Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1898-09-07
ORIGIN OF PINK LEMONADE
How thoughtful Circus Clown Met "
Texas Emergency

Texas Emergency.
1.-THE origin of pink lemonade, +"
said an old circus clown the other
| day, has long been shrouded in
mystery, like some other beginnings
/ in history. But here is the true
story: In 1867 was travelling in the
south with Jere Mabie's big show /
was doing a tumbling and acrobatic
act in the ring and had not yet be-.
gun TO aspire to the cap and bells.
| One afternoon, just before the doors
/. were opened, Mabie came to me in
great distress and told me that the
clown had jumped the show. A cir
/ Gus without clown would be Sc
| rious affair anywhere, but in Texas
in those days it meant destruction to
Jour property and possibly bodily
harm to ourselves. You see, those
Texans didn' t have much else to do,
and so they found time to study the
bills carefully. They insisted upon
getting their full moneys worth
and wanted everything promised on
the bills. Some of our best printing
couldn't be put up in Texas at all,
! because, you know, there are things
| on circus posters which are beyond
the possibility of fultillment We
| Ehowmen look upon those pictures
with the artists eye, and we got to
feeling sorry to think what the Tex
ANS were missing.
n well, to come to the point, Invent
into the ring as clown and made a
Init. I kept it up for couple of
weeks, doing my other act as well,
and all for one salary.
Zone morning went to the man
ager and told him that Iwould have
to have some extra sequins if he
wanted me to play clown any more.
HE answered that was getting
Enough and if ! wasn't satisfied I
bould quit. He thought he had me
there, for Texas was not the kind of
country a man would enjoy being
peft in. But I was youngster then
and didn It mind taking chances. Be
sides, / had saved about SAC, and felt
rich. I quit the show right off,
bought a couple of mules and an old
covered wagon and had just enough
left to invest in some peanuts, sug-
ar, tartaric acid and one lemon. Talk
about good friends. Why, that one
elemon stuck to me to the end. fol
lowed the circus with my wagon and
pair, and every time the tents were
pitched would mount box and
sing out:
''Here's your ice cold lemonade,
Made in the shade
By an old maid!
Stick your finger in the glass.
It'll freeze tight fast.
The deeper you dip
The sweeter it grows,
Just like honey from rose.
So good, SO sweet, so sour,
It'll give you joy for half an hour!
'The lemonade sold splendidly, |
and l couldn't wait on the negroes
fast enough. One day, while was
surrounded by mob scrambling for
the liquid refreshment, noticed |
suddenly that my water supply had |
about run out. There were no wells
or springs in sight, SO rushed into /
the big tent to get some water. The
elephants had just been. fed anG
watered, and all the tanks were
empty. In the excitement of the mo-
ment invaded the dressing tents.
Fannie Jameson, the old time queen
of bareback equestrianism, was
standing in front of a tub, wringing
out pair of pink tights that she
had been washing. The aniline dye
had stained the water deep pink. ]
didn t stop to ask any questions, but
grabbed the tub and ran. AS l
mounted the box I threw in some
acid and the property lemon and .
called out to the customers to come
up quickly and buy some fine straw
berry lemonade. My sales were
doubled that day, and since then no
wellregulated circus is without pink
lemonade.
Its not easy to get the better of
showmen, = continued the old clown.
They re pretty well up to the tricks
of the average community and have
"a few of their own. l was with the
first steamboat show that ever sailed
down the Mississippi, and it was al
most swamEed by the big licenses
demanded whenever we landed. FL
nally at Memphis the thing culmi-
mated. The merchants were up in
arms against the show because they
said we would take too much money
away from the city. We we're mott
fed that no license would be issued
and that we would not be allowed to
give our show at the wharf. So we
steamed out into the middle of the
river, started our calliope a-piping
and had our little tug ply back and
forth between the shore and the
steamboat The idea of circus on
hoard of a STEAMBOAT hit tho Moro