Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1923-07-11
HIGHEST, Widest COLLECTION
SNARL|NC, GROWING ANIMALS
IN REPERTOIRE SPARKS CIRCUS

elephants. peanuts and pink lemonade.
Blaring brass bands and a CAV parade
Pienty of smiles and nary a frown-
The day that the circus came to town,
Sparks Circus rolled into the citv
quite some time before the dawn. and
a1ter a grunting switcher had sorted
out the massive cars and the roust :
apouts had turned out from their bunk
cars and their hammocks slung under
the animal carts, the process BEGAN
OF resolving q circus out Of the het.
erogeneous asglomeration Of pales, can.
vas. wagons. appearances, ropes. chains.
WIG animals. horses, men and women.
Inc usual crowd Of interested watchers
greeted the OUTFIT, and many small bows
stared In wonder at the stray trunks
OF elephants thrust from under the
sldeooards of their car. The unloading
or the great draft horses. and the un-
canny speed with which the wranglers
lined up and hitched their teams drew
the attention Of many. The rumbling
carts rolled from their cars with the
rafting hum of sound that is the
Verltable echo of the circus, and man
snubbed them neatly with a line drawn
through bits on the last car, which
pleased the multitude. AS fast as they
were unloaded. the carts, to the accom-
paniment of the squaks and growls of
sundry early rising beasts, were rushed
away to the lot, where they canvas was
beginning to cover the forest of bare
poles that preceded it. A snatch of
! song from roustabout, a "cuss" or
Two from boss, grunts. roars, squeals,
whistling, rumbles and the circus was
unloaded
The parade started promptly at
1880 amid the blare of bands and
the shrill notes of the steam caliope.
thousands of people lined the streets
long before time for the first big
event to start. Owing to the condi-
ton of Main street the parade turn
ed from Spring down Silver street,
back up Elm, out Center and Gilman
10 the circus grounds. This change
IN the program caused much scurry-
ing by those who had secured van
tage points on the main thorough
1are. Post office squares was massed
with eager watchers intermingled
with slowly moving automobiles.
Everyone was satisfied with the par
ade and many complimentary re-
marks were heard concerning the
animals and especially the horses.
IN the parade were cages containing
brown bears, polar bears, monkeys,
Bengal Tigers, lions from Africa,
leopards, ostriches, kangaroos. Then
came cowboys, camels, elephants,
white bands, black bands and the
clown band. The horse drawn steam
caliope brought up the rear.
1t was generally agreed that the
Sparks Circus was one of the best
and cleanest shows that has been
put on here for several years.
Policeman nd CT,
any trouble with shortchangers.
gamblers or the dancing shows that
usually attend circus.
The circus has increased in size
since the last time it show ed in this
city and all the afternoon and even
ing the three rings were filled with
activity. AS usual the circus opened
with the full strength of the COM
pany in an act called Echoes from
the Reign of King Tut.
All the time numerous clowns in
varied and humorous attire brought
bursts and sometimes roars of laugh
ter from the huge audiences. One
clown dressed as a country swain
and carrying a bunch of flowers
caused great amusement by going
into the stands and offering flowers
from his bouquet to various pretty
girls in the audience.
The crowd was thrilled by the lion
act. The huge beasts, advertised as
from the jungles and not born in
captivity. certainly lived up to their
name. With growls and barred fangs
they would rush at their trainer to
be held back by the prodding iron
and the bark of big revolver filled
with blanks.
During one Of the lion acts the
trainer tried in vain to get one of
the great beasts to coined own from
his lofty perch. He prodded him and
finally lifted chair and thrust it
at him. With an angry growl the
lion seized the chair and tore it to
bits. With tense interest the crowd
watched the trainer who jumped
away and fired his revolver. The lion
apparently cowed jumped down and
went on with the cat. This part of
the performance seemed very realas-
tic. At the end of the lion act the
trainer prodded one of the beasts
and then leaped into the outer cage
to safety an instant before the ami
NAL hit the door with a roar and
barring Of teeth.
The Bengal tigers were much more
docile than the lions although more
than one person shuddered as the
striped brutes snarled and leaped
about.
The tight rope artists drew much
applause. Sakata, a clever japanese
walked up slanting rope that start
ed at the ground and went to the top
of the main tent, then without
at the top he started sliding
back down the rope smoothly and
rapidly and was caught by two at.
tendants At the bottom OF the rope.
Miss Nadia Miller, gave some clever
dances on the tight wire to music by
the band.
Miss Bessie Harvey. prima donna
soprano appeared at the first of the
performance with chorus of pretty
girls and later she received a good
round of hand claps when she ap-
peared riding pure bred Arabian. |
with flock of fan-tail |
doves.
Jerry, the trained seal played !
America" on the sealphone to the |
and enjoyment Of all.