Free press., 1908-04-04
The OLD CIRCUS
HAMS STORY
How the Great Giants Singing
Voice Hit the People

"A very curious thing about the
greatest of all giants" said the Old cir
Gus man. was the difference between
his speaking and his singing voice.
His speaking voice was that of a
man OF ordinary stature; his singing
voice was in keeping with his own 81
gantic size. And We never discov
cred this ourselves until he had been
with us FOR some months, not in fact
till the end of the first season with
us, when we'd gone into winter quar-.
tsrs
We were sitting, the old man, the
giant and myself, in that room that
I've told you about that we had fixed
mp for the giant by taking out a sec
Ond-story floor and so carrying q
ground floor room up through two
stories to give the giant head room
Sitting there one evening about q
couple OF days after we'd come in from
the road. and pretty soon We heard
the cook, over in the kitchen at the
other end OF the house, humming a
tune; and then the first thing we knew
We heard the giant singing it. And
singing? Why, you never heard any
thing like it; and nobody would have
believed, if he hadn't heard it, that
anybody could have such voice.
For comparison it was like the
roar of Niagara compared to the sound
of little waterfall over a stone in a
brook. Sound? Why, 1 thought it
was going to make the walls bulge and
blow out the windows.
And it wasn't a harsh, rough voice,
you understand, either; il was . good,
smooth voice; not the most beautiful
voice you ever heard, but still a
smooth, round, deep voice Of the most
amazing volume. vastly greater than
anything you had ever dreamed Of in a
human voice, and It made the old
man and me sit up in wonder.
And when the giant stopped we
found the whole circus was standing
around outside the headquarters build
ing-animal men, canvas men. drivers,
the whole outfit had come up to hear
the giant sing, and these were men,
you know, accustomed to strange
things. We had S0-odd acres in our
reservation, but you could hear the
giants voice In the furthest corner OF
1t, and [ didn't know then how much
further beyond; and at the first note
OF it men had stopped their work and
then they had all come to listen.
"As I was saying to you, you could
hear the giants voice all over the res
ervatiOn, and l didn't know how far
beyond; but we soon found out about
that. The village was only about
Ghree-quarters Of a mile away, and on
still nights and when the wind was
right you could hear his singing then
plainly; and it didn't exactly scare the
people; they all knew the giant and
they all liked him, but they all went
to bed early, and that wonderful sound
coming to them after they had gone
to bed did disturb 'em somewhat. And
so the old man got the giant not to
sing after nine o'clock at night; and
that winter he had him practice up on
number Of songs, which Of course
he was going to have the giant sing
under canvas In our next season on
the road.
Tn those days. you know, we used
TO give a concert after the show: send
around men before the last act selling
tickets for this concert; and then when
the show was over people that hadn't
bought tickets would pass out, and
those that had would stay to the con-
cert, and sometimes half the people
would stay, or maybe only a quarter
Of EN-; but whatever we got that way
was velvet, and what the old man was
going to do was to substitute FOR the
music and singing we used to give in
that concert SINGING by the giant And
he didn't miscalculate. for the first
time the giant sang everybody stayed
from curiosity, and after that they all
stayed. everywhere, because they
wanted to-
'We used to stand the giant up on
platform built around the center pole,
with the band around him. where
there was plenty OF room for him and
where everybody could see him. And
the band would Play tune through,
and then flourish or two, and then
the giant would sing, with the band ac-
companying him.
and he'd get the people from the
first note. 1t was a wonder just to see
him standing there, but it was a ia
greater wonder to hear him sing H
didn't make fun of it, you understand:
he took his singing seriously, and s.
did the people, for SO tremendous {
voice had never been heard before, but
it was not unmusical, and altogether i
came pretty close to being awe-inspir
ing.
You see, the giant was by far the
greatest man ever seen, but his voice
was far greater still. Great as he was.
the giant was yet man ike ourselves
in human form, but his voice seemed
something more than human, and 1t is
an interesting fact that in all the con
certs the great giant gave he was never
once encored. People. were drawn as
by a fascination TO hear him sing, we
played to capacity from the beginning.