Show s 's sv 0 v a i av S e It Y ro A r t b t A r V q a Y H y i dlan M A 9 1 a aI I Reporter at large Ray discovers the girls girls' names are Margie Markle Barbara White and Doris Claire Sideshow Talker Jack Hamilton snapped the picture because he thought Jt t was good atmosphere atmosphere- and who w wants to argue Greatest Show ho ow on Earth Holds Much Fascination for Writer This Is the fhe lint first of three stories s by Ray Peacock Wide World Features Feature writer who did a five day day hitch with the fhe clr circus us to fo see how circus u. u people live If ever I turn up missing look for me in the circus backyard For five days an Alec in Wonderland I was an enraptured fraction fraction fraction frac frac- tion of the greatest show on earth and almost I didn't come back jack I ate in n the dining tent slept and traveled in one of those mysterious mysterious mys- mys erious silver gray coaches worked a a. little and loafed a lot in company company com- com pany jany with some ome of the most congenial congenial con con- genial people I ever have met Thanks to the finest press card cardI I ever carried I could go anywhere any anywhere anywhere where any time The card even got me Into the coach where sleep enough beautiful showgirls to tomake tomake tomake make a sultan restless The girls I must admit were on the circus lot ot when I wandered through that no mans man's land For Every G Girl rJ a Doll You should have been along Each berth upper and lower reflected reflected re- re fleeted the tastes of its two occupants pants This one had curtains and spread of blue chintz that had red flowered cretonne When two were alike It meant they were occupied by sisters And on every berth holding the fort while the girls were under the big top was a French doll One even had a huge stuffed panda Where that panda disappeared to at night in those cramped quarters was more than I could guess However I didn't mean this to tobe tobe tobe be a harem tour even though there is an Arabian Nights flavor to the acre 15 Ringling Brothers and Barnum Bailey tented city which springs up in the morning and vanishes in the night That's the Life I r did mean to tell you why circus people like the life and want no other because I fell in love with it myself It isn't the gypsy existence existence exist exist- ence per se so much as it is the abundance of fresh air and sunlight and a a. freedom from the petty worries worries worries wor wor- ries which plague us ordinary mortals mortals mortals mor mor- who live in one place I never saw a healthier lot of people tanned and free of ot colds with remarkably few wearing glasses All their worrying is done by advance men who get paid for it If you like to eat the circus is the spot for you In the first place the food is for free and in the second place its it's good I watched the cook tent go up one morning in in company with a dozen or more fascinated women from the town we wo were playing and playing and an hour and a half after the first stake staka was driven driver breakfast brea was wag ready ready fruit fruit Juice and choice of scrambled eggs or fish Lunch bunch choice of two and some some- times three dishes including chow mem mein mein chicken pie and Vienna loaf for instance Dinner still more variety plus soup and trimmings Neighborly Too Lou should know that the lot is laid out according to th the same pattern as much as possible in each town always find tind the dressing wagons wag IS and tents of the Fred and Pat Valdos side sideby sideby sideby by side for tor they have been lot nei neighbors for tor years year Between matinee and evening shows there is a chance for rest or sports or rehearsal or neigh neigh- neighborly neighborly borly bony visits V and nd old gO swimming whenever possible for forthe forthe forthe the practical purpose of ot taking a abath abath abath bath as well welt as the sport I had the time of ot my life at Williamsport Pa on one of ot these swimming expeditions which wound up with a bus bUll tour through the Keeping clean in fact tact is the toughest problem in the circus Few lots are like the model grassy fairgrounds fairground at York Pa where I I. I joined up for tor my five days of travel with It RB B B BB B. B Circus people are forever washing out I clothes or taking sponge baths and it isn't exhibitionism that I causes them to wander i around the the and in ill the sketchiest of cloth cloth- 1 ing A swim suit is pretty easy I to wash out but a shirt or dress is something else again I By the time we Ve hit jt New Newark rk I I N N. J. J where I had to pack up and leave nearly everyone was down downto to his last clean shirt and the theN N Newark ark launderers were having a agold agold gold old rush N Next How It feels to be a I- I clown Iown |