The Winslow mail., 1899-02-04
TIE OLD CIRCUS MAN.
Throws Additional Light on the Great
Giants Size Shed by the De-
tails OF His Umbrella.

'sYou 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 l have
never dared to tell you for fear you
wouldn't believe it if 1 did, trusting to
those things that have told you about
him from time to time to give you some
approximate notion of it.
<sAs to the giants umbrellas, we
never had any trouble at all; we sim
ply used to use for that purpose the
tops d our sur dE.ssrlsa dE:..sssernlassa EselNlsSsea1sE Qg
never fooled with balloons, you under
stand, after they had become weak
cned at all we used to put. 'em aside
and put in q 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 frewood; but after
the giantcame 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 set of ribs and fittings, and those
were good for long time. Whenever
the covering of the giants umbrella
| got so worn that it was of 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 enc.
! ''We used to make it a point to have
the giant carry the umbrella in every
| town we struck, whether it rained or
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 side and carrying it lying
along on sticks that they held by the
ends. This always used to excite in
| terest, because people always wondered
what the men were carrying, but the
| sight didn't begin to excite the inter-
| eststhat 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
a rule the giant opened the umbrella
in the public square of the town. When
we came to that the procession would
| halt and the giant would step out from
it and step over the fence or the orna-
| mental gateway or entrance or arch or
whatever there was there-if there was
one we always stopped so that the
| giant would be opposite it-and then
the men would walk in with the UNI
brella 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.
| He would draw off the case that eov-
| cred it, which was something like a
| windsail only many times larger, and
Of course made tapering, and roll it up
and put it in his pocket, and that made
a 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 he'd
! hold the umbrella by the handle with
one hand. point up, and shake it out
| as anybody does an umbrella that's
| been rolled up tightly, before they open
| III, ana Iueu u6 u set Out W IdlSC IL Will
/ 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 see 'em look at
| it,; and l don't wonder. | never alto
| getber lost interest in it, myself; be-
cause, when the giant held it up before
| opening it. the umbrella was about the
| shape and size of church steeple, and
as a matter of fact it was often bigger
| than the church steeple that happened
to be on the other side of that particu-
lar green. But when he came to open
| it, and they saw the spread OF 1t
| hmm; well, at one time and another
| the show had great many striking
features; but don't think we ever had
among our own minor attractions-lf
we did I certainly don't recall it at this
| minute-any single feature that was
more striking than that. IN Y. Sun.