MAY WIRTH IN AMERICA.

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 5351, 7 February 1916, Page 7

MAY WIRTH IN AMERICA.

INTERESTING INTERVIEW.

Writing in the “Los Angelos Record” Estelle Lawton Lindsay, the well-known authoress, says: “May Wirth. is the latest woman to do things that the world had solemnly declared no woman could do. May is the star equestrienne in the Barminx and Bailey circus. She is sixteen and pretty; she is buiLt like a. brick wall and draws a salary that must give the opponents of women’s independence a pain under their ribs when they think of it.” The writer describes how she interviwed May in the dressing tent of the Barnum and Bailey circus and says: “May Wirth stood stolidly, pulling her high-priced legs into a pair of # pink tights. Turning suddenly to avoid a tornado of dogs I lost my balance and caught at her to steady myself. Hen- flesh was like iron under silk. Mr face must have betrayed my astonishment, for the girl said carelessly: ‘That is what my profession does, gives health and strength. I began riding when I was seven. Now I can do things no woman ever did before in the history of the circus business', and some things that only three or four men can do. For instance, 1 do a forward somersault on the Itoek of a running horse. No woman ever did that before, and very fbw men. Since I came to America from Australia 1 have learned a more difficult feat still. In circus parlance it is called the back-across. Now and again one likes to improve, you see. This act consists in turning a somersault from the front of one running horse to the hindquarters of another in the rear. Don’t tell me women cannot do anything they wish and that they will work to do.’ ”