The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1901-02-15
TOLD BY THE OLD CIRCUS MAN
How the Greatest of All Giants Played
the Big Bass Horn in the
Band.

For my part" said the old circus
man, relates the New York Sun, 81 like
the big bass horn; never tire of lister
ing to it. If I'm around anywhere
where there's a band playing in
some public place, for instance like
! some park, or maybe in some stand
built in the street for political meet
ing, l always get around to the bass
horn man. | never tire of listening to
the man that juggles the thunder, and
like to see him play. But what l set
out to tell you about was, not how
much l like the big bass horn myself,
but how about the greatest of all gil
ants used to play it, in our band in the
circus.
I'm the street parades that we always
gave when we struck town the band,
before We got the giant, used to ride in
a band wagon. We had as gorgeous a
band wagon as ever rolled, but when
the old man decided to play the giant
in the band he housed the band wagon
for the season, without the slightest
: hesitation; he knew well enough that
the great giant would look heap big
ger standing up at his full height and
marching along on foot with the band
than he would, half lost, as he would
be, sitting doubled up in the band wag-
on, to say nothing of his being mixed
up there, too, with all the band wagon
jimcrackery. So that year the band
walked in the parades; and the giant
marched in the ranks.
1.-The giants place was at the left
hand end of the rear rank. Ihave never
yet told you, in feet and inches, just
how tall the giant was, because you
simply wouldn't believe it, and if YOU
didn't believe that you wouldn't be-
lieve anything else. 1 should tell you
about him. But there at the corner of
the band formation he rose above all
the rest of the men. like tower rising
up at the corner of some square, one
story building. 1t was enormously
more impressive than any sort of ar
rangement that could possibly have
been made with the giant in the band
wagon. But keen and clear-heatled as
the old man was in all this, he made
at the outset one big mistake; he fitted
the giant out at the start with clari
net. The old mans idea in this was that
the contrast between the great man
and slender instrument like clari-
net would be funny. And it certainly
was funny to see the great giant play
ing clarinet, but at the same time il
came mighty near to being ridiculous
Of course we provided him with an in
strument of suitable size to be in prop
er proportions to the player; we had
clarinet made for him about 10 or 1917,
feet long. But, if anything, this only
made it worse. You see the whole bust
mes was foolishness; it wasn't the
thing. What the giant really wanted
was some big. massive instrument that
should be In keeping with him himself.
There was nobody realized this any
quicker than the old man did; and at
the very first glimmering of it in his
mind he put in an order for suitable
sized bass horn for the giant.
SIT was month before we got it
you see even with unlimited money
back of the order they had to make new
shapes to bend and form various parts
of the horn on, and the work took time;
but we got it finally. I remember its
coming well. 1t was packed in three
hogsheads, Joined together lengthwise
and with all the heads knocked out ex-
cept the end ones. 1t was about IA feet
high and of corresponding dimensions
throughout; fit horn for the player.
Sand could the giant play it? To the
limit, as horn was never played before.
When hear the jovial thunder of some
bass horn player now I hear the thun-
derous echo of the giants giant
horn"