The Progress., 1892-07-09
CIRCUS DAY m KANSAS.
A Season of Sober and Sedatc Dissfra-
tion for Country Folk.
Especial Corrcspondcncc.l

Special CorrcSpondCnCc-I
PARSONS, june THE relative impoT-
tance of Circus Day." as it appears to the
inhabitants of the eastern and western
states, is matter for consideration. Al
ways gala day for the children-and to
many children of u larger growth-to tho
settlers around some of our western towns
it is the great day of the year. la Kansas,
In the neighborhood of the Indian Terri
tory, living ten, fifteen, twenty or more
miles from the nearest town, Is II class "t
people the barrenGess of whose lives would
be pitiful if from their phlegmatic dispoSl-
tions they did not seem almost incapable 0i
feeling-a primitive sort OF people, living
upon the products of their lands, obtain
ing the few other necessaries required ny
exchange and almost money less from year
end to years end.
The day the circus arrives in the nearest
town is one of wild dissipation for them.
BY o'clock in the morning they begin t.
arrive in heavy farm wagons. some WITH
tops and some without, but each and all
drawn by team of small western horses
and well laden with human freight. Life
is n serious business with them. and each
face, from that of patcrfamilias down tc
the youngest child, is rs solemn and -
taciturn us if the occasion was the celebra'
tion of n family execution instead of the
great annual holiday. Men and women
both are smoking clay pipes, and the latter
are in calico gowns with heads protected
by sunbonnets of the same material. away
back in the depths of which can be seen dull
eyes set in leather colored faces. The chi
dren are dried up little mummieS, who,
but for their diminutive stature and long
pantalets reaching to the boot tops, might
| be any age.
Load after load comes jogging into town
"A halting place is found in front OF the
store or in some convenient lumber yard
! the horses are unhitched and fastened tG
the back of the wagon and the family
party finds it's way to the circus ground,
| The hurry and hustle, the cries OF the AM
| mails and the brilliant canvases are of in
tense interest to them, and they take 1t M.
In with stoical earnestness. The open
| ing of the show is matter of indifference
to them, for their widest dreams never
pictured to them the extravaganza OF see
ing more than the outside of that fascinat-
ing white tent; the inside they have never
seen and never think Of seeing.
Noontime takes them back to the wag
ons and seats on the piles Of lumber, where
| the inner nlitu - uh' -
season Of snuff dipping begins. 1t is prob
ably this and the tobacco habit. together
with malaria and quinine, that has giver
these people skins of the consistency oi
elephant hides. Snuff dipping is more
sociable dissipation than smoking, for tho
whole party gathers around one dish con
tanning the snuff. Each is provided will
a stick, one end of which Is dipped into tho
receptacle and taken ont with as muci
snuff Ms will cling to 1.-THE teeth an'
gums are well rubbed, and what then re
mains is chewed out-dipping, rubbing
and chewing going on indefinitely unit
the snuff is exhausted.
After the snuff dipping the circu
grounds are in order again. To listen out
side to the exciting sounds-the crack O
the whip, tread of many hoofs plowin,
through the soft earth, the hOarse voice o
the clown rs it penetrates the walls OF tn
tent and the roars of laughter that sue
ceed it are enough to satisfy them, and no
until the last pole is down and the ground
deserted are father, mother, children. par
talets, sunbonnets and all solemnly packe
into the wagons for the long drive hom'
there to settle down for another year G
, drudgery. A. X. HoISER