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AUGUST 2, 1S07
The Commoner.
13
with a beetle-browed elephant tender
and if over wo do there is going to
bo a ript call and an Immediate de
mand for tho ambulance wagon.
And tho passenger in tho ambulance
wagon is going to be tho man with
beetle brows, too, and don't you for
got it.
Mem Wanted
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WHEN WE OLD UNS ARE YOUNG ONCE MORE
That's an awfully stale old: joke, going to get out a mandamus com-
that one about "Have to take the
children to the circus."
We want it understood that we
go to the circus because we want to
go to the circus, and wo take the
children along because it is as much
fun watching them enjoy it as it
is to watch the circus. And wo don't
take the children to "see the ani
mals," either. We've told a few
fairy tales in the brief span of our
life, but we've never got down to
the point of springing that old gag
about "wanting to see the animals."
No, sir-ee! We want to see the
clowns, and the beautiful maiden in
the tarletan skirts dancing the min
uet on the broad back of a horse,
and the men who turn double flip
flops over the backs of fifteen horses
and five elephants count 'em fif
teen horses and five elephants. And
we want to see the grand entry, and
the daTing young men on the flying
trapeze, and the contortionists. We
want to see the glitter and glare,
hear the crash of the music and
stretch our necks trying to see three
rings at once.
pelling them to put it back.
For abput four weeks before cir
cus day we throw a year a day from
our shoulders, and when circus day
really dawns and unless it is
Christmas1 "day and the Fourth of
July no other day Is so long in dawn
ing we jump out of bed feeling as
young as we did something like
thirty years ago when we ambled
down the dusty country road with
Will Pryor and Hugh Mercer and
Ace White and "Doc" Eldridge and
Art Collins and "Irish" Murphy and
"Dutch" Hornberger and "Stub"
Hart, and all the rest of the bunch
to see the little one-ringed cir
cus come into town by wagon. Of
course we've got money enough in
our pockets today to pay our way
into the big top, but it isn't half as
much fun to do that as it is to lug
about 'steen barrels of water to the
elephants and then sit around for
an hour trembling with apprehen
sion lest the fellow who promised
vnn a ticket for it fail to show up
at the designated spot and shove
you under the canvass. Tne oniy
thing that restrains you from chas
ing off down to the animal top and
working the water carrying racket
Is the remembrance of the fact that
you've got a lot of gray hairs in your
head and a few aches in your bones
that were not there the morning you
sped down the country road to meet
your first circus.
There are some things about the
circus that are not quite like they
were yesterday. The lemonade is
neither so cold nor so palatable, and
the sugar they use to stick the pop
corn balls together is not as sweet
as the kind that was used a little
while ago. And somehow or other
the balloons are not so bright and
lack the buoyancy of the balloons
they used to sell us. We don't care
so much, for the lemonade and pop
corn and balloons as we did yester
day, but you bet we want to see
that funny clown with the inflated
bladder swat that mournful looking
clown over the head and knock him
seventeen ways for Sunday. If ever
the circus cuts out that feature we're
Wo feel awfully sorry for the
children who havo been born during
the last twelve or fifteen years.
What do they know about the real
joys of going out to meet the circus?
In these degenerate days the circus
comes to town by rail, stopping
away down in the yards amidst a
riot of screeching switch engines and
evil-smelling smoke, and the cages
are run down inclined planes all at
once and trundled off to the lot so
fast that no one can keep track of
them. That ain't no fun, nohow.
It was different yesterday when
we were children. We knew that
the day before the show reached our
town it showed over in Mansfield,
and that there was just one road by
which it could get to our town. And
'long about 3 o'clock in the morning
Will Pryor threw a handful of gravel
against your bedroom window and
you hopped out of bed and into your
clothes with a speed that would
make your fortune on the vaudeville
stage if you could do it now. Then
off down the village street you has
tened, picking up. the rest of the
gang on the way. When the first
blush of dawn showed up on the east
ern horizon you were four miles out
of town and wondering where on
earth the circus could be.
Ace White always did have the
best eyes, and of course ho was the
first one to catch the glitter caused
by the first rays of the sun striking
the bandwagon. One yell of warn
ing and the whole bunch sped down
the road to meet the procession.
Come to think of it now it was a
sleepy and bedraggled lot of people
that came in with the circus. But
they looked like magicians from the
far east to us then. We chased
along by the side of the band wagon
for a while, then we slowed up and
watched the dingy animal cages ge
by. By and by along came the two
elephants, and there was no more
lagging. We kept right alongside
the elephants, all right, and when
the sleepy-eyed man avho looked
after them spoke to. us we swelled
up and felt bigger'n ol' Grant. Fin
ally we managed to get our hearts
back to normal, and taking our cour
age In our hands we tremblingly
broached the subject of carrying wa
ter to the majestic beasts In return
for the blessed privilege of getting
into the circus. Once upon a time
we arranged with a beetle-browed
son of Anak to pass us into the show
in return .for carrying water, and
after we had fairly pumped old Doc
Honey's well dry the mean thing
refused to keep his agreement and
we had to stand outside and listen
to the music and the shouts as they
drifted out through the canvass. All
right for that fellow! If we don't
get him" good and plenty before we
die, we know he'll, get it just the
same. The man who would treat a
trusting boy that way is going to
get something extra in his'n when
the final accounts are settled. But
we are layin' Jor that fellow yetv
When the circus comes to town now
we get down to the lot a little early,
ad we spend c half-hour looking
around In the hope of meeting up
Thank goodness, however, there
are somo things the old-time cir
cuses had which tho modern cir
cuses refuse to tolerate. Thirty
years ago tho circus ground was not
a very good place for boys and girls
and woraon, for there was too much
liquor on hand, and tho canvassmen
and animal tenders could ha given
our army In Flanders valuable point
ers on tho use of profanity and ob
scenity. And tho shell game mon,
and the short chango artists, and the
pickpockets and padlock men wore
almost as numerous as files around
the cook tents. All these things
except, perhaps, tho flies have dis
appeared. The circus attache who
brings liquor on tho ground or on
the train, or who shows up under
its influence, is paid off and fired ln
stanter. And even tho humblest
canvassman has to b'o courteous and
Chesterfleldlan and refrain from pro
fanity or find his pay envelope short
for the first offense, and no pay en
velope at all for a repetition there
of. The modern circus carries a de
tective1 force of its own, and that
force works hand in hand with the
local police. As a result the grounds
of the modern circus are as free from
gambling as a Sunday school picnic.
