The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1896-10-06
THE CIRCUS DIALECT.
A VETERANS RECITAL OF OLD TIME
EXPERIENCES.


Calling and Which the Ordinary Mortal
Cannot Understand--But the Youthful
Listener Obtains Definitions.
A veteran circus man wandered into the
tent Of one Of the "great and only" COM
binations which appeared In Rochester not
long ago, and as rehearsal was in prog
ress he entered into an easy conversation
with such Of the performers rs had time to
converse.
"Of course you sawdust hoppers have
more room to dress In" he remarked,
ethan we had In the old days, and you
have better lights and all that. remem-
her one night at Logansport when the
lights all went out when the show was
half over, and we had to dress In the dark.
Some one had put water In the coil oil and
stolen all the candles And the crowd
roared, and there were lot of fights, and
1t was moonlight night, and the boss
squeeze had them rip off the hood and
they finished the performance by moon
light But 1t left bad name, for all the
'grafters' and guns were so busy they
couldn't tell whether they were touching
jays or people that belonged with the
show"
made good money then, didn't your"
asked the equilibrist
eyes, good money. I was wise man
then-worked hard all the time for good
wages and never had cent. There wasn't
half dozen men in the business who could
turn double. OF course, there were lots
of hair grsbbers, but guess I was as good
as any of them. had side partner one
season. His name was Vim, and he was
candy butcher. He worked that for q
blind, but he was short change man on
the regular. More than once they told him
he'd better duck, but he thought he was
next, and he didn't pay any attention. He
got so careless 1 quit him, and then he
took up with new man as we came into
Columbus, and Joey boy was coming
into the tent with broad in his hand,
and the new man thought he was 'reu-
ben, and he touched him for his roll, and
the Joey didn't get over kicking till his
leg was out Of joint"
"Couldn't no yet his 'soA' back AGAIN."
asked one Of his hearers.
'No. We didn't have any ollie, and
the fxer had arranged 80 that all the Off
GERS in Columbus should go to sleep and
stay there till the show got out Of the town.
He did his work too we'll to suit the Joey
But 1t made SO much trouble that we never
sow that gun again till we struck Wheel
ing in return trip in the fall. And then
he was side show blower, with double
and slide trick that made him lots of mon
ey.
"There was where we lost 'Peachy,'"
continued the old circus man after pause.
"He was the making of the greatest Of all
hair grabbers, think. He made UP with
tart, the wife Of one Of the spanglers-
she did the snake act in one of the side
tops-and they sloped with the plug.
Next season I made killing at faro
out west and was gay az bird of paradise
when we came to Hannibal. was smok-
ing 10 cent punks-and they were punks
for that money In those days, l tell you.
And I had silk 'mush, with gold handle
and steel ribs-paid IS for 1t at st. Joe
and hid 1t under box that night at Han-
nibal, and some ono reached 1t and copied
it while was hunting my rozin. Icouldn't
chase him, but the dame that sews the cos
tunes did, and he stepped In grummet
where the menagerie top had been all day
and sprained his ankle The 'mush' was
told me his 'glimmers' were as black as
his top piece. But bowed myself all the
way up to Independence, and by the time
we got there I had to hook my spark.
Good times" And no chuckled eDjoyably.
Funny thing, said one Of the acrobats.
"He brings up the old style show SO plain
ly I can see it again as 1t was when was
boy"
"And many year BEFORE" INTERCEPTED
the ringmaster.
"Yes, many year before. l remember
once in the old days the layer out went
ahead and rallied the road out of Niles, and
some kids took up all the sticks, and when
our wagon came along we had to hunt for
the elephant tracks 1t was raining and
we couldn't find anything, and We got
lost.
Miles" said n younger performer re-
fectively. "There's where we had kicker
from Kickerville. He had washed his
pumps in the hotel and hung them up
there to dry. He and his wife did double
act on tho horses, and he called across to
her in the dressing rooms and asked her
where his pumps were, and she told him
she had forgotten to bring them, and he
ripped out an oath and cursed the manage
ment and declared he would leave the show
the next day"
What's 'broadP' asked one of the
more youthful listeners who didn't under
stand all the vernacular of the veterans
"A broad is ticket to the show" was
the reply
"And 'mush?'"
A 'mush' Is an umbrella, and top is
q tent, and the hood is the double piece
that covers the canvas about the center
pole"
And 'bloomcrs are"-
Eyes, 'bloomers' are trousers, and
razor back is man that loads the wagon.
A 'hoopecackel wagon carried the unmar-
ried performers. 1t was sort of light
wagon, pickup A gun is pick
pocket, q Joey is clown-one kind or
another-and an ollie is a policeman. A
'hairgrabber' Is a horseback rider Soft
Is paper money. A spangler' is a per-
former-any kind of performer who
wears o costume. And double and
slide trick is used by dishonest ticket SELL
ers to cheat people who come with big
bills"
"Say," cried the veteran as he returned
from his tour of "the back Of the house."
II don't know anything about this bust
ness. There's a real property room, and
dressing room and lot of other rooms,
all safe as store. And these canvBsmen
wear linen collars. might as we'll break
away altogether. Give me broad, SO
won't be stiff in the push at the door,
and III come in at the front like stran-
ger. don't know the circus business any
more, and I'm going to forget that ever
did"
The manager gave him "broad'-oth-
erwise ticket-and the bit of pasteboard
was weighted with coin sufficient for a good
meal or two. And, with the blessing of