The news & observer., 1897-08-08

amount of excitement, but, after all, lhe
circus as it is known in the city, Wlth
the performance given IN a bulldlhg'
comfortable chairs to sit III and every
body's taste catered to is as nothing
compared to the pleasure that Is got
when the circus comes to the couhIf!
Three weeks ago we entertained at dlh-
ner two gayIy dressed young men VINO
had come to make arrangements about
hosting works of art on the barn ana
who managed to mention, quite lnclden-
tally. that the circus would soon be WIN
rs From that day on the country TOT
miles around has been living an abnorhlai
life. Everybody visited everybody else
TO find out if she were going to the snow
One woman absolutely stopped ironing
and rode twenty-One miles to IND out II
her sister had had an opportunity 10 en-
tertain the clowns when the circus was
near her. e..
or course. the posters were the first
excitement. Then there were stories
af1oat that he gentleman who owned the
circus was engaging board for the circus
neople in the village. We have always
scorned the village, but at this particular
time we wished we lived there, for then
there might have been a chance of seeing
some of those beautiful creatures who
wore illusion dresses and spangles ana
danced on the white horses as they
were in everyday life. It's just as well.
though, that we didn't see them, for IL
we had we might have suffered from
disillusion, for we have heard that these
lovely ladies are occasionally very ordl-
nary when not in the circus or doing
circus tricks. Then the animals came.
The tent was erected, and for twenty
four hours every child in the neighbor-
pnI hnho uJn
brought about the possibility of not
getting to the circus. And could any
thing be more dreadful? l do believe
that every man, woman and ghost within
the circuit of that circus felt at least
twenty years younger.
The big wagon drawn by three horses
took us down. "Us" consisted of twenty
seven women and children and one man.
The man drove, the women attempted to
keep order, and the children seemed to
have lost their senses. One small girl
got so excited that she took her slipper
off and threw it into the road. Then
our trap had to stop. One of the boys
was lifted down and brought back the
slipper. and we all looked in the other
direction while the slipper was used IN
way familiar to most of US III the
world when it was younger. We had
reached the circus, we added peanuts
and popcorn, and when we got in the
tent and were seated we began to drink
lemonade, the real pink circus lemonade,
with as much avidity as if none of us had
ever heard of champagne in our lives.
The seats were not comfortable, but we
gave little thought to the hard-bOards,
because we were all children again and
out to have good time. Even the prlm
boy who is reading the Bible through in
year forgot how religious he was and
screamed across the ring to another boy,
Say, Tommy, how d,i you get your
ticket:" And Tommy responded in a
voice that was cheerful. but loud, by
carryin' water for the elephant"
And that hypocrite of a boy from our
house would have given up all chance
of finishing the Bible if to him had come
the opportunity that was given to Tom
my. Again and again / say to myself,
it's marvellous how young the circus does
make you feel. If you are a woman,
you long to be the beautiful lady WHO,
wearing short skirts of tulle, rides q
white horse bareback, like fairy,at least
as you suppose fairy would. If You are
a man, you wish you were the ringmas-
ter, with his long whip.
The circus is the one place on earth
where the rich and the poor meet togeth-
er and enjoy themselves. Providence
made US all, though Barnum achieved
the circus, at which the laugh of the
beggar is as keen as that of the million
aire, and the lion and the elephant gaze
with equal complacency on velvet or rags
provided both are accompanied by apples.
You don't get one bit more pleasure out
of the riding or the trick pony or the
trained dogs or the trapeze performers
if you are in a reserved seat than does
the poorest ragamuffin, and has to sit
where he can.
The odors of Araby are nowhere beside
that of the sawdust. If you are real
human being, the blood dances in your
veins, your eyes try to see everything
at once, and your heart gives a great
throb of ecstacy at the first crack of the
ringmaster's whip. Being normal Great
ures, we ate of the dainties dedicated to
the circus from the time we entered. For
myself, | draw the line at mint sticks,
but once within the odor of the sawdust
and the animals, | feel like calling out:
"Give me liberty to eat or give me
deathp' Most of us got the liberty to eat.
Men who know the secret of the sphinx
can't explain why sawdust gives an ap-
petite. But you have no appreciation of
the circus unles you can consume pea
nuts by the quart, apples by the dozen,
popcorn by the string, and those horrible,
driedup looking sponge cakes that are
sold at every properly conducted circus,
and which, eaten in the tent seem as
fresh and dainty as if they had just come
from the oven of the gods. We ap-
plauded the trained dogs; we held our
breath with horror when the man per-
formed on the trapeze, holding a small
boy by his teeth and allowing other
small children to hang to his feet, we
screamed with JOY at the lady riders, and,
being blinded with happiness, we were
all convinced that there had probably
never been such well-bred man as the
ringmaster. The performance over,
more money was spent in apples and
peanuts, and we started to see the ami
mails. The elephant was as stolid and
funny looking as ever. Civilization has
not added to the length of his tail or
adapted it to his size, but he accepted our
apples in way that made us feel proud,
and then blew out water on a small girl
in the party in such way that all the
children envied her.
There is no doubt about it that the
circus is a liberal education. If any
small boy had ever doubted the animals