Sometimes tho circus employes do
not wait for the police to act when
they catch a pickpocket or shell
game artist in the act. By the time
they are through with Mr. Crook he
is a candidate for tho surgical ward
in the city hospital. All these things
have worked to make the modern
circus as safe as a Wednesday after
noon matinee.
A very large per cent of tho
women traveling with circuses have
husbands with the show, and circus
managers long -since learned that
married people do better work, last
longer and are easier managed than
unmarried artists. Monday is al
ways pay day for the artists with a
circus, and every pay day the local
express offices are swamped by cir
cus employes buying money orders.
Many of the "headliners' never draw
a cent of their salaries until tho sea
son closes, then they get it in a lump
and enjoy life during tho winter.
In big shows Sunday religious ser
vices are held every Sunday and the
managers are only too glad to give
the use of their big tops for this pur
pose. Three or four years ago the
writer had the privilege of attending
one of these Sunday afternoon ser
vices, held by the employes of one of
big shows, and 300 circus peo
ple sang the good old songs of Zlon,
and listened with interest to a short
and earnest sermon, full of practi
cal truths and admonitions, deliv
ered by a circus man who, a few
hours before, was clowning to the
delight of 15,000 people. Ono would
have-to seek far before hearing those
old songs sung better or with more
fervor, or listening to a sermon that
reached the hearts of the hearers
with more direct and telling force.
Sunday on the circus lot Is al
ways as quiet as a church. The em
ployes are taking advantage of the
chance to rest, and only such work
aa is absolutely necessary is allowed
hy the management. Everything
that can ue put on until Monday
morning is put off, and the city
It Ih tho boflt policy holder' com
pany In tho United Slates.
ASSISTS f 2,000,000 1
twenty years old. Wrlto
The Old Lint Bankers Life
LIhcoIr, NcbrHMkn.
OHILLIOOTHE, MO.
MM ewik m n aa 1 1
nuK mug.
AND
BUSINESS
COLLEGES
ALLEN
Instructor, xooe studont.
Coupe. Kntcr any Urnc
. Sll,,.,c,,t5in ono Kansa
Olty Hanlc. 08 Typewrit.
Positions accural, or tuition re
funded. Car furo paid, auto
courso desired. Address.
MOORE, Pros.,
1415 Monree St., Chillicethe, Ma,
Life and Speeches
of W. J-. Bryan
IlliiBtrntcd octavo. 4G5 pages, published In
ivOO, nothing Jaujr, nothing in print more
complete. A few copfcn, last of publisher's
stock attrrcatly reduced price. Substantially
bound in cloth, by mail, prepaid, 11.00 copy.
G.H. WALTERS, ,yfr
The Cost of a Piano
ahould not m rftckonod entirely upon -what yoii
pay to not It, A vory Important factor, nit tho yearn
pas, in what you pay to keep It In order, and moro
Important xtill 1 tho length or norvlco and tho
dcrrou of jfntlaftK'Mon It jtf vca you.
GABLER PIANOS
whllo nnlthcr the highest nor tho lowrcit prlc, aro
unsurpauicd by any Instrument mado In Amurfcn
orlSuropo In tho ncrvlco and ttatlsfaclfon they give
for each dollar expended. Tho "GAIILKIt
TONIC" Ih fumoiw, and Uio no-lewa-famous
"GAHMCIt WOJCl'CMANMIlII'" makes that
tono permanent through generation aftor generation
of use A Uabler U cheapest UEUAUflE UKST.
Investigate
Ernest Gabler & Bro.
ESTABLISHED 1854.'
500 Vhllfock Ave, Bronx Borough, H, Y. City.
Jefferson's Bible,
The Life and Morals of
JESUS OF NAZARETH
Extracted Tetlually from the Goipci, together with
companion of hit doctrine with tho of other.
By THOMAS JEFFERSON
Jeflertoa'f ralttion m Icadenbtp. Without
an effort on hi part exprcttioa from hi lip
that from other men' would acarcdy have at
traded notice, became thenceforth axiom,
creed, and gathering-cric of great maaaea of hi
countrymen. Henry S. Randall.
JeSetoa' BiUc b a took of 1W page, well
printed and wtWanfwfly bound in cloth. It wa
pubUebed oHtinaBy t be aold for $1.00 per
copy. By purchasing the hook in large number
we arc able to offer Commoner reader an ex
ceptSosud price of 75c per copy; tent by bu3,
poatage prepaid.
ADDRESS ALL ORDERS TO
THE C0MM0NE, LINCOLN, NEBRASKA
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