Evening Republican, Volume 18, Number 93, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 18 April 1914 — Page 3

Side Show Sidelights

< Diverting Chronicles of Circus Life

By FRANCIS METCALFE

THE LIONESS SKIRT DANCE AND THE INCONSIDERATE PYTHON. The conventional skirt dance has long ceased to be a novelty on the vaudeville stage, but as It is performed by "La Belle Selica" in the arena at the amusement park it holds the interest of that most exacting audience —a crowd of Coney island pleasure seekers. It is not because Selica is pre-eminent among dancers, but on account of the unusual and dangerous stage setting; for she performs in the large exhibition cage, surrounded by a half dozen lionesses, each animal seated .on a separate pedestal. Any one of the huge beasts could crush the dancer with a single blow of a massive paw, and the great jaws which snap viciously at her tiny feet- as she kicks them before their faces are sufficiently powerful to crush the shin-bone of an ox. ' So long as she is on her feet and agile enough to escape the swift stroke of a paw or the snapping jaws, she is safe; for a lioness would not jump at her from a pedestal; but there is always the chance of a slip or a false step and then —’!! It happened once, and caused a suspension of Selica’s performance for two months during the last big exposition, for Grace, the largest lioness, was on her before she could recover herself; and it required the efforts of the animal man and all bt his assistants to beat back the beasts who were maddened by the sight and smell of blood and to rescue the unconscious woman from the cage. They have never forgotten that moment of rebellion which was so nearly successful, and they are ever watchful for another opportunity to avenge the many cuts of the training whip which they received in the course of their schooling. But Selica is also watchful, and although Grace had latterly done nothing particularly out of the way, the wonderful sixth sense which experienced trainers always acquire warned her that the animal should be regarded with suspicion. The beast had become nervous; a little more sullen than usual when or-

SHE IS APPARENTLY WITHOUT FEAR OF THEM.

dered to leave her den for the exhibition cage, and a trifle slow and rebellious when told to jump up on her allotted pedestal Constant association with the wild animals begets carelessness, but SeIlea, with the scars of Grace’s sharp claws still visible on her back and shoulders, was quick to notice the change and especially careful, before opening the door from the den to the runway, to look through the observation hole and make sure that the lioness was not crouched for a spring. Grace had been particularly sullen in the afternoon and she' was growling ominously when Selica went to get her for the evening performance, but when the woman saw the three little furry balls which were huddled in a corner of the den she understood and forgave all. The cubs were no larger than St. Bernard puppies, but Grace apparently considered them worth fighting for; and Sellca’s dance was given that night with only five lionesses in the cage, and jthe proprietor told the stranger the reason for the empty pedestal. "Wait until after the performance and I will take them out of the cage 'and show them to you,” he said; and the stranger, remembering a tradition to the effect that robbing a lioness of her cubs ia a dangerous feat, looked forward with a great deal of Interest to the'after-piece. “We can’t trust the rearing of the cubs to Grace,” said the proprietor, as he stood in front of her cage after the audience had been dismissed. "The close promixity of the other animals in the arena and the curiosity of the thousands of people who come here every day would make lifer so crazy that she would destroy them, so I must get them ja foster mother. I have sent to New York for a bitch with pups, and in a couple of days I will show you a happy family.” The cubs were in the center of the cage and Grace stood over them, snarling and looking with blazing eyes at the group in front of it; but Sellca’s voice

(Copyright by W. G. Chapman)

from the runway and a rattling of the door at the back distracted her attention, and as she sprang at the door the proprietor darted a hand between the bars and seized one of the cubs, drawing it safely out a half second before the enraged mother landed against the bars with a force which made them rattle. The poor beast was almost frantic, but the same maneuver was twice repeated, and in spite of her fierce attacks on doors and bars the proprietor, who had acquired through his lifetime association with the great cats as much of their quickness of movement as it is given to mere man to learn, removed the three cubs without receiving a scratch. Poor helpless little creatures they were, and it was difficult to realize that they would soon grow into beasts as powerful as the ferocious Baltimore, the terror of trainers, who was answering Grace’s lamentations with roars which /fairly shook the building, from his cage on the other side of the arena.

