gathering Of the crops
more, even, for it lifts him from the humdrum
of the earth and lifts him to {. realm of fancy
he only attains when "circus day" comes
around.