Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1899-02-04
AN OLD CIRCUS MANS STORY
He Tells How They Found n Place In
Which TO Bury the Great Giant

Which to Bury the Great Giant.
Il never told you the exact height
of the great giant what's the use?"
said the old circus man. You wouldn't
believe il If did: as I've said before
II would only make you dis-believe
what | do tell You about him. and
what's the use: But you can form
some sort of an idea about il if from
these things that I've told you and
from what I'm going 10 tell you now
about his death and burial. because in
the course of time he died.
We We're under canvas then. show
ing three times a day. and moving
ourselves. and we were tolerable busy,
and we really hadn't time to give at
tention rs we ought TO the burying or
what had been. after the great giraffe.
our very greatest attraction. The dig
ging of grave for him would have
been lik. digging the foundations for
several houses in a row and would
have taken lots of time. and the mere
cost of the land would be considerable.
We'll. as usual. the old mans horse
sense came tn the rescue. In looking
around for forage when he struck the
town he had discovered the ned of an
abandoned canal. that they'd stopped
using when the railroad was built.
This old canal ran through the edge of
a mans farm there, and the land was
no use to anybody. 1t didn pay to
plough il because 1t wasn't worth the
time and trouble 1t would take to get
horses and plougns up ard down the
bank. and il wasn't any good for any
thing: and the old man bought strip
of that land along there. a few acres
of II. enough for a cemetery lot for the
giant. for next To nothing. So you see
there we were. with tine land bought
and the grave dug at very small ex-
pense ard practically in minute.
We laid the giant down in the sec
tion of the canal we had bought. and
hauled earth from the rest of the piece
to cover him up-the old man was wise
enough of course To buy land enough
to provide for that When the mound
was rourdcd mp in proper shape and
due proportions il made quite a ridge:
II was fiat country round there. and
you could see this ridge for quite a
piece.
"Of course the old man put up a
headstone. and il was much the biggest
I ever saw. and quite different from
any ever it was built of brick.
The old man hired al the men that
could work on il. and they put in
foundation anu built the headstone in
half Il day Ii was something like the
side of brick house for general di-
mensinns only il was very much thick
er and i0mhstone-like in shape. and at
n little distance in the level country
the ridge with the great stone at one
end of il looked like what il was, the
grave of a mighty giant
And so we left him secure In men,
ory as we thought with the inscrip-
tion we had put ON the headstone. but
n great storm came up before the NOR
tar had set and blew the headstone
down. and there il lay simply seat
tering pile Of brick. But the mound
remained. rs IL still does: saw il there
only year ago when passed through
that country. But with nothing 10
marx IT, exact knowledge of it gradual
ly faded. and even tradition had grown
indistiuct. and the great mound had
come finally TO be known simply as the
giants hin"