Democratic Sentinel, Volume 7, Number 52, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 January 1884 — Circus-Riders. [ARTICLE]

Circus-Riders.

A little boy known as Leo Carlo was brought into court in Philadelphia, to testify to his brutal ill-treatment by the manager of a circus. The child—whose real name and parentage had been forgotten long ago—had been in the circus since his infancy, and was now in training for a bare-back rider. He charged that his master, as he called the manager, compelled him to ride an unbroken horse, that frequently threw him. Whenever this happened he was beaten, kicked, and at last the sharp spike with which elephants are pricked was plunged into his body. During the course of the trial, many noteworthy items with regard to circuses were brought to light. It was stated that to become an acrobat a child must be put in training as ea?ly as its third year. The master stands over the child with a whip during each lesson. A few years ago a similar case gave the public a glimpse behind the curtain of the circus tent. The “w oman with the iron jaw’” who was noted for her enormous strength, had a child that she called her son, but had bought when he was a baby, and whom it was proy.ed she systematically starved and drugged with gin to keep him below a certain weight. * ‘ There are many of our boy-readers in country places who have been dazzled by the glories of the traveling circus. The ring, glittering with lights, is fairy-land, and the liying creatures in velvet and spangles, the happy creatures who dwell therein. These the boys envy with a fierce contempt of their own homes and work. They forget that the fun, in all shows, belongs to the audience, the work to the performers. There is, perhaps, no trade which re? quires harder or more constant manual labor than that of the circus-rider. His days are taken up with rehearsals, he travels all night, and lodges in the lowest inns. Tne mistake of the fall at which he laughs and the clown jokes, ufill be punished behind the curtain with a whipping, if the rider is a boy, or, if he is a man, by the profane curses of his employer, or by the lessening of his miserable wages. The white lead used in painting the face and head, in the case of two of the most celebrated of American clowns, brought on a softening of the brain and death, and almost inevitably produces some kind of cerebral disease. Stick to your farm, boys, or your schools! There is no tempting Dead sea fruit so full of bitter ashes as the lives of these gaudy creatures whom you so much envy. — Youth’s Com panion.