Just a Trifle Gaudy.

Otago Witness, Issue 2437, 28 November 1900, Page 69

Just a Trifle Gaudy.

THE OLD MAN'S OPINION OP THE CIKCTJS WAGGON THAT CAME WHEN HE EXPECTED A HEARSE. "It's a hard life," declared the old circus man, "and I-always £ay at the close of every season that lam through with it. ' But there i<j something in the life, the smell of the sawdust ring, the glitter and noise, the changing scene, that appeals to a man who has once been in the business, and it is seldom that one leave the life until death steps in. There is a good deal of humour in the business, too, as we are brought into contact witii all sorts and conditions of men, \

"I am reminded of a funny thing thair happened to me a good many years ago when such a thing as moving a circus by rail was not thought of. It was part of my work at that time to drive our great lO.OOOdoI chariot, not only hi the parade, but between towns as well. What little sleep I got 1 had to catch here and there on my seat while we were on our way to another town. One right my doze turned into a. sound - sleep, and when I awoke I discovered that the team, left without a driver, had turned into a farmyard and come to a stop before a hay stack, where they were quietly eating. While I was rubbing my eyes and trying to grasp the situation, the old man who owned the hay came put where I was and walked 'around the chariot, and looked it over with a critical c3 r e. '" 'Well,' said' I, with a grin, 'what do you think of if/" " 'Groch,' said he, 'ain't hit jes' a trifle bit gaudy ?' " 'Well, what do you expect?' said -I, indignantly, at this implied reflection upon the great moral show that I represented. " 'Well, I suppose hit is all right,' answered the old man doubtfully, as he looked it over onoe more. 'I ordered hit, and I'll stand by my bargain. Hit seems ter me that hit is jes' a bit loud. But I suppose I ain't used to city ways.' — - , • ■- - ''It was now t iny ,turn to be surprised, and I was about to ask him what he was driving at when he added that I might as well unhitch, as the funeral wouldn't be until 2 in the afternoon. - - . "Then there were explanations all round. It that -the old man's wife had died, , and he had sent to the nearest city for a funeral car, and had mistaken our great 10.jOOOdol chariot for "it. There had been a good deal of rivalry in the neighbourhood in regnrd to funerals, and the old man had made up his mind to outshine them all, and I think

he was disappointed in the end when he diiK covered that he had been mistaken." — Detroit Free Press.