Camas Prairie chronicle. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1901-1917, 1907-07-05

turn movement has begun there are
wagon shows-and wagon shows.
There Is a routine about the days
work that is as we'll preserved as
though the show were an army moving
on an enemy.
At 6 o'clock in the evening, two hours
before the evening performance is to
begin, the cook house is dismantled,
four horses are hitched to it, and with
rattle and bang, the cooks in their
white caps and aprons vociferously
shouting out some last message and
the pans hanging against the side of
the wagon, while the aroma of coffee
and bacon greets the nostrils, the cook
tent disappears down the road toward
the town Of the next days stopping.
The cook tent reaches its destination
early in the night-twenty to twenty
five miles is the average daily jump Of
a wagon show-and all is put in readi-
ness for the serving Of early breakfast
the next morning.
At 8 o'clock the performance In the
big tent begins, and the crowds which
have stood open-mouthed before the
cages In the menagerie tent rush to
their seats to see the big show. I'm
mediately the work Of demollshing the
menagerie tent is begun. The animals
are fed, then the sides are put on their
cages, the horses are hltched up, four
to each den or cage, and across coun-
try, accompanied by route finder, the
menagerie, making up the first main
section of the show, starts in the wake
Of the cookhouse.
This route finder is an important per-
sonage in the circus; 1t Is his business
to scout ahead, ascertain the best
roads, and by laying laths down at the
intersections and Emergencies disclose
the route to the wagons that follow
him.
The menagerie section comes up to the
cook tent some time during the night
and camps until morning.
At - o'clock, as a rule, the baggage
train takes up it's start. The big show
is over, the tent has been struck, the
stakes have been pulled, the parapher-
MALTA has been packed in wagons, the
people have gone to bed but while
they sleep, with merry, ringing chorus
Of 'Yo-heave-o, st. Louis, Kansas City,
Omaha" and so on, with the name of
the home of every roustabout sung in
long drawn out chant, the circus has
been torn down and packed up ready
for transportation.
Midnight strikes in the city, and the
man who saw the circus dreams Of the
queen in pink tights and the fairy in
glittering spangles but the wagons
creak across country and the roust-
abouts snatch what little sleep they
can as the wagons topple back and
forth and the horses pull and plunge.
In the meantime, what of the span
gled fairy and the pink-tighted queen,
to say nothing of the musicians and
the men performers of the sawdust
rings2
They are sleeping the sleep of the
lust in the best hotels the town affords.
That is one reason why the average
circus performers would rather travel
with a wagon show than a railroad
show. After the night performance of
a railroad show. he or she must wend
their weary way to the train, hunt for
1t in an Interminable tangle of tracks,
and seek what repose they can in
crowded hunks as the car Is switched
around or pounds over the rails. But
in the big wagon show, the perform
ers 60 to hotels, get good nights rest
in a bed and sleep soundly until the
next morning.
At 8 80 o'clock the musicians and
performers are routed out Of bed; at 6
o'clock they have breakfast at the ho-
tel, and a half hour later the third
section Of the show takes up its jour-
ney, the band wagon in the lead, and
buses, carrying the musicians and per
formers, In the van. This third sec
ton usually strikes the town Of the
days performance at 8 or 10 o'clock.
At II 80 comes the parade, at 2 o'clock
the afternoon performance, at O'Clock
the evening performance, at II O'Clock
bed; and 80 on, day after day, week
after week, until the season Is ended.
Such Is life in the wagon show.-St.
Louis Globe-DemOcrat