The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1896-10-02
SAiSccllaucous.
THE CIRCUS DIALECT,
A VETERANS RECITAL OF OLD TINE
EXPERIENCES,

A VETERANS RECITAL OF OLD TINE
EXPERIENCES,
Told In Words That Are Peculiar to His
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 agn, and az a rehearsal was in prog
ress lie entered Into an easy conversation
with such of the performers us 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. l remem-
Der one night at Logauspnrt when tho
Lights Ill went out whan the show was
half over, ard we had to dress in the dark.
Some one had put water in the coil oil and
stolen all the candles. And the crowd
roarcd, and there were lot of fights, and
it was moonlight night and the boss
squeeze had them rip off the hood, and
they finished the performance by mO0h-
light But it left u bad papo, Tor all tho
grafters and 'guns' We're 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 cquilibrist.
Eyes, good money was n wise man
then-workcd hard all the time for good
wages and never had cent. There wasn't
half Il dozen men in the business who could
turn IL double. OF course, there were lots
Of hnir g?abEcrs. but gueSs was as good
rs any 0f them. ] had Il side partner eru
season. His nalHo WAS VIM, and he was
u candy butcher, He worked that for q
blind, but lao was II short change man on
the regular. More than once they told him
he'd Letter duck, but lie thought he was
next, and lie didn't Fay any attention. He
got SO careless 1 quit him, and then he
took up with Il new man as we came into
Columbus, and Il joey boy was coming
into the tent with IL bread in his hand,
and the rev nan thought he was 'rcU.
ben, and he touched him TN his coli, and
tho Joey didn't get over kicking TILL his
leg WAS out of joint
Couldn't he get his soft back AGAIN."
asked one of his hearers.
mo. We didn't have any ollie, and
the fixer had arranged SO 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 well IT, suit tho joey,
But it MAIDS so much trouble that we never
saw that gun again till we struck Wheel
ing in return trip in the fall And then
he was IA 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.
"Hc was the making OF the greatest of all
hair grahbers, l think. He made up with
n tart, the wife of one of the spanglers-
she did tho snake act in one of the side
tops-and they sloped with the plug,
Next season 1 made killing a6 faro
out west and was gay "a n bird of paradise
when We came to Hannibal. ! was smok-
ing 15 cent punks--and they were pupks
for that money In those days, tell you.
And kad silk 'mush, with gold handle
and steel ribs-paid IS for it at st. Joe
and hid it under box that night at Han
nibal, and some one reached IL and copied
it while l was hunting my rozin. couldn't
chase him, but the dame that sews the cos
tunes did, and he stepped in grummet
where the mcnagerie top Ind been all day
and sprained his ankle. The 'mush' was
broken when she brought it back, but she
told mo his 'glimmers' were as black as
| his top piece But blowed myself all the
way up to Independence, and by the time
wo got there I had to hook my spark.
| Good timcs" And he chuckled cnjoyably.
Funny thing" said one of the acrobats.
He brings up the old style show so plain
| ly can see it again as it was when was
Il boy"
And many year before, interjectcd
the ringmastcr.
YES many year before. ! 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
tho elephant tracks. 1t was raining, and
we couldn't find anything, and VIC got
lost. -
| Miles" said younger performer re-
fiectivcly. "There's where VIC had a kicker
from Kickervillo. He had washed his
pumps in the hotel and hung them up
there to dry. He and his wife did a double
| act on the 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
| ripDcd out an oath and cursed the manage
ment and declared he would leave the show
the next day"
WHAT'S u 'broad?' ii asked one of the
| moro youthful listeners who didn't under
stand all the vcrnacular of the veterans.
"A broad is u ticket to the show" was
the reply.
And 'mush?'
A 'mush' is an umbrella, and top Is
u tent and the hood is the double piece
that covers the canvas about the center
pole.
And 'bloomers' Gre'-
| YES, 'bloomers' are trousers, and q
razor back is Il man that loads the wagon.
| A 'hoopccackcl wagon carried the unmar-
ricd performers. 1t was II sort of light
wagon, pickup a gun is pick
pocket, joey is Il clown-one kind OF
another-and an ollie is II policeman. A
'hairgrabbcr' is IL horseback rider, 'soft
is paper money. a 'spangler is per
formcr-any kind OF q performer who
wears u costume And u double and
slide trick is used by dishonest ticket sell
ers to cheat people who como with big
bills. "
Say" cried the veteran as he returned
from his tour of the back of the house, y
Il don't know anything about this bust
ness. There's a real property room, anC
n dressing room and lot of other rooms
all safe as Il store. And these canvasmer
wear linen collars l might as well 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 l don t know the circus business any
more, and I'm going to forget that L evel
did"
The manager gave him Il "broad'-oth
erwise IL ticEct-anu the bit of pasteboart
was weighted with coin sufficient fora gooS
meal or two. And. %ith the blessing Of {
younger generation, the old fellow hurried
away.-Rochester Union and Advertiser,