Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-20

now hanging by its toes, now by its
knees now by its hands, now dizzily holding by
its teeth. Now it swung head downward, cling
ing by the very tips of its toes.
Far beneath it on the ground a man held one
end of a rope, the other end of which hung
Just beside the white and gold figure on the
trapeze. He held it far away, so that it did
not touch the swinging acrobat, whose out
stretched hands reached toward the audience
Watching from the seats below
The man with the rope stumbles; the rope,
suddenly released, swishes toward the swinging
figure, strikes it, dashes it from its slender
grasp, and down through space hurtles flash
of white and gold, while up above the bar swings
crafty.
Now the rope in its cratic course swerves to-
yard the falling figure; the outstretched hands
reach toward it, grasp and hold 1t; the hurting
f.;ure falling head downward, stops with a
ERIK the legs whip down, and. scant yard
from the ground, the white and gold figure
swings clear steps off, and takes bow. The
audience applauds the daring trick; the acrobat
climbs up the length of rope to the crafty
swinging trapeze above and finishes her act.
No one in the crowd knew that it was fall,
that only chance swung the rope toward the
railing woman; but I knew it! was the white
end gold figure, and I had pair of sore Shout
ders for while to remind me of it,
MY experience has included % years on the
ROAD, ana 10 seasons OF acTlal CTapeze Work
with circuses at parks and fairs in vaudeville
end indoor exhibitions of all kinds My work
las included trapeze, a rope called the Spanish
web, Iron jaw changing by my teeth, rings;
singing and dancing My rigging usually hung
40 feet from the ground, and have never had
safety net below me-
a liked circus life best of all. liked the aSso
alton in the dressing room, liked the travel
ing in the circus cars. Out OF doors all the
me, in all kinds of weather and in all parts
OF the country! In the many years during
Ihich the circus has been an unfailing source of
pleasure in the United States, its repertory and
types of performance have varied little. :
One of its fixed institutions used to be the
parade, and every time read how good for the
health is an early morning ride think of the
dressing room in the days before the parade
was discontinued. We used to leave the sleeping
cars somewhere in the train yards, find the lot,
get some breakfast if we were not too late, go to
the dressing room and get ready to ride some
kind of animal, or appear on float or cage.
The parade may have been beautiful to look
at, but as memory presents the scene in the
dressing room as the performers made ready it
is associated mostly with hurry and confusion,
no time for breakfast, boiling-hot days, freez-
ing cold If it rained, you just got wet; if the
lot was far from town. and If the parade was
long, perhaps you missed your lunch as well as
your breakfast. I can truthfully say that the
admiration of the crowds who witness the pa
rade has little or no effect on an empty stom-
och. When dinner time arrives at 4:30, there
was no lack of appetite.
After the parade as an institution had gone we
found that it was sorely missed by a lot of
people who did not have to ride in it. But we
used to read about the strenuous protests of
town councils and merchants associations
against parading. and traffic conditions finally
made an end of it.
check-up at the end of the first season
without parades showed a general increase in
the morale health and appearance of people
and animals. Yet 1t used to be fun at the start
of the season to watch the new members of the
troupe trying to catch up with the parade"
If one of them moaned the lack of time, there
was a chorus of reminders that people who
would troupe with a circus must not expect
their breakfast to be served in bed. that they
ought to consider all the country they were