The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-04-30
Circus as Seen BY
The Virginian Staff
Editorial Writer, Political Re-
porter, Sports Writer, Soci-
ETY. Chronicler, the Cub" ct
al Take Fling at Big Show.

The circus crowd is a better show.
always, than any circus In the hrst
place IT is always complete cross
. section of the city's population, fair
sample as the miners say. with every
single element represented--old and
young. rich and poor. politicians and
| recluses, preachers and pagans, natives
and aliens, black and white. and all in
termediate shades.
| The elemental appeal OF the circus,
p, with it's bizarre color and movement
| and personnel, touches some universal
| quality within us and makes US, for
! two too brief hours. kin to all hu-
| manfty-and that is always worth the
price of admission to every lover OF
! his race.
| Polite. and the Circus.
The local politicians. particularly
those who are nosing around for votes.
] took shot al the high spots and lost
no time in taking advantage OF the
opportunity of button holding the SOW
ereign.
! Some of them even grabbed likely
| loo king voters from the other ward and
! when you come to analyze 1t, there was
some resemblance to the menagerte Tor
most politicians make a monkey or
! themselves at one stage or another OF
/ Il heated campaign.
Politicians and clowns have very
] little in common, so to speak, except
! that they amuse the crowd and keep
! moving along where the crowd is thick
/ est and where the people can be best
! fooled.
I A circus is good place for the
| aepirant for office for he has the
chance of climbing to the top seat. and
( having everybody point him out and
wonder who he is
The political arena is something like
| a circus ring. for all men love 10 get
J the plaudits OF the masses. whether
/ they are real clowns or just make-oe-
! lieves.
The busiest Politicians at the circus
! " ere the revenue agent and the tax
/ collector. He got there early and
| STAYED until the finish. He would, like
politicians, have grabbed 1t all. but the
circus man is something of politician
himself, and there must be some hne
rope pulling to get the best OF MN.
Yet even as Barnum Cor Lincoln)
said. you can fool some OF EN- all the
time.
Sportwriter's View Point.
Athletic honors for the daT were
eplit three ways; Japan. Africa ana
California chats where Frisco said he
hailed from) racing under the wire In
q thrilling blanket finish
Frisco whose melodious baritone has
never vet been recorded on a phono-
srraph. ia supreme ruler Of the Order OF
Seals He was suffering from tenn
permanent yesterday. refusing TO even
accept nourishment at the end OF each
stunt but his followers made strong
hid for first nlace with their unique
game Of no%ehall.
Arrica's entry was six hiE pachy-
derrns referred to by the untutored
child behind me as "elfnts. They ac-
complished the impossible by finishing
game Of football without broken
nose in the lne-un Several ~ them
were bent, however. Two of them
Vt walked OFT with the indoor sports prize
18th their exhibition Of shaking the
shtrnmv"
The Nipponese contingent performed
in it's usual midseason form The little
brown men are SO good as 10 make
their act anncar easy. One or them
does the giant swing" on n horizontal
bar suspended from pole balanced or
the shoulder of his teammate. and still
another climbs a flight of stairs on his
head He slipped on the third step In
his first attempt and skidded down on
.his nose, only stopping to massage that
third rail before beginning his second
and SUCCESSFUL effort.
~ II Looked tn the stroller.
As If excitement enough was not
furnished by intrepid female elephant
TONERS who permitted huge pachy-
derms to PROSTATE their huge huiks
upon their fragile forms, thrilling
tides. both frontw ard and backward.
down an inclined rope from the dome
Of the big ton" by an equally daring
Ian. and daring and sensational head
balancing feats on swinging ladders.
one Of Captain Ttebors trained seals.
following conclusion Of this particular
act, became ohstreperous and, in most
unlad vlike manner. refused absolutely
to take its place in the huge portable
s,4g- f, MI rT4a NJ
paninns were rarted out of the arena
Leaping from the stage upon which.
Only 4 few moments before, IL had
amazed and pleased hundreds by it's
almost human exhibitions. the animal
darted about the enclosure. thwar+ing
the efforts OF it's keepers to apprehend
il. and narrowly upsetting one or more
Of them
Describing a Decline for one OF the
exits, II suddenly changed in its course
and began to Chamber up the colored
bIeachers Pandemonium broke loose.
Few. II any. Of the Africans were ex-
perienced in the art Of handling, train
ing or suhduing seals or sea lions
and the majority of them bolted pre-
cipitately, relinquishng their seats. for
which they had pianked down from
four TO six bits. to the marauder--andi
no questions asked II such a thing is |
possible some of them turned pale
This chronicler lost sight OF the
recaIcitrant animal in the confusion. |
hut it is to be assumed that 1t was cap !
tured and restored to its wonted hab- |
Tat.
From the Cubs Viewpoint.
"A circus" What magic to enflame |
the imagination of the small boy is
written in two words. Coming out of
the stil darkness OF early dawn, it's !
tented city rising up as il out of the |
ground, its peculiar noises and glaring !
lights against the rebukng stiffness. |
and fading with equal mystery into |
the nowhere at the end OF a perfect |
day.
How many times can you recall when |
turning back the pages again into the |
yesterday. the nights you lay awake |
counting the minutes until the all Won
derful circus came to town? You
counted with the same pathetic impa-
thence that you counted the seconds
until the closing of school for the holi-
days
How you overworked your magma
tion planning the things that you would
do on that day; how you wondered
what you would see. and then, with |
provokening slowness. the all-wonder-
full day rolled around.
Bright and early you were up. that |