St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1891-07-07
AT THE CIRCUS.

When was young 1 was never able to
quite decide which l had rather be-presi-
dent of the United States or ringmaster OF
circus. There were DAYS during presidential
campaigns when only political pre-eminence
seemed desirable; but from the time when
the first circus poster announced the unmis-
taxable arrival of summer till the very last
vestige of that same gaudy announcement
had been destroyed by autumnal tempests,
had my mind made up to join circus as
soon as l was grown. To be ringmaster is
such a dignifed position. One has nothing
to do but walk around and crack very
noisy whip and shout and talk to the clown
and say, What would do, Mr.. sands, if
were to meet a pretty girl and she were to
kiss me? Why, Mr.. Sands, if were 10 meet
pretty girl and she were to KISS me would
kiss her back" And pantaloon replies: 81
wouldnt-Td kiss her face" And the band
strikes up, and Mile. Fantanti jumps up on
the blase horses fiat back and adjusts her
smile, and the performance, which is not
half through, goes on. That's what it is to
be ringmaster.
-+t+
Yesterday was circus day. You couldn't
have helped knowing, in a vague sort of way,
that the circus was coming, and if you were
boy you knew the posters by heart 1t was
the greatest show on earth, positively, as rep
resented on our bill-boards. 1t had to be.
Ali circuses are like that. 1t had lots OF
things no other circus ever thought of hav-
ing, and everything il had was the best of the
kind. 1t always is in circuses. IL rained
yesterday. 1t was one OF the wettest and
most unpleasant rains of the season. There
was water. water everywhere and as many
0rOnS drink &c had for
1t was tempting the weather clerk too far to
have Fourth of July aud circus day come so
near together. He couldn't let them both 60
without water The gay red and white avn
ings of the street railway conyeyances are
decisions and hollow mockeries, and every
body was raiued on,
~
You went on the car and rode long way.
A one-storied man with nose like bright,
glorious Minnesota sunset held his umbrella
so the water trickled into your rubbers, and
the woman next you tapped her damp and
unpleasant (somebody said it without the
and and the p of damp waterproof i'll
your face When you left the car there was
half a mile of wet, slippery sidewalk, with
fords at every crossing. The great canvas
tents doomed up in the midst of mud and
desolation. Fifty cabs and 200 brassy voiced
cabbies lined the sidewalk. and straw min
gled with the mud ana planks that marked
! the pathway to the entrance. There is some
thing about circus life that gives man
voice like steamboat whistle or brass TOM
tom. At your right one such man stood at
the entrance of the side show. At the left
one shrieked the merits of his schooners of
root beer, his peanuts, lemonade, popcorn
and cigars: and all the time it rained.
IL
The menagerie came first 1t was full of
animals. In the midst stood an Indian tepee
of painted circus canvas At one end were
the elephants Nature has been merciful to
the elephant. She has made him hldeous
object, but she has given him eyes so small
that he probably never saw how ugly he is.
His skin never fits, his trousers are too loose
and bag at the knees and he fans himself
continually with his ears. The small boy fed
him with peanuts and popcorn. while the
dignifed pelican looked on in naughty con-
tempt. The camel is the only beast that ever
stands cross-legged. His legs are long and
slender, his neck swan-throated, but the
camel is no. thing of beauty. He runs to
labial development too noticeably. All around
the tent were ranged cages of wild beasts.
The pitiable, beautiful, restless tiger pacing
ceaselessly to and fro; the sleepy-looking
lion, the playful, plump bears, and the zebra
in his tennis blazer, all were there. 1t was a
beautiful display; and Pa, who came only to
let johnny see the animals. explained it all
very nicely. even if his natural history was q
trife vague at times.
~
Thousands of people went in to see the
show. They sat on boards, and dangled
their wet feet in everybody's else way. There
was the summer girl in a shirt waist and the
summer young man. There was a party of
society men and women, who of course,
didn't come because they wanted to see the
circus, but just for the fun of the thing, you
Know. There were He and She from the
country. She had on a pink lawn dress.
They were in ecstasy. The clown was so
awfully funny. and She said the riding was
| just elegant. He bought her some peanuts,
and they stayed to the concert A young
woman of color, in very bedraggled mauve
sateen dress was there. A few members of
| an opera company, dude or two here and
there Scandinayians, country people, and
the nondescript specimens of humanity, ut
terly unplaceable, who go to make up an
American crowd The rain trickled in
around the edges of the tent, and through
the rope holes. The rings were damp, and
the performers uncomfortable. man raced
with a horse The track was slippery, and
Of a sudden the horse fell, throwing his
| Jockey heavily. The rider was unhurt but
the horses neck was broken. She said it wa
awful and turned her attention to something
else; for woman, woman, lovely woman, is
still savage heart.
IL
When l go to circus, 1 make it a rule to
see everything there is to see, so I went to
the aideshow. There is always the mind
reader who writes her name Mile. and pro-
nounces it Mile. She wore rubber boots. l
tried TO get her to read the date Oh a silver
dollar for me. She couldn't do it. l foiled
her. l didn't have any dollar. Then there
is Punch and Judy, and the strong man, and
the thick headed man who lets rocks be
broken on his skull, and the dwarfs, and the
fot man, and the fat woman III a lavender
decollete gown and a pink blazer The tat
tooed man calls himself the living art gal
lery. He has Kaiser Wilhelm on one leg
and Lincoln on the other-355 designs in ALL
He had it done in Brooklyn, and it took IA
days to do it. At odd moments the tattooed
man talks with the fat woman and the leg
less man, and the band plays. A circus band
is mostly drum and cymbals Freaks, both
by nature and design, are, as a rule, jolly,
5OON-i1tuACO pCOPASf SANSPS
dwarfs. freaks temper varies inversely
as the square of his size
1T
Outside in the wetness of the rain boy
was selling water lilies. All the people who
went in came out with the dream books and
song books, and Puncy and Judy whistles,
and popcorn, and mud, and all the other
things they had collected inside, and the
cabbies charged right valian,y. Things al
ways do come high at circuses. Everybody
was wet and muddy, but everybody was
happy. Everybody had been to the circus
ANOTHER ST. ANTHONY LINE.
So the Editor of the Globe:
A few days ago your paper comment
| ed upon the Importance of a lateral line