The oasis., 1901-11-16
A Bum show-But Very Ente rtainins.'


 circus performance given by small company from somewhere down the coast which was certainly the bum nest show" he had ever seen but which from the very pauclty of it's display was ridiculous, entertaining and amusing. Like all circuses in the south 1t was an open air performances
 i. e. there was simply an enclosure of canvass, the tent above being the starry vault of the evening sky. The auditorium was crowded with an au- dience both enthusiastic and harnyy- to degree bordering upon boisterous- ness in both happiness and enthusi- asm. Two bands of music, each with a melody peculiarly it's own. altern- ately enIivened the evening with their harmonious (?) strains. One was brass, the other reeds and strings. The former seemed the favorite. and every time it stopped for rest, before the other could start up, the cries Of the audience for ''la musica," banda" etc., called forth renewed and desner- ate efforts, until the unfortunate players were, perforce, compelled to cease from sheer exhaustion. When they finally succumbed the reeds and strings took up the refrain; but were silenced by renewed cries for ''la ban da," as soon as the poor players of the brass had recovered their wind.
 After about an hour of thls kind of competition between the two musical organizations the brass emitted a prolonged flourish followed by slow march, to the measured rythm of which the company made it's grand entree into the ring. The entire force-six performers and two super numeraries- marched into the ring to the stately time of the march; all except one of the upernumeraries, a frightened looking woman who seem ed appalled, at the exhibition she made in short skirts. It seemed impossible for her to keep any kind of time, and never once was she squarely in step with the rest of the procession. Her companion supernumerary seemed equally frightened at the appearance Of so much of her anat my in public at one and the same time. At no other time in the course of the per- formance did these two appear in the ring The two other females were an elderly woman and young girl, not more than fourteen or fifteen years of age. The woman was of medium height and brodignagian girth aud beam. Her legs were as large as the waists of most women, while the place where her waist was once was no longer waste: it was a wilderness of flesh; while, facing from the front she was so wide that she could hardly get through a gate, and surely she could not edge through sidewIse. With her elbows set against her sides, and her fat forearms ex- tend at right angles in front, she held upright two short, straight clubs, about thirty inches in length, as did the other seven participants in the pal sde. Over their ring costumes of tights and spangles three of the men wore white Greek tunics with red b. Tders, which unique dress gave them general appearance Of parad- ing around in their shirt tails. This effect was not at all modified by the crust hats worn by two of them drawn down oyer their eyes, and the yacht ing cap worn with an by the other airy grace. The fourth mau was clad in the loose and motley garments of a clown, and in girth aud dimension