THE CIRCUS-FOLK.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21159, 16 April 1932, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE CIRCUS-FOLK.

By SHEILA QUINN.

BEHIMD THE SCENES,

I thought it might interest " Boys and Girls " to Jicar about the exciting afternoon I spent at the circus during its recent stay in Auckland. To begin with, I did not go to (lie circus iiuiho ordinary way at all, that is, I did not just buy a ticket, and then sit oil a rickety seat for two hours enjoying all the wonders one usually docs enjoy at a circus. Mo! By a wonderful'stroke of good luck I met ono of the circus " stars " a charming girl who performed wonc':erful aerial feats—and was invited by lv?r to go along to (he circus and meet folk of the " circus-folk." I did so. Jt was a matinee afternoon, and there were hundreds of children wandering round the showgrounds, and an air of activity Mid excitement everywhere. Officials in j;;old-lnaided uniforms dashed hero and there; milk-white and jet-black horses and panics pawed the ground restlessly, and Irom the tents the roars of ihe animals mingled with the children's laughter. In a dim little dressing lent I met the star of the c reus. She was dressed in a frock of spangles and had a warm tweed coat thrown about her shoulders. She was such a jolly, friendly girl, and in a minute or so we were chatting together as if we had known each other for years. She told me that the circus blood was in her veins, and that although she had lived at a boardin; school until she was eighteen, the lure of the circus was too strong and slio had joined up the show. After that 1 met tierce-looking Cossacks who talked a jargon of broken English and Russian, and clowns who, out of the ring, wcie quite serious, delightful persons. The lion-tamer told me that ho first started lion-laming when he was quite a boy, " just for the fun of it." It occurred to mo later, wlien I watched him attempting to humour great, angry, snarling beasts, that ho had a peculiar idea of tlio Meaning of " fun." Just beforj I left I was taken over to the children's tent. I had previously seen these children performing in the ring. Their turn was excellent, in my opinion the best in the show, and T had privately decided that, no doubt they were insufferably conceited with all the applause and attention thev received. I was wrong. They were shyly eager to bo friends. The two younger children were munching apples, happily absorbed in trying to teach a pet bantam tricks. The elder girl was curled np in a deck chair deep in a book, and the baby, a little girl about six, was wandering round quite contentedly chatting to anyone who would stop to listen to her. I asked them if they ever did any school work, and the two boys nodded gloomily. " Correspondence lessons," said the younger mournfully, " homework and exams and everything." I said good-bye to them all at last and came away with the roaring of ihe animals still echoing in my ears, and the strong conviction that the circus-folk were the friendliest li tie band of people one could wish to meet.