The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1894-05-14
A ROYAL CIRCUS DAY.
The Third Time is the Charm For
Ringlings.
A BRILLIANT SHOW ON THE STREETS.

did Performance Before a Large
Audience
This being circus day, the poetry edi-
tor of the STATE JOURNAL. had some
thought on circuses in general and the
old fashioned circus in particular,
which he conveys to the STATE JOURNALS
readers in the following:
How dear to my heart is the old fashioned
The first simple circus that had but one ring,
Where sat on board with feet dangling down
And absorbed without worry the very last
The man put his head in the mouth of the lion,
The Old spotted mare cantered at the door,
The band always broke down. but liked it
The old one-ring circus that no W is no more.
/ All. thousands still live who regret its depart
AS do when watching the new tangled sort,
With three rings that may beat it somewhat for
But never can beat it for genuine sport.
There we sat open-mouthed and took in each
Distinctly and clearly, with nothing to confuse
AS nowadays while trying to watch the whole
We let down on the new one our stock of
abuse.
How vexed we feel nowadays and how disap-
When thinking of acts in the ring that we
While watching the poor little acts in the other,
That never seem worth more than half what
they cost.
And now. sit on the soft cushioned
Which compared to the old ones are not quite
rough,
We still sigh for the one-ringed, old fashioned
The circus where one pair of eyes was enough.
The old fashioned boss who refused US admit
lance
When as boys we had worked half the day on
And made US content ourselves with decoction;
q n w Hah nnU0
sent.
The kind-hearted tent hand who, seeing
Let US crawl meath the canvas at our sweet
The vender with tin cup glued half full of pea
And the old-fashioned concert. alb, it's with
still.
1t takes an army of small boys in adj
dition to about 3OU men to get ready for
a single performance the tents and other
properties of circus the size of Ring
ling Brothers.
Five of the seven Ringing brothers
are in town today with their show, and
an immense show it is. They came to
Topeka Sunday morning over the Union
Pacific from Leavenworth and pitched
their tents on the state fair grounds The
army of small boys were on hand to as
sist in this event of never ceasing inter-
est. They never fail to have an excuse
for hanging around when the circus men
away. Those boys who were on the
ground early this morning don't go to
school until afternoon; and those who are
there this afternoon went to school in
the morning; and those who stayed all
day didn't go to school at all, because
they are just getting over the measles,'
or because they expect their ''little sis
tiers have the mumps," or because ''their
mothers need them to stay at home and
do errands."
no hn Is
filled up with unemployed men. The
workmen move about as if unconscious
of the spectators.
j. II. Snellen is the chief canvas
man of the circus and SO skilled is he in
his particular work that when he arrives
on the ground he can tell at glance
just how to dispose of them. The big
tent is 395 by 1875 feet and the annex
tent is 80 by 100. Besides these there
are other smaller tents too numerous to
mention. He carries all the necessary
figures and dimensions in his head and
with the aid of a tape-line fixes the posi-
tiOns of the pins, ropes and poles with
different cOlOred pins The ground
seems confused mass of poles and
stakes, but Snellen hurries about giving
orders that nobody but the men can I'M
derStand, bringing order out of chaos.
The tent is finally brought out of the
canvas wagon and spread over the
ground
the tent, bringing these little poles to a
perpendicular The tent now looks like
an enormous flattened white hat with the
rim turned up. In little further the
men dive, and soon they begin to push
the quarter poles to upright position.
The men at the main poles pull up, and
slowly the tent begins to assume shape.
Teams of horses are soon brought into
requisition, and they pull the bases of
the quarter poles to their place. The guy
ropes, which reach from the edge of the
tent to the stakes, tighten and soon the
big tent is taut and firm. The ropes that
held the poles firm while the tent was
being pulled up are slackened and the
canvas sways as it feels the fexibility
III the ropes.
Then the side wallis are put on
and the seats that are as hard as a rail-
road track, are brought out and placed in
position.
There are $50 Iaborers and 1O2 per-
formers with the circus. Fifteen of the
latter are women. There are also 300
horses and twenty-one cages in the men
agerie. The menagerie forms one of the
most interesting features of the circus
The RlnglingS have several features that
other circuses do not have. Besides the
elephants and camels and other wild
beast from the sjingles of Africa" as
one of the hands said. there is the only
giraffe on exhibition in America. 1t is a
female giraffe, with beautiful hair-col-
ored spots on its sides and neck as long
as clothesline. Its four feet as so close
together that that they have to spread
out like the poles of a tent to enable the
animal to keep her balance. Then there
is hippopotamus with a mouth as big
Il