The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1903-05-11


Well, l am rich. yessir,
Got a ticket in
My, look at that epphunt,
'Spect he'll lose his skin
Sam Mccoy.
Maria, you are not looking we'll. and
as Percy has been a good boy all the
week 1 will take him to see he cir
GUS
Thus do thousands of dignitied and
baldheaded fond fathers each year at
tempt to make their loving wives be-
lieve that they go to the circus merely
as a matter of duty.
AS a matter of fact, they do not wish
to- have their wives see them cast
off the years, once more to view with
bated breath and bullying eyes the de-
lights afforded by the agile aerial aero
bats, comical clowns, ethereal eques-
TRANS. terrifying tumblers. singing
seals, sinuous snakes. beautiful birds,
hardy horsemen. careening chariots.
dangerous descents, peevish pigs. great
giants, musical midgets. dreadful
dwarfs. leering lions, terrible tigers.
agitating alligators, Martinique man
marvel, South Sea sampan steerers.
Arctic aborigines, Antarctic antediluvian
asses. European earth eaters, Siberian
sufferers. cowardly coyotes, Indian in
fants, prancing ponies, pretty papooses.
champion cobra charmers, etc.
Ready for the Public
The sly papa of the eager Percy sees
only the show as it is ready for the
public, and II is seldom that he knows
anything about the labor necessary TO
prepare the performance for his recep-
ton. Had he taken the trouble yester-
day morning he could have learned a
few things by watching the arrival of
the Barnum & Bailey Greatest Show
on earth at the New Jersey yards of
the Pennsylvania Railroad, where the
show was unloaded TO be sent to the
circus lot at Fifteenth and H Streets
northeast
To those who have had an insight into
circus methods the preparation is fully
as interesting as the show itself, and
the greatest organizers OF the day have
not been ashamed to study humbly at
the feet of the uD-to-date American
circus manager.
Organization the Keynote.
circus, and there is no army today so
thoroughly disciplined yet at the same
time so full OF potential individual in
itiative in crises as is the army OF l 100
people who each day eat dinner under
the Barnum & Bailey commissary tent
4 place for every man and every man in
his place is the constant cry, and he
who does not remain in his place is dis
charged on the spot.
The train on which the show is trans
ported consists of eighty-fou cars. and
moved in four sections. Everything on
the train except the engines belong to
Barnum & Bailey. the train crew is en-
ployed by them, and the cars belong to
them.
The sections themselves are wonders
of construction and made such an i'm
preston in Europe that the German
and French armies have adopted the
models for the use of their artillery and
commissary trains. All the wagons are
on fat cars, and these cars are SO built
that wagon at one end of the row of
cars can be wheeled TO the other end
and disembarked down a runway.
The first cars emptied are those con-
tanning the horses. team is attached
by a long rope to the wagon nearest
the runway, the pole is held by husky
eanvasman. and other men have a bold
back rope which is raped around
stout post on the car. The horses pull
the wagon until 1t strikes the incline.
when the hold-back rope gets in It's
work, and the vehicle rolls easily to the
ground.
Show Site Surveyed.
Before the wagons reach the elite Sc
lected for the show, the ground las
been carefully surveyed by a man who
is a sort OF human surveying machine.
He decides which place is best for each
tent, and then goes about sticking N
the ground little iron rods on which are
red rags. These rods mark where the
$500 tent stakes are TO be driven. The
first wagon unloaded is always that
which contains the stakes for the cook
ing tent. A force of men jams the stakes
In the ground deep enough 10 enable
them 10 stand Then come tae stake
drivers. There are five men in zach
party of drivers. One OF them hits thu.
stake a few strokes to straigntol it
and then the other four chime in, each
striking in turn with a rhythmical ufe-
cision which soon drives the five-font
piece OF wood into the ground until
only two feet project
ALI Is in Readiness.
Stakes all driven, the center poles are
put in position. the canvas is spread
over them aud in few minutes the tent
is erected, the guy ropes are fastened
and everything is ready for setting-up
the tables from which the l. 100 people
are TO eat. The tables are another circus
feature which was adopted by European