The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1900-01-21
ToLD BY THE DIN CIRCrs MAN.
Tho Greatest OF All Giants. Enters In tho
Farmers Moving Matches.

If anythinG,' said the old circus man, the
great giant used to come out strongest In COM
petitive contests. You see. there he showed
not only for what he was. hut even greater. by
the contrast. OF course. he was always In con-
trast. bat hera the contrast wns made more
striking: and we never failed to enter him in
any sort OF a competitive contest that We
could get him into. Moving contests. for IN
stance. the giant was very strong In and we
never used to miss an opportunity to
put him into one OF these when We
could. The old man was always on
the outlook. sharp. for this sort OF thing, In any
form, and II he ran up against q moving match
coming of. say the day the circus struck the
town. he'd get the giant into II somehow. sure;
not. OF course. entering him as a giant or a big
man. or anything Of that sort. hut Just sim ply
as mn unknown. We used to go equipped for
this moving business.
Il suppose that the average scythe-hlade
would be three feet or thereabouts In length,
and the snath maybe four feet and q half long.
Well. now the giants scythe Ia n blade about
ten feet long. and n handle about fifteen. Those
farmers would get together In n grass lot 10 sec
what a man could do. say. in half an hour.
everything to count: width OF swath. forward
cut. cleanness and evenness OF the moving.
and 80 on. | suppose thar a man might cut a
swath five feet wide. possibly more. but more
likely less, and his cut as he stepped forward
with even wins OF the scythe might be n foot
TO eighteen inches. The young farmers. and
some fine old ones. too. for that matter. would
try, one after another. In this competition.
every man swinging along In fine style. till
pretty much all OF them had had their chance
at It and then they'd begin calling for the I'M
known. and then we'd bring up the giant.
And he never failed to make a sensation
when he appeared hut when he stepped into
the field. and took of his coat and tossed II
into the wagon In tho road alongside the lot.
and took his scythe out OF the wagon. with is
ten-foot blade and fifteen.foot snath and rolled
up his sleeves and grnsped the scythe and set
to moving. then there was a sensation. Talk
about cutting a wi lie swath. Why. you ought
to seen the giant! The farmers cut maybe Ave
feet. thu giant fifteen. They'd step forward a
giant four or five feet. And he was a cool
mower. too: cutting close and even. and can
from SIDE to side, Just think Of II, will you'll a
forward i've feet at every strokpi
Pretty soon tho giant would stop and pull a
scythe;stone out OF his bootleg this stone was
blade-ani sharpen his scythe with it: and
then he'i drop tn" stone in his bootleg and
go % moving again. And pretty soon he'd
get dry and want so q cider and that's where
we used 10 come in again with business. We
hal a Jug that was as big around IA q barrel in
the biggest part o. Il, and tha' was pretty near
as tall. hut a regular Jug In shape. and We used
10 get this over the fence TO him wherever he
was. and he'd liz that IN as easy as could be
and turn u up. boxing like q ba loon up there.
turned up ~ that way, and take a good long
drink and then set 1t down and go to moving
again.
We'll when the giant had got through now
ing there wasn't likely to be much grass left in
that lot to NOW. and there never was any doubt
about who'd won tho prize. And h. used to
cut IA wide a swath among the farmers as he
did in the grass. There wasn't a farmer for
miles around hut used TO ONE TO tho show and
way, but the giants moving hit EN- hard and
"a for the rest Of the community. why. II Just
simply got EN- all.
che great old giant"