The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-05-22
GETTING INTO THE CIRCUS.
0ld-fashioned Way of Earning Ad-
mittance Described.
Nou vorL SUM-

the Brooklyn man. ct paid his way in.
He was mighty lucky, and 1 told him
so. When 1 was a boy 1 had to earn
the money to pay my way into the cir
Gus If I wanted to go. had some in
| teresting experiences doing it, too, and
the first time 1 earned my way 1 shall
never forget if 1 live as long as a
patriarch.
Il had heard from older boys of get
| ting under the canvas by the method
known as carrying water to the ele-
| plants, SO when the circus arrived i'll
| town, 1 followed it TO the backgrounds
and hustled around to find the head
man and get the job that would see
me through the door the next day. l
/ found the head man all right, before
! the canvasInen had fairly got the tents
unloaded. and l told him l wanted to
! carry water to the elephants to earn
my way into the show. He said, Don't
want yer and waved his hand toward
where some men were rigging up
| troughs and tubs and setting up port
! able windmill. Presently the sails of
| the windmill began to go around and
the water, pumped from the river.
rushed through the troughs into the
| tubs in front of the elephants. and l
could see that before long the big
| brutes would have not only enough to
/ drink, but also enough to wash them
| selves with. / turned to go when the
man called me back.
Go over to that tent there he said,
and get the cook to give you a bucket
of oatmeal water, and carry il round
to the men and I'll see you go in to-
| morrow.
II went to the cook and got the
bucket of oatmeal water, and 1t disap-
peared like snow on hot stove 1t
.. wy 10 ND "a
working hard pegging down the tent
and getting things generally in shape.
Pailful after pailful I carried to them,
until my hands were blistered and my
back ached and my head spun with
heat and exhaustion. While l was go
ing by one Of the elephants the anima.
put his trunk into the bucket and
drained the oatmeal water at one sup,
but either he liked his tipple straight
or he was fond of joke, for he pointed
his trunk at me and squirted all the
oatmeal water over my head. When I
finished work / was a soaking wet,
dirty, gritty, oatmealiy and generally
dilapidated object, but / trotted home
with peace in my heart, and 1 dreamed
all night of the circus-and gorgeous
dreams 1 had.
The next day I went to the ball
ground early. My elder brother went
with me to look at anything that hap
pened to be lying around free to look
at. He lives in New York now. He
was always that kind of boy. l mean
the kind of boy who would naturally
live in New York when he grew up,
while l was always the kind of a boy
who would likely live in Brooklyn when
l grew up. 1 had told him how I
worked to get admission to the circus,
and he said that if he had made UP
his mind to go he would have accom-
plished his end without doing any work
whatever, and he wanted to bet me
that before the show began he would
get in somehow, and he wouldn't crawl
under the tent, either. 1 didn't bet. for
knew by experience that / always
lost when / bet with him, but at the
same time 1 couldn't figure out how he
was going to get in. But he knew.
1--WE walked around for awhile look
ing at the big red wagons and the
canvas posters of the sideshow, and /
pointed out whatever of interest I had
discovered the day before-the cooking
tent. the sleeping tent, the head man
standing near the main entrance, and
so on. My brother said he was going
to make a try at getting in, and while
/ strolled around a little he went off
to speak to the head man.
''Ten minutes later l walked up to
my employer of the day before. Ny
IL.
" I'm ready to go in now,' said I.
Co. then said the head man.
But you'll have to speak TO the
people at the door. They don't know
me. Don't you remember? I'm the boy
who carried oatmeal water for you yes
terday.'
"'Yer not said he. Tn just after
taking him in. Clear out
"Of course 1 saw what had happened.
My brother had personated me, and the
Snowman, to whom all boys looked
more or less alike, had accepted him at
his word.
II started to explain. The man said
nothing. but he walked to wagon and
took from the socket one of those long.
timber blacksnake whips. He made IL
sizzle through the air once, in a calm.
dispassionate way, and then slowly
aching back, my blistered hands and
gall and NORWOOD in my heart.
MY brother told me when he came
out that the show was great and we'll
worth the work / had put in. He was
bigger than l and l could not thrash
him, and my father was opposed TO
circuses anyhow, and / could not look
to him for sympathy. / had nothing
to do but swallow the pill as we'll as
1 could, but / can recall few losses In
maturer life that caused me more grief
and rage than the one / sustained at
the hands of my smart brother when
1 almost broke my back carrying water
to earn my way into the circus. and
didn't get nearer to it than twenty
feet. And twenty feet measured out.
ward from the canvas of a circus tent
Is mighty big distance from the