[Illustration: EAGER THRONG AT THE MAIN ENTRANCE.] On the Road With a Circus W. C. THOMPSON [Illustration] NEW YORK NEW AMSTERDAM BOOK COMPANY 1905 Copyright, 1903, By W. C. THOMPSON Copyright, 1905, By NEW AMSTERDAM BOOK COMPANY _On the Road With a Circus._ TABLE OF CONTENTS. CHAPTER I. PAGE The Modern Circus, 5 CHAPTER II. Arrival and Debarkation, 29 CHAPTER III. Early Scenes on the Lot, 43 CHAPTER IV. The Parade, 58 CHAPTER V. The Side-Show, 67 CHAPTER VI. At the Main Entrance, 86 CHAPTER VII. The Menagerie Tent, 101 CHAPTER VIII. Life with the Performers, 116 CHAPTER IX. Night Scenes and Embarkation, 147 CHAPTER X. The Circus Detective, 157 CHAPTER XI. The Autobiography of a Circus Horse, 164 CHAPTER XII. The Circus Band, 175 CHAPTER XIII. With the Elephants, 181 CHAPTER XIV. The General Manager, 197 CHAPTER XV. American Circus Triumphant, 208 CHAPTER XVI. The Old-Fashioned Circus, 219 CHAPTER XVII. The Circus Press Agent, 233 ON THE ROAD WITH A CIRCUS CHAPTER I THE MODERN CIRCUS The faithful recording of daily life with one of the “big shows,” wandering with it under all vicissitudes, fortunate or adverse, is the errand on which this book is sent. You and I will travel from the distraction and tumult of the summer season to the congenial quiet of winter quarters, and survey operations from the hour when new and unwonted scenes and sounds startle city quiet or country seat retirement until the stealthy breaking of the white encampment and the departure from town. We will scrutinize the entrance of strangers into strange lands and observe the rising and expansion of the tents as an army of men stamp their image upon the earth. Our astonished eye will gaze upon the gorgeous pageant of the parade and returning to the grounds will peer freely and familiarly about the place of strange sounds and entrancing sights. We will watch the master mind of the circus and his associates in counsel and action. We will study the life, character, and habits of the motley throng of “show” people and learn of morals and manners, of hopes and fears, of trials and solicitudes; and we will pass sunny hours on meadows enamelled with violets and daisies and goldened with buttercups and dandelions, where the circus is passing its day.