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Show friendly elephants and a curious armored ar-mored rhinoceros from India ; the more familiar rhino from Africa, together to-gether with hyenas, dromedaries, zebras, ze-bras, and water buffaloes. Australia contributes the kangaroo. The rhinoceros, despite his perpetual perpet-ual grouch and his amazing ugliness, is one of the most valuable beasts in the circus, costing about 510,000 by the time he ltas beeu purchased from an exporter and raised to maturity. While the more impressive rhino hails from India, a dwindling species, the African, is a formidable fellow of steam-roller disposition. Rhinoceros, elephant, :r water buffalo can whip a tiger or at least discourage him in most instances. In contrast to the evil-tempered pachyderm, with the deadly horn and the tiny, piglike eyes, is the good-natured hippopotamus, as genial as he is fat. Elephants From India. Circus elephants, almost without exception, ex-ception, come from India. Their African Afri-can cousins, though larger, are much harder to handle and have proved pretty pret-ty generally useless in circuses except for display purposes. Jumbo was an African "and he was stubborn, like the rest of his four-footed countrymen. One night years ago, in St. Thomas, Ont., Jumbo got into an argument with a freight train on the wrong track, with the result that his funeral was held the following morning. Indian elephants are natural actors and enjoy doing tricks in the big show. They are quick to learn, once they realize what is expected of them, and their ears are tuned to applause like those of a born trouper. Most of them are surprisingly good-natured, and they are so anxious about a firm footing that in most cases they will not voluntarily vol-untarily step on a man. Giraffes are captured by means of a lasso, and often oft-en an Africa-born giraffe will be seen to have about two inches of hair missing miss-ing from his stubby mane evidence (Jli? ' :P':?t'":. I'' ''i' Trained Circus Elephants that the lasso was instrumental in his capture. The big circus cats, unless born on the show, are captured in the jungle regions with traps and pits covered with jungle foliage and baited with young goats. A new method of capturing cap-turing wild beasts alive involves shooting shoot-ing them with a gas bullet that puts the animal to sleep' without pain. When the creature wakes up he finds himself a prisoner. These recently perfected gas bullets are said to be capable of bringing down a lion or a Spring Heralds Coming Circus Much Actual Geography Seen in Sawdust Ring. (Prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture.) WXU Service. THE circus, land of sawdust and spangles, pink lemonade and peanuts, pea-nuts, is about to emerge from winter quarters. The magic rumble rum-ble of red wagons and the footsteps of circusdom's spangled battalions have echoed down the corridors of many summers; yet few really know the phantom white city, a nomadic world, a geographic marvel and a mystery from beginning to end. There is more actual geography within the narrow borders of Span-gleland Span-gleland than in any similar space on the face of the earth. From the shores of the seven seas come its citizens, their faces turned toward the open road where lies the winding trail of the big tops. Dainty equestriennes from France and handsome Russians from the steppes ; pink-cheeked athletes from Great Britain and Scandinavia; flashing brunettes from Italy, Argentina, Argen-tina, Mexico, and sunny Spain ; blond Germans with iron bodies; suave, charming Austrians ; almond - eyed maids from Yokohama, Tokyo, and Nagasaki and from the seething land of the dragon ; sun-tanned sheiks from the shifting sands of Araby; whip-crackers whip-crackers from Australia and hard-riding cowboys from the western plains; clowns, acrobats, aerialists, riders, staff executives and laborers from every ev-ery state in the Union all owe allegiance alle-giance to the transient country of tents. A game of checkers in the circus "backyard" between a genial young Japanese tumb'er, heir to half a million mil-lion dollars, and an old clown who ran away from his home in the Middle West long ago, lured by the spangled Pied Piper and his steel-throated calliope, cal-liope, shows how the big top draws together the ends of the earth. Such Is the population of Spangleland, where people from nearly every country coun-try under the sun are fed into the hopper hop-per of a highly organized machine to emerge firmly woven into the brilliant mosaics of a fast-moving performance, subscribing without reservation to the one supreme law of the trouper ''The show must go on." The circus is organized socially, but a trouper's geographical background has nothing to do with his qualification for membership in the circus golf club, baseball team, clown society, women's clubs, or circus chapter of the American Ameri-can Red Cross. Above all else, the population of this nomadic melting pot learns tolerance, and it's what a person per-son is rather than where he came from that counts most. Got Start in Circus. Circusdom has been a springboard from which men have vaulted to prominence prom-inence In other fields. Will Rogers was the "Cherokee