The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1909-08-21
You. go to the circus.

W. 6O W bhO SAhSoo.
You have a good time, of course
You watch the clown doing his
foolish, idiotic stunts-silly, you
say to yourself, but you just can't
help laughing at him.
You watch the daring bareback
rider, her hair astream, every mo-
tion poetry, smile and a tossed
rose into the face of danger and
death.
You enjoy 1t all, yes. There's
no show going which gives sc
much entertainment for one blue
ticket as does the circus.
But you go away wondering
about these strange circus people
whose lives are SO brilliant anc
wonderful, who come by night and
by daylight have disappeared
clean from the face of the earth.
Where do they come from, you
wonder, these people who live ev-
erywhere and nowhere? Whai
manner of life is theirs after the
big tent is struck? Where do they
get their wonderful skill? Where
do circus people come from?
The writer confessed to much
curiosity today when he went be.
hind the scenes of the Ringing
Brothers show.
He met a great surprise.
The circus people are just folks
like me and you and the family
next door.
They live very quiet lives, be-
tween time, uneventful-hum'
drum-they would be called by
the most staid of stage folk.
They do not have wine suppert
or gay white celebrations. On the
contrary, there is hardly per
former in the business whit
drinks. A few of the men smoke
1t is exceptional.
They can't afford the small
vices of the stage or Of outside
life. Every day they must stare
death in the face. Their nerve,
must be like steel-EVERY DAY
They are mostly married peo
lple-that Is, the grownups are
The rule is that they marry in tn,
show. The clowns wife is tn,
equestrienne who smiles at yol
so gayly as she emerges from th'
paper hoop and lands GRACEFUL.
on one foot on the charging
horses back. The trapeze man
wife travels with the show.
Those whose families are no
with the show have homes some
where around the country-il
Nebraska, or Chicago, or Atlanta
They write home regularly, In
quire about the boys progress a
school and the little girls new
doll. Twice a month the lette
has a welcome inclosure.
What do they do betweeI
times?
Well, the acrobats and aerialist
lpractice for hours. They mus
keep in trim, just like pianists o.
lother artists. The women-wh,
you will see them by the dozens
one or two perched on every wag
on tongue when the show stops
KNITTING EMBROIDERY o.
making clothes for the home ana
kids.
The acrobats usually go in fam
lilies. Usually there will be foul
or five generations behind tn,
acrobats of today. So with tn,
clowns. 1t isn't genius tha
makes them so adept, it's perhaps
a special faculty, but one pains
takingly developed from the ag.
of Z on.
They save their money-thest
show people do. They call it the
pork chop fund. When the show
goes into winter quarters after
covering perhaps $1,000 miles o.
country, the circus people hurr,
to the little cottage in Nebraska
or Atlanta-wherever they cal
home.
They are like big, happy fam
lily - the circus people. They
know each other intimately, ant
share their pleasures and troubles
Scandal is the rarest thing in ths
world among them. They see eacl
others lives so closely. Perhaps
that helps.
Anyhow, 1t is fact.