Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1896-09-10

ago hOeing potatoes; now going to the
circus.
| had never seen lion nor an ele-
phant nor any of the curious beasts
from foreign lands. knew their pres
ence in the garden of Eden and in the
ark. | knew that African travellers had
found them. But that was far away.
At the end of these little miles, just be-
yOnd these business buildings already
| in sight. | should find wild beasts of
| the field" and should drink my fill Of
marvels.
The season was right. Harvest was
/ over, corn needed no more plOwing.
There was a midsummer lull in all ac-
| tivity. Even in a time when few men
remained at home, and when women
and boys did much of the farm work,
! there was still time and inclination to
visit "the show" The proportion of
men in blue uniform was greater than
it had ever been. The army pervaded
everything. Men home on furlough
were guests of honor and were feted
royally-they, too, had money and
could reciprOcate, were that permitted.
They were sought continually. And
they told when the war would cease.
The circus was there. All lurking fear
that at the last something might hap
pen to disappOint me was dispelled
when we came to the courthouse square,
for there, just beyond the temple of JUS
tice, in the vacant lots, was spread the
mighty tent. Sure those vacant lots
had been doubled in size since last l
saw them, for no common space could
entertain an establishment so vast as
this. Why, there were walls of canvas
on the right hand and on the left hand
or the mammoth tent, and there were
SUGGESTIONS of smaller tents that
stretched away into bewlldering vistas,
and before them all everywhere tugged
the great advertisements, wonderful in
| picture, exotic in text There was a
noise, hustle, hurry, nervous ten
sion, unknown In the town. No man
had more time than sutficed for the
scantiest of greetings, unless accosted
by a soldier, in which case he would
talk lnterminably, or a sharper, in
which case he would invest disastrous
ly. The only calm, contained men were
those law-detiers who looked with such
honest faces into the wavering eyes of
honest men and begulled them to their
ruin. For there were three-card games
and "chuck-a-luck," popular among the
soldiers, and wheels of fortune and
straight faro. Only the most beggarly
pretense of Secreting all this crime was
made. The short change" man, who
tiourished In one place and disappeared
to rise in another, was on the ground
and was remembered. There were as
sistant marshals with large stars, and
they walked in and out of all tents at
Will, But they saw nothing less than
quarreling men, and reused to activity
only to prevent fighting.
just before noon the parade started.
We watched the wonderful aggregation
Of marvels form into line. To youths
bred In an environment where some of
the odor of sanctity might reach them
IL seemed most shocking that so much
profanity was needed in assembling n
great moral aggregation. Furthermore,
there was quality about that profan-
! lty | have never known equaled 1t was
intense, lnciSive, terSe, emphatic, sui
| phurouS, full of murder and flashing
with the lightnlngs of blasphemy. l
| huVn ril1nn hnhinI ~,
on the plains and have spent vacations
where the voice of the first mate of n
river packet could assall my ears. But
| have found no man whose profanity
matched the splendid wlckedness of the
circus employe in the old days of wagon
transportation.
The parade was thing to marvel at.
In the front was carriage resplendent
above above anything in the town and
bearing the dusty human who was vet
more than mortal, for he owned the
show"
Then came the band in golden char
lot that quite satisfied me. II ANYTHING
In my reading eQualed that could NOT
recall 1t. How many there were in the
band, what they played, or whether
they played well, these things did not
Impress me. For behind them came the
elephant. He walked alone, stately
or sore-footed, and how was to know?
He swung like the rocking of a hay
stack In storm and his driver prodded
him. Then came the cars. Upon the
sides of each were painted such pictures
as must have whetted the curiosity Of
the unlearned. But two were opened.
In one was "the massive and blood.
sweating behemoth Of holy writ"-a
hippopotamus! In the other a man sat
In safety with unclaimed lions on his
every hand.
| What mora thor, ,,.,., L. .,