Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1899-08-24

ODD x1rzcr OF THE Dx1v1sz
b Wan ON QUIZ C7pCusEs.

|
who Bripgs . Troop ~ the Long
Necked Creatures Dat Of the sou-
| aan-One OF the Prime Attraction
OF Menageries.
Religion Is responsible for all sorts
Of things, but perhaps the last place In
which one would look for the lasting
effects of q revival Is the menagerie
tent Of circus. OF course 1t IL. posi-
BILE that the circus life may be strictly
evangelical, but in general 1t does not
80 impress the casual observer who
listens to the inspiring addresses OF the
boss tent man to his subordinates
when setting the big top. The results
of this particular revival manifest
themselves in the item Of giraffes.
Years ago the troop of giraffes was
one of the most popular show features
in the circus. The hippopotamus got
more space In the stands of fence ad-
vertising because Of his proportions.
| He could be drawn to fence height,
and that scale allowed him great
deal of length. There was another
thing that helped to bring the hippo
out strong on the fences, and that was
| the regular label, "Behemoth of Holy
Writ" which fetched good many
| who wanted some excuse of the sort.
The giraffe was Of little value on the
| fences, for even when he was drawn
as high as the fence would allow his
imposing proportions were reduced.
But in the street parade and in the
march around with which the show
began the CRATES were as popular as
| the herd of elephants, and possibly n
shade more taking. But all that was a
| number Of years ago, remarks the New
York Sun. 1t is long since any one has
seen troop Of CRATES; In fact, only
the largest circuses have any CRATES
| at all. This is because the home OF
| the CRATES has been closed to hunt
ers, and the power which has closed 1t
has been a revival of religion. The his
torical and political aspects Of this re-
vival are generally familiar. Gordon
was its martyr, Kitchener its hero, Ell
Mahdi its prophet. Mahdism has
busted the world for score of years
in all manner of grave matters. One of
us SIliu iuClueutS 10 CuttihS oil thV
supply of CRATES.
81 could make my everlasting for
tune If I could only bring out just one
of the troops Of CRATES which l have
brought down the Nile" said an old
animal man who bears the scars Of
former tussles with wild creatures.
but has outgrown the period when he
could venture into the wilds to take
alive their most dangerous denizens.
"Giraffes are quoted now at $4,000
apiece, and the first man to bring out
q troop will make himself rich. You
might go around now with your
$4,000 in your hand ready to pay ii
right out and even then you wouldn't
get any CRATES, for they're not to be
had. And you can't go in where they
live and get new supply, because
I'll tell you why. CRATES grow on the
great grass lands of Central Africa.
All those pictures of them grazing off
the tops of the tall timber are only
for fence purposes. So long as the
Arabians up that way in the Soudan
kept to being no more than ordinary
savage rascals it was easy enough to
get along with them. That Is to say, If
your party was well armed and you
had enough beads and brass wire and
that sort of small change, and, above
all, kept your eye peeled and stood no
nonsence, why then they'd serve in
your caravan all right and fight as
well as do the hard work of the trip.
But all Of a sudden they had revival
of their kind Of religion. had heard
them at night for years talking about
old Muddy who was going to come
and lead them to victory and loot. At
last FL Mahdi made his appearance
and that put stop to the giraffe bust
ness. There's so much powder and cold
steel in revival of the Mohammedan
religion that you just have to respect
the religious scruples of TIE .Arabians
up in the Soudan when there's n re-
vival on. OF course you've read all
about the doings of old Muddy and
the people he killed and something
about how he killed them so you will
see had no call to be going into the
Soudan country after CRATES or any
thing else while they were kicking up
rumpus.
at used to be so that you could send
to Jamrach or Hagenbeck ut any time,
and they'd fill your order right off and
you could drive away with a pair of
broken and gated CRATES. But you
can't do that now, not even If you
were ready to pay all sorts OF price.
What are gated giraffes? Why, it's
almost as easy to tame young giraffe
and to break him in to harness as 1t
Is to do the same with colt, and they
can be taught to pace very nicely and
to trot some, but they're built so high
in front that the trot doesn't amount
to much. But a span Of pacing gil
RATES. in the opening procession Is just
as pretty as anything you ever saw
under canvas-pacing CRATES hitched
to low gilt chariot and with the en-
press OF the animal kingdom driving
them in blue tights, all ready for the
hoop act she does on the Trakene
stallions-oh, it's immense! But you
can't send anywhere and get gated
CRATES now. There's no more to be
had, and there won't be until the Sou
dan gets fairly opened.
Things had been going from bad to
worse for several years and the ami
NAL market had gone pretty short on
CRATES when Gordon went up there
IN mn cifv tho Soudon md convarf .sOld