There is
nothing in all this world so incredibly haughty as a circus, from
tent-peg to proprietor. Perhaps you who read this have felt your own
insignificance while gazing at an imperial tent-peg that happened to
lie in your path as you wandered about the grounds; or you have
certainly felt mean and lowly in the presence of a program-peddler,
and positively servile in contact with a boss canvasman. It is in the
air; and the very air is the property of the circus.
In time the twenty wagons, with their double and quadruple teams,
attended fore and aft by cavaliers and court-ladies, _papier mache_
grotesques, trick mules and "calico ponies," came once more to the
grounds, still pursued by the excited crowd. Far ahead of the parade
a loud-voiced "barker" rode, warning all people to look out for
their horses: "The elephant is coming!" Just to show their utter lack
of poise, at least fifty farm nags, in super-equine terror, leaped out
of their harness and into their own vehicles when "Goliath," the
decrepit old elephant, shuffled by, too tired to lift his proboscis,
thus exemplifying the vast distinction between themselves and the
circus horses which only noticed Goliath when he got in the way.
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