The Black Hills union and western stock review. [volume] (Rapid City, S.D.) 1904-19??, 1905-06-09
REPOSE IN ACTION.

Washington Star: Il may be about
four feet around at the waist line and
have a growing bald spot on the top
of my head" said the fat man in the
rear seat of the open car, but l have
just as much fun looking at the circus
posters now as l did thirty and more
years ago, when l was a bare foot tyke
blowing around two months before
circus time picking up enough junk
and rags and bottles to sell for the
price of q circus ticket. l walked over
a large section of Washington with
myself on Sunday last. just to stand
before the billboards and gaze at the
circus posters. Well, maybe, after all,
l didn't do that solely for the pur-
pose Of partaking of the ett1uvia of ex-
allied art that is diffused by the circus
poster. For I'm bound to say that as
I stood before q lot OF hillboards the
little old haZy film OF meInor dropped
over my eyes. so that l didn't really see
| what I was looking at at all; but l did
see. way back yonder through the
misty vista Of the flown years, the
magical tents Of the clrcuses of my
kidhood billowing out. whiter'n any
flowers Of Camelot. cameo-like against
the blue sky: and I saw the freckled.
one-suspendered urchin, that was me,
~lstanding a-dream at the spectacle of
all the splendor and p~ageantry and
grandeur; and l felt sort O lonesome
.and heavy as I thought Of all that's
been coming off with me since. and
wondered why the dickens a Teller
couldn't always stay freckled and one
tsuspendered and entranced.
But, when 1t comes to art, nobody
ra~ trll ,,n fInt Ia. Sr'f n VFhnIh
lot of art about circus poste:s. I've
always understood. for example. that
what is called nobility of repose' is
one of the distinct composing elements
of good art. Where are you going to
find such magnificent nobility of re-
pose and in action. at that, as you
find in the circus poster?
THE circus poster people engaged in
doing the most amazing things. | mean,
are such an absolutely reposeful and
self contained and contented looking lot
while they are doing these things. Now.
take the poster, so widely scattered
around Washington now, of the utterly
dare devil young fellow-they call him
'DiaboIo." in fact-who makes that
tr~ee-men-jus ride down the steep in
cline and then takes the horrifying
leap into space on his bike, and lands
on another incline way off from the
one on which he has made the initial
descent. II you look at the figure OF
that young fellow on the poster you'll
apprehend what I mean when speak
OF the reposefulness of the circus post
erS. Say, it's perfectly astonishing
how little worried that young fellow
looks-on the posters-all through the
various stages of that reckless stunt.
The poster makes the incline look at
least half a mile high, but does that
fact. and the additional fact that the
incline is all but perpendicular, both
err him any-tn the poster? Not on
your ~zincograph! He just sits up
straight-on the poster-as his dizzy
machine begins that terrific swoosh
down the half-mile-high incline. and
there Isn't airy a tapping Of his coat
tails, and his arms are folded airishly
and there's a sort of lurking smile
at the corners Of his mouth that gives
l you the impression that he must be
. absolutely devoid of any such thing
as nerves. If you ont call that g
} noble example of the reposeful in art
then you've got your Ruskin mixed
l with your Dooley, that's all I've got te
say, and you need to smoke up as tt
l the %esoteric meaningfulness Of tn
higher and the nobler.
1 Take, too, the ten or fifteen hand
t some young men and beautiful, WON,
0 anly looking young ladies engaged II
i doing things on the circus poster trap
ezes. If they're not getting away will
those incredibly difficult feats with al
the fepOSe1ulneSS OF d Stlll-llle Ndte
, color picture of a bunch Of roses In
r vase or a strawberry shortcake on
n dish, then I never saw a circus poste
n in my life. The shapely young WON
: an with the flowing yellow hair, TO
re example, who has just been shot out o
n a fire belching cannon-and the can
u mons fire looks devilish red on tn
= poster. too. I'm a-telling you, SON
IS and who is bound. aerially, for tn
d young fellow with down swinging hea
le who is waiting for her on the trapez
10 way on the other side of the tent-a
IT least 200 feet away, to judge from tn
Is poster-well. just you look at her float
l. ing figure and tell me If you can fin
" anything anxious about the way sh
is taking her precarious situation
c. Nary an anxious.
,e And then, for more amazing repose
H. fulness take the lion tanners In tn
W posters. l guess maybe you don't tur
,e away from the conviction that thos
w fellows are the real thing in nerve an
I'd hardihood! The mammoth. %gigantica
,q ly named beasts. you will observe-o
nt the poster-absolutely cover, like sui
dued cravens, under the impallir
~ chances of the poster lion tanners eye:
they draw back, affrighted, to he res
Of and sides of their cages; and he Ju
stands there, a noble exemplifcation
the superiority of mind over matte
- and hicks 'em in the eye with II
oSnCl V AAPt
with a huge horse pistol from whit
e. the flames belches luridly; and all II
nd time he's 80 little concerned abo
he what he's doing with the kings of II
so forest that there isn't a hair out
,ft place in his mustache. and the who
We situation looks just like pie, and not
ar- ing else. for him.
,ly Don't you ever let anybody tell yo
le- son, that there isn't lots Of art, al
ial mighty high art at that about the CT
on Gus posters. And If you want to ia
my advice don't you ever get to b
lieving. either. that the circus poste
aren't absolutely true. l just ir
agined a good many years ago. tn
I'd found out hat the circus poste
weren't wholly and entirely on the lie
ell, and you can take my word for
that I have never been as happy sin
as l was before 1 thought I'd made tn
discovery"
Concerning the Saints.
Margaret Deland In Harper's Wee
w: So we come back again