Kid" with Wirth's circus cir-cus in liKM. Al G. Fields, the minstrel king, started trouping as a Shakespearean Shake-spearean clown. Fred Stone wore spangles before the footlights claimed him, and some of his best antics were born back in "Clown Alley" during his circus days. Many persons still look upon circus trouping as something akin to robbing a bank, which accounts for the interesting inter-esting fact that many present-day circus cir-cus stars had to run away from home to join. Take Mabel Stark, for example. ex-ample. Her relatives virtually disowned dis-owned her when she laid aside the crisp, white uniform of the trained nurse to expose herself to the mauling maul-ing of "big, striped tomcats," as she affectionately refers to her tigers. But the call of the calliope and the magic of the midway were in her ears and she immigrated to Spangleland, there to become the only woman in the world who breaks, trains, and works tigers. She has more scars on her body than a giraffe has spots, and her exciting career has fed newspaper columns for years. The almost unlimited geographical aspects of the circus are nowhere more In evidence than in the wild animal menagerie. To this traveling college of zoology belong animals from every continent, each a splendid physical specimen, receiving the utmost care from the animal attendants. Zoological Zoologi-cal experts from leading universities never cease to marvel at the exceptionally excep-tionally fine condition of the circus animals, despite the fact that they are moved from city to city almost every day. Variation In climate in different sections of the country presents a serious se-rious problem for circus animal attendants, at-tendants, who often pass hours in a cage with a sick jungle charge, so fond are they of their animals. Seldom does a beast die while the circus is on the road. Under a single spread of cauvas are gathered hundreds of unimals and birds tigers from Bengal, Sumatra, and Siberia; Hons and leopards from Africa's tangled Jungles; tall, silent giraffes from the open stretches of lOthlopia ; nilgai, black buck, aotulad, tapir, and gemi.bok antelope. In the same circus colony are Russian brown bears, huge black fellows from Alaska, ami polar bears from Greenland's Icy Klopcs. Hut the circus animal populu lion does not end here. There are hip popotatniises from north of the Transvaal Trans-vaal ; orang utans from Borneo; tiny rhesiiH monkeys with pathetic faces, HlTecMomiti; (lisposll ions, mid delicate lungs; llamas from the mountains of Peru; pumas from North and .South America; maenws from .Mexico; sea lions from California; a Hf.i elephant noin the Antarctic wastes; wise, tiger at a distance of 200 feet. But circus animals from the four corners of the earth are Imported for a far more interesting purpose than mere exhibition. Many of them are educated. edu-cated. In the circus "classrooms" the natural enemies of the Jungles are taught to tolerate one another. Mystery of Circusdom. Much of the mystery of circusdom lies in the moving of this miniature cosmos, with its citizenry of animals and people from every clime, and in the pitching of the tents that compose the canvas city. The largest circus carries Its own doctor, lawyers, detectives, detec-tives, barber shop, blacksmith shop, fire department, chefs, business experts, ex-perts, and postal service, and it travels trav-els on 100 railroad cars In four sections. sec-tions. There are long, steel flat cars for the wagons and other vehicles; huge box cars for the hundreds of horses, elephants, camels, llamas, zebras; ze-bras; commodious sloping cars for the performers, staff, and laborers. That the moving of the show may be expedited, cook and dining equipment is packed up at 5:.10 In the afternoon, and Is sent ahead aboard the flying squadron, along with the wild animal cages and the menagerie tent, which is loaded Immediately after the start of the night performance. The land of the white top remains static for just about six hours between the time the last wagon moves upon the lot, In the late morning, until loading begins again, in the late afternoon. lUit, If there Is a late arrival, the time between be-tween unloading and packing up again Is shorter still. Of course, when the circus arrives on Sunday or when It remains in a cily for more than one day, as It does In a few very large cities, this schedule Is not followed. The longest run mad; by a circus In 1!).'I1 was the Klngllng Ilarnum jump from Springfield, Mass., to Montreal, Canada, a Sunday trip of miles. The sborlest run was 12 miles, from Philadelphia to West Philadelphia. Circus exhibition In the United States had lis beginning In 17fC and President Washington attended Kick-ett's Kick-ett's circus In Philadelphia In 17!).'!. The circus of those early days was a puny ancestor of the present day show. Indeed, II had no elephant ! The first pachyderm to set foot In the United Stall's arrived several years later, aboard sailing vessel called America. Spangleland scarcely could lay claim to being a complete world In miniature were It not for the fact Hint within Its boundaries can be seen the freak as well as. the normal handiwork of Nature. Na-ture. Tin; side show Is a separate und distinct kingdom. |