Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1890-02-25
VILLAGE SHOWS.
How We Boys Used to See the
Exhibitions for Nothing.
LIKE sharp Lives Over Again In Memory
the Days of His Youth--The worst
Boys in Town and the Kaekets
They Worked.


Every now and then there useo W
come around to our village some oho-
horse show. AS general thing these
shows were held in the village school-
house, that being the only place aVaiia-
BILE for the purpose, and have strong
suspicion that the teacher on each Vi
these occasions got free tickets, because
generally on the evening OF the snow,
before school was out, the teacher hahoeu
round a lot of long bills announcing the
merits of the exhibition. These plils
we're generally about six inches Wloe
and two or three feet long, and written
in, in ink, was the name OF the place
that the exhibition was to be hela'
Although the admission fee was gen
orally about ten cents for boys, 1t might
as well have been so because we oloh
have the ten cents. However, IL was
cold day when we missed the SHOW Ano
first exhibition ever ATTENDED, anu one
which | though the most wonaeriul 'ha'
the world could produce, was ihaSio
lantern affair, which worked on inc re-
iiE ipoo h'NA'''e1 ~
ing mostly made up OF blpie soeiieo'
with some very wonderful accohlpahi
ments, as. for instance, the animals go
ing into the ark. Inc ark was SHOWN
there something IKE Dig SIealiooa'
with house built on IT, ana up ehe
gang-plank there slid tnohe OF the am
mails could Walk the most astonishing
nra tbn Mt nalntpu on can
vas. | remember to this day thelr lerky'
sl1dy motion as the 1ohs' ana the ialaps'
and the bears and the tigers, ana os-
triches, and all the other strange oeaSts
of the earth went up the gahg-plahh
safely into the ARK Inc eAhloi1ioh
ended up with a lot OF comic pictures
that had nothing OF the rehglous tome
about them and which were exceeding
ly popular with the boys.
We had different methods of getting
into those shows. show was either
two-man show ora one-man show Some
times there was only one man who dld
the Undertaking until every body was
in, and then went to his place at the
magic lantern and delivered his lecture:
and at another time there were two men
5hows-one man to attend the door and
another to manipulate the lantern. We
had different method for the two-man
| show than for the one-man show. When
the one-man show was in town we knew
we We're all right. The man would at
tend to the door until seven or eight
| o'clock, or whenever the performance
| commenced, and then he would delegate
| some one of the villagers to attend the
door. This was our stronghold. As
soon as the villager took his place
at the door-of course we all knew
him and he knew us - there would
be a short parley, lie knew tEat Ii
he did not let us in we would raise
particular Cain outside and nobody in
the audience would have any comfort
while the snow was gong on. 80 he
generally allowed us to steal IN quietly,
one by one, on the promise not to raise
fuss or give him away. Once inside,
we were quiet enough, because we knew
we could not work that racket again
when the next show came II we made
ourselves obnoxious, With the two
men show 1t was different. We had nc
pull on the foreigner, so we had to trust
to our ingenuity. we soon discovered
that with the two-man show the man
with the magic lantern was on the other
side OF the curtain from the audience,
and the man who attended the dool
generally stayed down near the entrance
and gave the lecture as the pictures
were thrown on the canvas. 10 give
TINS sort OF an exhibition it was neces
Sary to have very transparent sheet
and to make the sheet the more trans
parent 1t was the custom of the show
man TO have somebody from the tavern
Where ne stopped come down with pal
OF water and dipper, and then he threw
ulpperfuls OF water on the canvas unit
IL was thoroughly wet. The hostler a
the tavern, who was generally expected
10 come up with the pail OF water wa
only 700 giau 10 nave somebody do 1t II
MS place because he had free tickle
TO the show anyhow. So the cheekies
Oh the party generally Il must say with
OUT casting any reflections upon thu
e'nor poyS myself was delegated to g
l''C WIN Tue water L Always got
two or three dozens of people were i,
tho bau bo,.o,,so 81 -. =
some in the village who were very any
ious to ret in and secure front soats
there being no reserve seat business i,
those DAYS. | presented mvsalf at n,
dsor with the wafer and The mil IN,
although sometimes my riqht fo ente
j was questioned. vet was GENERALLY al
p lowed to pass through. then told RI,
locturo, .t,.ra, SNiN WI