Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1906-06-23

killed me that time l took Hennery
to see the animals, and the tent blew
down, and we got separated, and the
sacred COW chased me up the church
steps, and Hennery and a monkey
were brought nome by a policeman
about daylight the next morning, that
time you were off fishing, and | never
told you about going to the circus
when you were away. So we are cir
Gus prOprietors, are we? Well, 1t
amt SO bad" and ma went upstairs to
cry at our success and pa and l went
out to walk off the effects of the break
ing the news to ma.
had a long talk with pa about our
changed circumstances, and asked him
what l would be expected to do
in the show, and he says /
will fit in anywhere. He says that
a boy who knows as much about
everything as l think l know, but
don't know a blamed thing about, will
be invaluable about a show, and that
going into a new business is like go
ing to college as a freshman, as all
the old circus men will haze US. ana
we must not expect an easy life. but
one full of excitement, sleepless nights,
ginger, the glare of the torchlights,
the races, the flying trapeze, the smell
of the sawdust and tanbark, the howl
ing of the wild beasts, and the plaudits
of the multitude of jays and jayesses,
and it will be like one grand circus
day spread all over the summer and
fall. He says he wants me to learn
the circus business from the ground
up, from the currying of the hyenas
with a currycomb and brush, to going
up into the roof of the tent on the
trapeze and falling into the net, while
the audience faints with excitement.
April 11-Ma and pa have had
several discussions about what kind
Of a position it is going to leave her
in, among the neighbors, for pa and l
to go off with a circus, and ma want
ed to withdraw from, the church. and
board up the windows Of the house,
and make folks think we had gone
to the seashOre, but pa convinced her
that we would have preaching in the
main tent every Sunday, and he says
there is no more pious lot of people
on earth than those who travel with
circus, and then ma wanted to go
along She said she could do the
mending of the long socks that the
women wear when they ride bare
backed, but we had to shut down on
mas going with the show, 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 Iegu-
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 as
polite as dancing masters.
We have compromised with ma, and
she is to meet the show at Kalamazoo
and go with us to Kanlakee and Keo-
kuk until she is overcome by nervous
prostration, when we shall have her
go home Pa thinks ma would last
about two days with "ae show, but
l guess if she took rise of treat
ment with peanuts ant red lemonade
one afternoon and evening, she would
want to throw up her job, and go
back home in charge of a stomach spe-
cialist.
Well, pa showed up at the house in
his circus clothes, this afternoon. and
he certainly is a peach. Pa has been
letting his chin whiskers growfor 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 a new brand of silk hat,
with a wide, curling brim, and he has
had vest made of black and blue
check goods, the checks as big as the
checks on checker board, and 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 if there was
any law to compel pa to dress like
that, cause he looked as though he
was a gambler or train robber. Pa
says that a 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
if 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 then he
took watch chain with links as big
as trace chain and spread it across
his checkered vest, from one pocket to
the other, with a life-size gold elk
hanging down the middle, and ma al
most had a CONFUSION.
Gee, but if pa wears that rig in the
menagerie tent, the animals will paw
and below, like a drove Of cattle that