The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-06-10

To the mind of child. the circus is
a wonderful enchanted affair, worthy
of a place beside Grimm's Fairy Tales,
and The Arabian Nights" The visit
OF a circus is an occasion worth MANY
days Of rapt anticipation, and is the
principal subject on conversation some
time after. There is nothing quite Ike
the circus joy of our youth
Philosophers may say what they VIII
about the cOmpensatiOns of growing
DID, but what in all our after life can
equal the exhilaration we experienced
when. amid the blare of circus band
and the noises Of the animals, we en-
tered the enchanted canvas enclosure!
Il was one glorious pOt-pOurri of span
gled acrObats, gay clowns, beautiful
ponies and dogs, pink lemonade and
peanuts. What did it matter il we
were covered with dust from the ring
or that the people above US poked us
a. the back with their feet, ana threw
shells on us2 IN the only truly Optimis-
tic period of our lives we needed moth
ing but the pleasure, . happy days
when we thought the clowns and the
bareback riders the embodiment of wit
and beauty! We saw only the chalk
and vermilliOn. the motley and the
spangles. We had a sort of dim, unde-
fined notion that these gay people lived
IN an enchanted world of their oWn-a
world which was surrounded by saw
dust ring and had a tent for top and
sides. 1t would have Oeen sacrilege to
believe that they ate and slept like or
binary mortals.
AS we grow older the circus dream
is one OF the first of childish joys 10
fade. Occasionally in our older days
we seek a return of youthful Zest, and
enthusiastically ego to the circus. We
only find Shabbiness in the place Of
nj l,Te 4 aF-i-
ness in the place of romance. The joy
of il all seems to have given place to
sadness. and a vague regret comes over
us. The faces of the performers tell
their superintendent the paint, and
even the chalk, one may see the traces
of hardness, of ong-suffering, and
sometimes of depravity.
The circus people have not the COM
pensations of stage life. Their work
is not of brain, but of muscle, and it
carries no prestige with it. Their pro-
fessiOnal life is spent fmid dirt and
cOnfusiOn-they are fellow workers of
the animals, who are infrequently aC-
corded better treatment. Their work is
hard, and is often mixed with danger.
The circus tendency is nothing but an
outcome of the old arena days and
while it is growing less, it is to be
hoped that the time is not far distant
when it VIII be abolished altogether
A gay, splendid circus is sad enough,
If one looks at it that way, but a poor
one is positively pathetic. Imagine a
badly lighted arena with two rings and
platform, as is the approved style
nowadays There are a few struggling
performers, horses, dogs, pigs, ele
plants and men, and couple of dreary
clowns. The contrast of the peaceful
sky of the summer night makes IT all
seem so Sickly insignificant and shabby.
One sits and wonders about the lives
of the poor creatures who are obliged
to dispOrt themselves before khe gaping
crowd, in obedience to the ringmaster's
whip. One wonders if the clown is like
the PunchinellO of the song the
maddest, merriest fellow" who crept
off to the grave of COlumbine when the
show was ended.
A little girl of about IA does a bare
back riding act. and in attempted re-
Spouse to the ringmaster's crack, fails
three times to do a certain turn. One
feels sure that she viii be beaten fer it,
but nevertheless she appears later in
the evening, insufiiciently clad, to sell
photographs Of herself to the Spectat-
Ors. Her face is prematurely hardened,
and her voice has a sharp, metallic
sound. Childhood is not beautiful here.
The memory Of it will be cold, dreary
and hard % her. if nothing worse. An
other child still younger, does an arco-
batic act in mid air. One mistake and
she may be dashed to pieces; we fairly
hold our breath 1t would not be a pity
to end such a career but a life is a
life.
The attempted humor Of the clowns
adds pathOs to the situation. What can
be the comforts of a life like this, roam
ing from place to place. Obedient to the
crack of the whip. and dependent upon
the very clemency Of the weather for
livelihood!
Circus performers usually consist Of
families, and the children are intro
duced into the ring at a very early age
They grow up in the life. and the in
nUenCe of il cannot be good. Then aside
from the moral question, the enter
tainment is such a dTeary sort of thing,
even at best. The circus is bound to
die out, and it will not be missed.
This week will see the end Of the
season at the Salt Lake theatre, and If
reports be true, the end viii be a gala
affair. Manager Piper is already hard
at work On next seasons contracts, and
has made a number of attractive book
ings. Among these are James K. Hack
EFT, Way Down East" Olga Neither
sole, ''The Runaway Cir" Stuart Rob
son, James Nell, and many others in
GLIDING possibly the Maurice GTau
Opera company from the Metropolitan
opera house, New York. He confident
~ expects that the season will be the
best the Theatre has even known.