New-York tribune., 1901-04-14
FEATURES OF CIRCUS LIFE.
DAILY ROUTINE ON THE INSIDE AND OUT
SIDE OF TRAVELLING SHOW.

The circus man earns the dollars he receives at
the hands of the ever curious public In addition
to providing and presenting entertainment
which he declares cannot be equalled anywhere
else on earth for the price of admission he must
answer daily and hourly question after question
concerning the business first from one and then
another patron. In the management of such an
institution there many things to interest one.
This person wonders how the circus is enabled to
exhibit a polar bear day after day through the
heated summer season. transplantng it from its
home in the arctic regions the torrid climate Of
the States. When told that it is only made possible
by always keeping quantity of ice in the bears
cage the inquirer looks WISE and then replies
why. might have known that
Thus 1t is all through the details of circus man
agement. The simplest method of surmounting
difficulties is always used Sea lions in their ma
tivity live upon fish. With the circus they fed
fish. In the season. wherever the Forepaugh-
Sells circus happens 10 be, it receives from Balti-
more shipment Of fish for the seals and sea lions
1t may surprise some to know that the average
life of lion is between seven and eight years
Subtracting two years, the age which lion must
be before training can begin. and the two three
is evident that the lion only he exhibited three
or four years at the longest. In order to prolong
the lives of his seals and lions. Captain Woodward
who has been connected with the Forepaugh- Sells
circus several years. has every fish scaled.
and partially boned before feeding the lions
Mountain lions, bears. panthers and wildcats and
all similar animals live on animal meat several
beeves being cut up each day and distributed
among the menagerie inma 1t might be re-
marked that the choicest quarters of the beeves go
TO the circus dining tents for the people of the
show. If 10000 gallons of water required to
quench the thirst of the score of elephants 500
horses. 1000 people and 200 menagerie animals and
there Is no nearby hydrant running stream, the
circus manager at orders the water
wagons and in less than hour water is arriving
at the desired point by the thousand gallons. The
manager never borrows trouble; he figures that
the quickest and simplest way out Of any difficulty
is the best
The advertising OF circus is one of its most IN
pauSh- Sells combination are responsible for the
statement that they annually paste distribute
between ten and twelve million pieces of advertis-
ing paper: 1t is the method by which this
amount of paper is spread to the public gaze that
Is most interesting. The advertising of circus is
divided among three advance cars One of these
travels three weeks day ahead OF the show, the
second one is TWO weeks ahead and the third car
task 10 perform and vast amount of labor is in
The first car crew, which is composed of about
thirty bilposters and a manager, bills the town
ana b Inc country nj r0aaS leS1ng 10 me poihl where
programme distributors decorate the windows of
and visit great many houses and leave sixteen
page courier. containing elaborate halftone draw
week later the city is visited by the second car.
sometimes known as the 'excurson" car. Men
around They have compIeted m their u task S BY dusk dusk
catch their car, WHICH then departs for the next
show 9n the b goqf brd one Meek before m the date Of
freshen the paper display wherever 1t has been
WHAT Work the other crews may i ' have over
looked in their rush. In every city several teams
billboards Paste is manufactured on the car.
which is provided with engine and boiler. Five
for paste.