Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1899-01-31
THE OLD CIRCUS NAN.
Throws Additional Light on the Great
Giants Size Shed Ey the De-
tails of His Umbrella.

"You might have thought" said the
old circus man, that it would put us
to some considerable trouble and eX-
pense to provide umbrellas for the
great giant, whose actual size 1 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 10 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 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 any signs
Of weakness. for firewood; but after
the giant came we saved all the balloon
tops for umbrella coverings, and the
Old center poles we saved for umbrella
handles. We had our blacksmith get
out n set of ribs and fittings, and those
were good for a long time. Whenever
the covering of the giants umbrella
got so worn that it was of no further
use as such. or it looked bad when it
was opened. why then we'd just re-
cover the old frame. When we put in
new handle we'd simply take the
irons of the old one off and put 'em on
the new one.
1--WE used to make it a point to have
the giant carry the umbrella in every
town we struck. whether it rained CT
not. He used to turn out and walk
with the show, and walking behind
him we always had ten men carrying
the umbrella rolled up and with an UNI
brella case on it. 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
tcr"St. because people always wondered
what the men were carrying, but the
sight didn't Eegin to excite the inter-
est ;h"t was felt when they discovered
what it WAS and saw the giant raise it.
This, Of course. he couldn't do in
the street. on account Of the trees; as
u rule Tic giant opened the umbrella
in the public square of the town. When
we can" 10 that the procession would
halt and the giant would step out from
! ard step over the fence or the orna-
mental gateway or entrance or arch or
whatever there was therc-if there was
one we always stopped so that the
giant would be opposite it-and then
he men would walk in with the UNI
hrolla ard stand beside him. They
would lift il up on the carrying piece
as high as they could and then the .
giant wCu'd bend Gown and take it.
He would Graw off the case that COW
cred it. which was something like a
WinGsail. only many times larger. and
Of course I::adC taperirg. and roll il up
and Eut it in his pocket, and that raade
q wad as big as bale of hay. but it
didn't bulge out in his pocket enough
so t you'd notice it. And then hC'G.
hold the umbrella by the handle with
one hand. point up, and shake it out
as anybody docs an umbrella that's
been rolled up tightly, before they oPcr
it. and then he'd set out 10 raise it with
the other hand in the customary man
ner.
y
the crowd around would know what IL
vas, and it was fun 10 see 'em look nj
it; and ] don't wonder. I never alto
gethcr lost interest in it, myself; be-
cause. when the giant held il up before
opening it the umbrella was about thc
shape and size Of church steCrlc. aaG
as n matter Of fact il was often bigger
than the church stccplc that happened
TO he on the other side of that rariicu-
lar green. But when he came TO open
1T. and they saw the spread of it
hmm; well. at one time and another
the sho," had great IGary striking
features; L. It Gon't think we ever had
among our own miner attTactions--if
we did | certainly cont recall it at this
rinute--any single feature that was
more striking than that."-N y. Sun.
An uncommon disease caused the
Il 4. - III. ~