Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1898-02-12
ORIGIN OF PINK LEMONADE.
How a Thoughtful Circus Clown Met
Texas Emergency.

1.-The origin OF PINK lemonade,
said an old circus clown the other
day, has long been shrouded III
mystery, like some other beginnings
in history. Eut Lone is The true
story: In 1855, | WAS travelling i'll the
eoUth with Jerc Malic's Zig show. |
WIS doing umbli.G and acrobatlc
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, Mabio camc to me i'll
great distress and told me that the
clown had Jumped the show. Acir-
Gus without a clown would he Il Sc
rious affair anywhere, but i'll Texas
in those days it meant destruction to
our 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 ale things
on circus posters which are beyond
the possibility of fultillnient. We
showmen look upon those pictures
with the artists eye, and we got to
feeling sorry to think what the TEX
ans were missing.
well, to come to the point, Invent
into the ring as clown and made a
hit. kept it up for a 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 would have
to have some extra scquins if he
wanted me to play clown any more.
He answered that WAS getting
enough and if | wasn't satisfied !
could quit. Ho thought he had me
there, for Texas was not the kind of
country man would enjoy being
left in. But | was youngstcr then
and didn' t mind taking chances. Be
sides, had saved about &40and felt
rich. l quit tho show right off,
bought a couple of mules and an old
covered wagon and had just enough
left to invest in some peanuts, sug-
III, tRrturic acid and one lemon. Talk
about good friends!, Why, that one
lemon stuck to me to the end. ! fol-
lowed the circus with my wagon and
pair, and every time the tents were
pitched | would mount hox and
sing out:
"Hcre's your ice cold lemonade,
Made in tie shade
By an old maid!
Stick your finger in the glass.
1t freeze tight fast.
Tie deeper you dip
I'ho sweeter it grows,
just like honey from rose.
So good, so sweet, 50 sour,
It'll give you joy for half IN hour!
"The lemonade sold splcndidly,
and l couldn't wait On the negroes
fast enough. One day, while | was
surrounded by Il mob scramblips for
the liquid refreshment, l noticed
suddenly that my water supply had
about run out. There were 20 wells
or springs in sight, so rushed into
the big tent to get some water. The
elephants had just been fed and
watered, and all the tanks were
empty. In tho 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 S'r
had been washing. The aniline dye
had stained the water dtep pink. !
didn't stop to ask any questions, but
grabbed the tub and ran. AS l
mounted the box l threw i'll 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
well regulated 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 swamred by the big licenses
demanded whenever we landed. Fl
naliy 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 were 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
board of a steamboat hit the Mem
phis people hard. That night we
were crowded to the guards, and we
played three 'midstream return
dates in the neighborhood within Il
week. New York Commercial.
How Old MFs. Smith Was.
In the family OF friend III en-
ployed an old colored servant whose
blunders, though numerous, cause
more amusement than veXation. An
elderly lady, a neighbOr, was sick,
and they sent the servant over, in
structing her to find out how old
Mrs. Smith was and could they be
Of service etc. In due season she
reported back, saying, Mrs. Smith
says she will be 60 next birthday
and don't need nothing. New Or
ms -