"That animal was bred in captivity, bom and raised in our menagerie in England,” said the proprietor after he had placed the cubs in charge of one of the keepers. ‘1 suppose that’s what makes him such a bad beggar to handle. Give me the jungle-bred lion to train, every time, for after the man-handling and discomfort of his capture and transportation to the coast by natives, he appreciates the care and humanity of a civilized trainer. Bonavlta, the greatest trainer who ever went into a lion’s cage, would have two good arms today if Baltimore had been born in the Nubian desert instead of in Manchester.” “I remember once,” he said, "when a guy named Merritt and myself were running a snake show in New York that we couldn’t pay the rent because the papers wouldn’t give us any publicity, although we had the finest collection of wrigglers that was ever gotten together. We were running it on the dead level, nary a fake about it, and Merritt’s lecture was highly Instructive and interesting and more than half true; but we saw that

we couldn’t win out at the game unless we crooked it. We were running so far behind that the only thing which saved us from a dispossess was the fact that they couldn’t get a constable who would carry the snakes out to the sidewalk; but Merritt was a resourceful cuss and I felt confident that he would figure out some scheme to win out. “'Jim,’ says he, ‘it’s necessary for us to give ’em a sensation. We’ve tried to run this game as a purely moral and instructive entertainment, but we need the money and I reckon we’ve got to spring a cold deck on ’em. I guess you’ve got to stand fpr being attacked by an untamable, maneating pythop.’ “‘You can count me out on that,* says I. ‘Every gazabo in the city would size me up as a victim of the demon rum.’ Merritt looked discouraged for a minute, but his face suddenly lighted up and I knew he had found a way. “‘Jim,’ says he, ‘lf we only take half of our usual allowance of firewater tonight we will have enough cash to buy some paint. Now there’s that big white python; the only specimen ever captured, the “pythonatus fluldum lactalis glganticus,”' says ha That was one trouble with Merritt; he’d get so stuck on the language which he manufactured that he couldn’t leave ft out, even in our business consultations, and it used up a lot of time. ‘That python is the straight goods,* says he, ‘but he doesn’t catch their eyes, so I’ll paint the blame snake red, white and blue and christen him the “anacondus flagelum americanlbus e pluribus unum,” and give the high brows something to work on,’ says he. ‘That’ll work up the snakologists and set ’em writing in the papers to prove that there isn’t any such thing; but we’ve got the answer to that, for we can show ’em one at twenty-five cents D«r.’ “I never could stand for slim-slam-ming , the gen irons public, but my

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, RENSSELAER, IND.

meal ticket was punched so full of holes that it looked like a porous plaster, and I consented. Merritt spent most of the night decorating that-python, and in the morning it looked like the pennant of a man-o-war. I had to sit up and watch him, for he had the artistic temperament, and he was so carried away by his enthusiasm that if I hadn’t restrained him he would have put on the coat-of-arms of the United States, eagle, motto and ail.

“‘Now,’ says he, when he had finished and stepped back to admire his work, ’if that blame snake’s own mother would know him if she met him on the street, I’m a Dutchman. If this don’t make ’em sit up and take notice, then Hl go to night school to learn the show business.”' “How did the scheme work?” asked the proprietor, as the press agent paused to make the grand hailing sign of distress to the waiter. "Work!” he answered. "How does a fake always work in New York? The python was so stuck on its new colors that it nearly broke its neck turning around to admire itself and everything went lovely. Of course, there was the usual howl from the snakeologlsts who knew it all, and ‘Old Subscriber,’ ’Citizen,’ ‘Pro Bono Publico’ and the rest of the bunch wrote columns, denouncing us as frauds. "You know how those things work; everybody puts up an argument and then it’s up to the fellow who is making the bluff to back it up with an offer to donate a sum of money to some charitable institution if he can’t deliver the goods. We were well ahead of the game as a result of the advert Using and had about two thousand to the good and Merritt got awful chesty. He had lied about that snake so much that he believed in it himself and it made me a little nervous one night when he offered to donate two thousand dollars to the ‘Home for Decrepit Side Show Fakers’ if any one could produce another specimen like this one, short of the head waters of the Amazon. I wasn’t scared so much by that as by what I feared he might say, for I knew they couldn’t get another if they raked the universe with a fine-toothed comb, and sure enough, he was carried away by his enthusiasm and offered to bet our entire bank roll that the snake was a genuine ‘American flag,’ such as had never been exhibited in any country. “It was just our luck that there was a half-loaded tin-horn gambler in the audience that night; one of the kind that wears a yellow diamond and a checked suit with a white stove-pipe hat; and the only part of the speech that he understood was that somebody wanted to make a bet. That raised his sporting blood, and he climbed up to the platform and pulled out a roll of yellow boys that would choke a dog and peeled off twenty centuries.

