Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1899-02-03
THE OLD CIRCUS NAN.
Throws Additional Light ON the Great
Giants Size shed by the De-
tails Of Ills Umbrella.

"SOu might have thought" said the
old circus man, that it would put us
to some considerable trouble and ex-
. pcnse to provide umbrellas for the
great giant, whose actual size l have
never dared TO tell you for fear you
wouldn't believe it if did, trusting to
those things that have told you about
him from time to time to give you some
approximate notion of it.
'As to the giants umbrellas, We
never had any trouble at ali; we SIM
ply used to use for that purpose the
tops of our discarded balloons. We
never fooled with balloons. you under
stand; after they had become weak
cned at all we used to put 'em aside
and put in a new one; we never took
any risks on balloons. Before the great
giant joined us we used to sell the old
balloons for junk. and likewise we used
to cut up The old center poles Of the
big tent. when they showed airy signs
of weakness. for fircwood; but after
the giant came we saved all the balloon
tops for umbrella coverings, and thc
old center poles we saved for umbrellas
: handles. We had our blacksmith get
out Il set Of ribs ami fittings. ard those
al
the covering Of the giants umbrella
got so worn that it was Of II" further
use rs such. or it looked Lat when it
was opened. why then wed Just re-
cover the old frame. Whcn we Put in
new handle we'd simply take the
irons of the old one off and put EN- on
the new one.
eve used to make it point TO have
the giant carry the umbrella in every
town we struck. whether it rained or
not. He used to turn out and. wall;
with the show. and Walking bchird
him we always had ten uu,n carrying
the umbrella rolled up and vi h an UNI
brella case on il. these men walking
five on Il side and carrying it lying
along on sticks that they held by the
ends. This always used to excite in
tcrest. because people always wondered
what tn" men were carrying. but the
sight didn't begin to excite the inter
est that was felt when they discovered
what it WAS and saw the giant raise it.
''.Eis. of course. he couldn't do in
:hc street. on account of the trees; as
81 Iu!c the giant opened the umbrella
in The rubiir square of the town. When
lalt and the giant would step cut from
i, and step over the fence or The orna-
Mental gateway or entrance CT arch or
whatever there was there-if Their" WAS
one we always stopped so that the
giant would be opposite it-and then
1hc men would walk in with the UNI
hrella and stand beside him. They
would lift it up on the carrying piece
as high as they could and then the
giant would bend down and take it.
lie would draw of the case that COW
cred it, which was some thing like
Tindsail, only many times larger, and
or course made tapcring, and roll it up
and put 1t in his pocket and that made
wad as big as Il bale Of hay. but it
didn't bulge out in his pocket enough
50 I you'd notice ii. And then he'd,
hold the umbrella by the handle with
one hand. point up, and shake it out
MS anybody does an umbrella that's
been rolled up tightly, before they open
it, and then he'd set out to raise it with
The other hand in the customary man
ner.
by this time of course everybody in
The crowd around would know what it
vas, and it was fun to sc" en- look at
1t; and don't wonder. never nlto-
Sethcr lost interest IN it, myself. hc-
cause, when the giant held it NJ liz fore
opening it the umbrella was about the
shape and size Of Il church stccple. and,
as matter Of fact il was often bigger
than the church steeple that happ; ned
to he on the other side Of that pari!cu-
lar green. But when he came to Cpen
1t, and they saw the spread Of it
hmm; we'll, at one time and another
the shoe had great many striking
features; Lut don't think we ever had
among our own minor attractions--if
we did certainly don't recall it at this
rninutc--any single feature that was
more striking thnn TINT N Y Sun