Times-promoter., 1898-12-03
THE OLD CIRCUS MAN.
lie Tells In sincerity What Happened
when Finally the Greatest of
All Giants Died.

81 never told you the exact height of
thc great giant-what's the use?" said
the old circus man. "You wouldn't be-
lieye it if | did; as I've said before it
would only make you disbelieve what
| do tell you about him, and what's the
use? But you can form some sort Of
an idea about it if from these things
that I've told you and from what I'm
going to tell you now about his death
and burial, because in the course of
time he died
I'VE were under canvas then, show
ing three times day, and moving our
selves, and we were tolerably busy, and
we really hadn't time to give such at
tention as we ought to the burying Of
what had been, after the great giraffe,
our very greatest attraction. The dig
ging of a grave for him would have
been Ike digging the foundation for
several houses in a row and would have
taken lots of time. and the mere cost
of the land would be considerable.
well. as usual, the old mans horse
sense came to the rescue. In looking
around for forage when we struck the
town he had discovered the bed of an
abandoned canal, that they'd stopped
using when the railroad was built.
This old canal ran through the edge
Of a mans farm there, and that land
was no use to anybody. 1t didn't pay
to ploW it because it wasn't worth the
ttlne and trouble it would take to get
horses and plows up and down the
bark, and it wasp any good for any
thing; and the old man bought strip
Of that land along there, few acres
OF it. enough for a cemetery lot for the
giant, for next to nothing. So you see
there we were, with the land bought
and the grave dug at very small eX-
rense and practically in a minute.
I'VE laid the giant down in the sec
ton of the canal we had bought, and
hauled earth from the rest of the piece
to cover him up-the old man was wise
enough of course to buy land enough
to provide for that. When the mound
was rounded up in proper shape and
due proportions it made quite ridge;
it was flat country round there, and
you could see this ridge for quite a
piece.
"Of course the old man put up head
stone, and it was much the biggest
headstone | ever saw, and quite diff
ferent from any ever saw--it was
built of brick. The old man hired all
the men that could work on it, and
they put in a foundation and built the
headstone in half day. 1t was some,
thing like the side wall of brick house
for general dimensions, only it was
very much thicker and tombstone like
in shape, and at little distance in that
level country the ridge with the great |
stone at one end of it looked like what
it was, tie grave of a mighty giant.
"\nd so we left him secure in mem.
ory, as we thought, with the inscrip. |
ton we had put on the headstone, but |
great storm came up before the NOR
tGr had set and blew the headstone
~ anu 'llcic Is lay SIMPLY Scatler'
ing pile of brick. But the mound re.
mained, as it still does; saw it there |
only year ago when passed through |
that country. But with nothing tc
mark it, exact knowledge of it grad
uaIly faded, and even tradition had
grown indistinct, and the great mound
had come finally to be known simply
as the giants hilI."-N. Y. Sun.
The Canadian government cream
cries in the northwest turned out 80.
600 pounds of butter last month.