Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1886-01-09
CIRCUS LIFE.
what Show People Eat ant
Drink.

LIIuk,
Mr.. James NJ. Nixon, than whom ne
living man knows more about a circus
said to the New York Cook: There
are no people, excepting plainsmen-
the skirmishers over tho wild country
OF the west--who live 80 hard q life as
circus employees, both performers ard
w~orkingmen. Their life is not as hard
now. it Is true, as il was some years
ago, excepting with tho small con
Germs. They are tho wagon shows
that travel through the snail towns.
But oven with the big concerns that
traT2l by train it is hard enough now.
Take the case of 81 wagon show that
has TO travel thirty miles after q night
performance to get to the next town,
where a street procession is to be made
in the forenoon. The workmen, can
vasmen, and the like have to take
breakfast ut II o'clock at night. Then
they get no meal till dinner, after the
procesSiOE--say at noon. Wherever
they are, the work must be attended
to first, and eating IS a second consid-
GRAFTON. With tho performers-gym-
nasts, riders, clowns, and the like-it
is not quite so bad. They get better
pay and better food. AS a rule they
live on the best food there is to be had
where they happen to be. and they
take u great deal of it. Most of them
are great beef-eaters, and are not very
particular whether the meat is cold or
hot, SD long * it rs good and plenty.
TSey are very particular, however,
about cleanliness. / have seen twenty
or thirty OF them get zap and leave the
take because the tableclOth was dirty.
And when they wan: a meal they want
it, and will have it. l have often seen
thera"leaye a hotel where they would
have to visit fifteen minutes for a din
ner that was paid Tor, and 60 to a res
taura11t where they wOald have to buy
another. They won't cat unless they
are hungryr but the are always hun
cry after n night performance. and
will not go 80 bed without a hearty
supper, They say they can't sleep If
they arc empty.
.Ons thing hat is peculiar about
them is. that they do not take medicine,
and they are remarkably healthy.
Whom rhey are out Of sorts they diet
then lsegves, each II according to his
own ideas, but | don't think ever saw
$50 worth of medicine aroEnd a circus
in al the years | have been in the BUSH
Yes, they drink. Not 20 excess,
but learly all OF them drink when they
feel like D. They never drink, how
nyaT haFAva plrfnrn1inr Thnr 49,
very careful of themselves. They have
TO or they would not last long.
"a : a matter of course, with their
irreg ular habits, they are in . certain
sense ertravagant. Their extrava-
game ,, however, is mainly in the mat
ter IF eating. Experience teaches
them very soOny if their own sense
does not as first, that they must take
the V cry best possible care of them-
selve ) physically, aud that good eating
is "A riu&ry consideration.
II heroi IS a movable kitchen now
with every show that travels. An
enor moas stove! IS set up On u wagon,
Gnd all the appurtenances are Kept
hanc y. Food is contracted for in
each town ten CT fifteen days ahead,
and as soo as the show arrives the
kitcl ien-tent is set up and meals are
cool ed up for the work people. The
pert orrlers ara y little to, aristocratic
To o At there. and insist on going to the
hOtt Is; but, In sOme parts of the
con ntry. as every travelling man will
app ~reciate, they do not fare SO we'll"
J here has been in late years a vast
inn provemert in all departments of the
.rs yelling circus, and in nothing has
tn is been more observable, to those in
tn o Business, than in the provisions
II ade for the health and comfort Of the
g mplsyes. Agood chief cook with u
{ ircus will get rs good a salary as a
lirst-class performer, and has to earn
it. There is 40 place for laggards or
malp-shifts where sawdust perfumes
the breeze.
"