The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-06-15
Charles Belmont Davis in the June Met

Charles Belmont Davis IN the june nee-
ropolitan.
K XANY of the circus people gathered
MI now for their first rehearsal, had
wi not met for months, some for
years-perhaps they had said good-by ana
parted when the season closed last fall IN
Kansas city, or it may have been IN
Warsaw the winter before, or some time
in the dim past at Trieste or at Panama
or at Buenos Aires or at the London Flip
podrome or even years and years ago,
long before they had become famous and
had worked together in the small towns
of India or China or Africa. In their ap-
pearance l found the first resemblance
that I had so far discovered to any other
rehearsal They were dressed very much
as a group of chorus girls would dress
for the first call for musical comedy.
loose shirt waists and short cloth skirts
with here and there a bit of color, an
occasional pair of silk stockings or new
spring hat. AS rule they were not very
young and the average of beauty was not
high-in nearly every case there was the
tired look in the eyes and the drawn
face that tells of work, hard continuous
work. In the entire crowd l did not
see a woman who wore any makeup and
afterward, when I got to know more OF
them, just how sincere and simple a
folk they were, how essentially clean
they were in mind and body, 1 could un-
derstand why artifice of any kind did
not appeal to them at all. 1t was only
the stolld, heavy faced German women
who stood apart-the rest especially the
Latins, embraced, kissed one another al
ways on both cheeks, and babbled away
in a dozen different tongues and always
at the top of their voices.
THE young lady in the plum colored
walking suit with hat to match" whis-
pered the press agent, lis not only the
star of the troupe, but its most beautiful
member. You will note how exquisitely
small are her feet in low, bronze shoes,
and yet she is the greatest slack wire
walker the world has ever known. She's
billed as La Belle Victoria, but she comes
of the great Mexican circus family of
Codona Now but Is years of age, she
is the toast of her own sunny land Her
father and brother are always with her.
Circus people are khoWu LII .heii nigh
moral viewpoint"
To the best of my recollection, the first
two facts / was informed of in early
youth were that the world Is round like
an orange and that circus performers are
moral
| what, in a word, is the daily life of the
circus performer
1.-The artists said the press agent
leave the train as soon as 1t arrives In
town, which is usually from to o. clock
In the morning. The cook tent has pre-
ceded them by several hours and the per-
| formers at once have their breakfast.
They finish about o'clock, and must
then prepare for the parade which takes
least two hours and on the return to
the grounds lunch is served. After this
they prepare for the matinee, and by the
time they have finished their acts-any
time from S:45 to 5:15-they have their din
ner. From about, let US say, 8 to 1880 the
| time is all their own and they can 60
into town and send money home or write
letters or buy supper at the deicatessen
shops to eat after the show. AT 80
they must make ready for the evening
performance, and as soon as that is over
| go directly to their train"
Should the circus performer be heir
to all the passions known to man and
wcmankind 1t seemed to me that the
daily routine was calculated to keep
them In fairly good moral condition.
Even that luxurious hour and half
when they were allowed to send money
home and buy supper, seemed hardly
adequate for the wholly depraved. But
when one knows even . very little Of
the lives Of these people, there is no
doubt a. to why they are moral--it :s
hecauss OF their love Of family. Their