Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1905-11-15

= circus. and then ma wanted to 70
alonS. She said she could do the
mending OF the long socks that tho
women wear when they ride hare
backed, but We had to shut down on
mas going with the sshow, j, cause we
never could have any fun with : wom-
an to look after. Pa says nowadays
the men and women who ride on bare
back horses in the ring dress in 1egu-
Lar evening costume, the women with
low-neck dresses, and long trains, and
the men with swallow,tail coats and
patent leather shoes, and they are a.
polite as dancing masters.
We have compromised with ma, and
she is to meet the show at Kalamazoo
and 60 with us to Kankakee and Keo.
kuk until she Ii overcome by nervous
>prostration, when we shall have her
go home. Pa thinks ma would last
about two days with the show, but
I guess II she took q course OF treat
ment with peanuts and red lemonade
one afternoon and evening, she would
want to throw up. her job, and 90
back home in charge Of stomach spe-
cialist.
Well, pa showed up at the house in
his circus clothes, this afternoon. and
he certainly Is q peach. Pa has been
letting his chin whiskers grow for about
six weeks, and to-day he had them
colored black, and he looks as though
he had swallowed the backing brush,
and left the bunch of bristles outside.
on his chin. He looks fierce. Then,
he has got q new brand of silk hat,
with wide, curling brim, and he has
had vest made of black and blue
check goods, the checks as big as the
checks on a checker board, and a pair
Of pants that look like a diamond
back rattlesnake, and he has got an
Imitation diamond stud in his white
shirt that looks like paper weight.
Ma wanted to know il there was
any law to compel pa to dress like
that, cause he looked as though he
was q gambler or train robber. Pa
says that q circus proprietor has got
to look different from anybody else.
in order to inspire fear and respect on
the part of the hands around the
show, as well as the audiences that
flock to the arena, and he asked ma
II she didn't remember old Dan Rice,
and old John Robinson. Ma didn't re-
member them, but she remembered
Barnum, because Barnum lectured on
temperance, and she said she hoped
pa would emulate Barnum's example,
and pa said he would, and thec he
took a watch chain with links as big
as q trace chain and spread it. across
his checkered vest, from one pocket to
the other, with . life-size gold elk
hanging down the middle, and ma al
most had convulsion:s r Z @.a: I '>.~-.
Gee, but If pawears that rig in the
menagerie tent. the animals will paw
and below, like drove Of cattle that
smell blood. /. Pa is going to wear =
sack coat with his outfit. SO as to look
tough, and be: wouldn't hear to ma
when she tried to get him to wear .
frock coat. He said frock coat was
all right in society or among the
crowned heads, but when you have
to mingle with lions and elephants
one minute, that would snatch the tail
on : coat and chew II, and the next
minute you are mixed up with bunch
of freaks or q lot Of bareback riders or
.trapeze performers, you have got to
compromise On . coat that will at any
climate, and not cause invidious d re-
marks whatever that5ais. -
S5 viii have to stand up beside tho
giant once II awhile, tosshow the diff
ference in the, size Of men, and 1t
other times will have to stand beside
the midgets, and look like giant my
self. We are all packed up, AMI in
two days we start for the winter quar-
tiers Of the show, to pound 1t into
shape for the road. BY ginger, I
can't hardly wait to get there, and SEQ
pa boss things. #~.. -
VICTIM /, OF s..THE FAMILY. y: