The Birmingham age-herald., 1917-07-22
THE CIRCUS DIsAPPEARS

HE ClRCUS DISAPPEARS
 A concrete and striking example is that of the largest circus proprietors in the United Kingdom. the Brothers Sanger. who are the British prototypes of our own Barnum and Bailey. San gers circus is a household word from Lands End to John O'Groats and has afforded harmless amusement to many millions of the present and the preced- ing generation in every corner of Great Britain. Months ago. long be- fore the Derby recruiting scheme was launched and long before the govern ment began to urge restriction III various directions the four Sanger Brothers, at great financial sacrifice. took their shows off the road and urged their men many of them old sol diers beyong military age, to don khaki As result over 70 of Sangers' employees are now fighting for King and country besides a round dozen of the younger members of the family, some of whom will never return.
 DOING THEIR BIT
 The Sanger Brothers have their per- side the little Surrey town of Horley. where they farm 300 acres of land, and there, in a special interview, one Of
 
 another and a distinctly novel phase of the firms patriotic activities.
 Having shut up shop for the pc riod of the war and having given prac- tically the whole of our men to the army" said MT. Sanger. i've looked around to see what we could do fur ther for the country's cause and promptly sat to work to prepare oul elephants and camels for national service The result is that our three great African elephants, Tiny, Ida and Annie, are doing most valuable work on the land-plowing. hauling tim Der and water, assisting in the thresh- ing of wheat. etc.-and IS soon as the ground becomes a bit firmer we shall too.
 Tiny and Ida, both of whom turn the scale at something over three tons. are amongst the biggest elephants in existence today and they have taken to war work with amazing aptitude. It is an interesting sight to see Tiny conscientiously turning furrows with T slip of a girl at the tail of the blow Of course this Is the merest child's play, for a powerful beast like They. who could easily go on pulling blow for dozen hours al a stretch without turning a hair and we shall probably given her and Ida. too, some more ele- phantihe work to do before long
 Now that timber importation has been forbidden and native forests arc to be felled DC -verful animals are re- quired for the haulage of felled trees and already we have received applica- tions for the services of our elephants, each of which we reckon to be the equal of 5 or 20 horses.
 Both Tiny and Ida are in the prime of life their ages being 50 and 56 years, respectively, while Annie is compara- tive youngster of 30. Annie is quite an adept at the art of stacking wheat, but, sad to relate, she is somewhat addicted, to the bottle-she can easily beat the average farm laborer in disposng of a quart mug of beer, and that is saying a good deal With beer al 9 cents a pint, as they say it will be before long, ani afraid Annie will have to practice war economy and give up this luxury. It may interest your readers to know that Tiny has been on the road with us for no less period than 40 years, and l calculate that she has covered an av- craze of 5000 miles year, giving az gregate of 120,oeO miles, on the road alone. She Is notorious practical joker and could tell you dozens of stories about the more or less harmless pranks she has played on her keepers from time tc l time, but now she is doing war work her oemeanor has quite changed, and it would l be hard to find steadier more will. 1 ing worker. Obviously Tiny realizes the | seriousness of the times
 | Our other animals including lions | bears, leopards, wolves, hyenas, etc, we have loaned temporarily sC private men, ageries at Margate were un Ter bOmbard ment by German destroyers a few days ago, but fortunately they escaped injury. A few months ago I ha an idea that our finest lion. 'Rex'--who Is the bcsu ideal of the typical British lion--mlgit be usefully employed on recruiting campaign, but the idea was turned down by the war office on the ground that l. would be mira dig. I believe that Tn the states, where red tape Is happily less prevalent, the idea would have been taken up with alacrity.'
 CHILDREN CUT OUT PLAY
 The "all for the war spirit has ex- tended even to the schoo'boys and school girls of the country. From aristocratic Eton down to humble elementary schools games have been almost entirely aban- doned and the time employed in doin3 work of national importdn ce' e'-most,y in ,ne direction of food production. At E.on, the principal playing field-'The battle of Waterloo" we are told was won on the playing fields of Eton"-is now a huge
 
 British aristocracy now employ their Liaying hours in ,delving the soil and planting potatoes
 For several years past the education department of the British government has encouraged the establishment of school gardens in connection with the elemen- tary and secondary schools of the king Gem and this year, when the whole na ' ton is being urged to turn it's attention to the vital work of fooG produc ion, these gardens promise to prove valu- able national asset. At the present tune there are in existence upwards of 3 .@t cs these school gardens varying in area from about quarter of an acre to three or four acres and just at this time every one of them is the scene of intense juve nile activity. The majority of the gar dens had already been brought to a high stage of cultivation when the war began, and it Is believed that this year they can be made to produce vegetables and small fruits on scale which will tions food supplies.
 The horticultural enthusiasm of the school children Is intense and they are gladly giving up their play hours and even their half holidays in order to de- vote the utmost possible attention to the cultivation of their garden plots Silver cups and other awards hitherto offered for prowess in various forms of school sport are this year being given to the scholars who achieve the greatest suc- cess as food producers. fact which nat uralIy adds to their enthusiasm.