The mirror. (Stillwater, Minn.) 1894-1925, 1907-08-08

Paper Read Before the ChuutaaQAa Circle.
A FTER listening to that very ex-
~ cellent paper "The Circus Ora
n tor" which was read at one of
our recent meetings, it is with
that 1 undertake to write
this paper. 1 know that one should
never ride free horse to death, (espe
cialIy as circus and show life has been
very literally treated during the past
six months) but nevertheless shall,
with your permission. undertake to
describe a few features that have not
been mentioned heretofore, hoping
that they may prove of interest to the
members of this circle.
Several years ago while with Geo. w.
Halls one ring circus, first became
aware of the fact that character,
unique in many ways, was attached
to most every circus on the road. Now
this character known as the dressing
room jester by many, but more often
by the pet names that his victims at
tached to him, took every chance he
could to make 4ife interesting for the
performers as we'll as the visitors to
the show. After Joining this show
everything went along nicely for about
two weeks, then, one night, one of the
clowns took French leave. Here was
my chance; first, to get an increase in
salary; and second, to learn the many
complicated traits which are necessary
before one can become professional.
As a rule the successful clown should
possess the following qualities: Plenty
of nerve, be tall and have very long
nose. The last named article, 1 be-
tieve, is the cause of so many clowns be-
ing dubbed Coakey. In spite of the
fact that I was minus the qualitica-
tions mentioned, the Jester insisted
that l should 6ll the vacancy, Of the
departed clown. Now had l known
the Jester, 1 should have absolutely re-
fused the part, but not knowing him
L bit. After making up, with what l
Thought was grease paint, l entered
the sawdust arena clown in appear
ance if not in fact. Then my troubles
began. 1t was double clown act, and
while was to do q hand stand, the
jester was to beat me with slap stick.
At the first stroke / was positive that
there was box of good long tacks
fastened to the stick, and / wasn't
wrong either. But that was pleasant
to what followed. After the night
performance, tried to wash the paint
off my face. But what was the use
He had been there before me, and had
mixed a generous amount of white
lead in the makeup, so had to stroll
around looking like q "red" on the
warpsth.
Several days after this was again
the victim of this industrious gent
In this case while on parade) several
young street urchins hurled all kinds
of rubbish at me, and what made II
worse they were unusually successful
in their aim. The Jester told me after
wards that he gave each lad comp
for doing the work. Even tho the un
initiated have to endure these LITTLE
pieasantries of the jester, he is no
without his good points. which in man!
cases are the means of strange ant
peculiar friendships being formed. IL
this case it might have been that bird
of feather flock together, or tina
Patsy (the educated monkey recog
nized a distant Darwinian relative il
the jester. However, they becsm
stanch and lasting friends.
A very disagreeable phase of shov
life and one which l can happily sa
has never befallen me, is that of "red
lighting which means throwing EN-
ployees from moving train for vari
GUS reasons, one OF which is to avoi
paying salaries. Another phase whic
is far from pleasant, and which OF
CURED lat Stevens Point, Wis.9 while
was with the Gollmar Bros. circus,
the shey-rube" cry which generally d.