‘"I don’t know much about snakes which bromide won’t make chase themselves back to the woods,* says he as he plunked ’em down on the table. ‘I ain’t got your gift of gab, but money talks and I’ve got this pile to say that you can’t tell the truth to save your neck. Just stack up your pile alongside of that and then trot out your snakelet* I was feeling pretty sore on Merritt for making such a bluff, but, of course, we had to make good and between us we covered the bet. We had glass cages full of snakes all around the platform, but ‘Old Glory’ was in a big chest covered with gilt figures and brass chains and fastened with a padlock. Merritt was mad clear through at having his veracity questioned, but he looked pretty confident as he stuck the key In the lock. ‘“lt’s a shame to take the money,* says he, as he eyed the gambler, *but there’s an old saying about the mental capacity of a man that is speedily separated from his bank roll, and I reckon you were away from home the last time the fool killer called.* The gambler just smiled and kept his eye on the stakes. "’Now,* says he, turning to the audience, ‘if you’ll kindly give me your attention I’ll show you one of the most marvelous mysteries of nature. It was procured by one of our special agents at the head waters of the Amazon at tremendous expense. It is a unique representative of the reptilian family and the sight of it should arouse pride in the hearts of all patriotic Americans; for as he unwinds his sinuous coils you will observe that while his head and neck are blue, the body, down to the tip of the tail, is marked with thirteen alternate stripes of red and white, giving this marvelous creature the appearance of being wrapped in that glorious emblem of liberty which waves over the land of the brave and the home of the free.’ Merritt stops then, throwing out his chest and sticking his hand into the.bpsom of his coat to wait for the customary applause from the gallery to subside; but Instead of the usual glad hands he was greeted with a roar of laughter and cat-calls and when he turned to look at the snake box, there was ‘Old Glory* crawling out, looking ashamed of himself, for he was as white as the day he was born.” “What happened?” asked the proprietor as th#press agent sighed. "Well, Merritt always had presence of 'mind, and as the sport gathered up our hard earned sheckels he grabbed me by the arm and hurried me from the building. He knew that a Bowery audience was apt to follow cat-calls with antique eggs and vegetables of last season’s vintage, and five minutes later we were trying tc drown our sorrow. “ ‘Jim,’ says Merritt, T made a big mistake, for I should have tattooed him. His beauty was only skin deep and the blame snake shed hie skin,’ **

WEAKNESS OF THE UNITED STATES IN COUNTRIES OF SOUTH AMERICA

John T. Lenfestey Tells of American Commerce on the Southern Continent—European Nations, Germany, England and France, Now Get Lion’s Share of the BusinessThree Causes for This Are Named.

Chicago.—John T. Lenfestey has returned to Chicago from his tour of the principal states of South America, with numberless vivid stories of his experiences, as shown by his comments made to the London correspondent of The Daily News and reiterated here. He was deeply impressed by the mental alertness and the proud spirit of the peoples among whom he traveled. "It is high time,’* said Mr. Lenfestey, “that we people in the north disabused our minds of the foolish notion that we can treat South Americans with indifferent courtesy and have their friendship. They are wonderfully responsive to respectful and cordial treatment. I hope the American people will grasp thia fact quickly, and I hope that in future no citizen of the United States, distinguished or undistinguished, will come to Central or South America and behave otherwise than he would behave if he were traveling among the most civilized and powerful people of the world.

“Enough on that point England has the same spirit in commerce that ‘No Flint’ Gen. Grey displayed in the conquest of the West Indies for England. British capitalists have scouts all over South America placing money with South American republics, and English contractors are on the ground to bring it back home for railroads, docks, harbors, battleships, explosives, guns and factories of all kinds. The Belgians, French and Germans are not far behind, ‘gumshoeing* around for governments, corporations and individuals who need money and have security to offer for its remove resistance and make it easy for the manufacturers of their nations to»sell' the products they desire to move. *• “Many Americans, looking around for openings without money, return home disappointed. North American salesmen in South America who speak Spanish are well satisfied with the success they are enjoying, and North American goods are given the preference more than ever before. There are three elements of weakness in the development of North American commerce. First, the absence of banking facilities under North American influence; second, ignorance of the geo-

The Capitol of Buenos Ayres.

graphy of South America, and third, failure to properly fill orders and pack goods safely so as to insure them against the rough handling they receive in cargo steamers. “There are abundant facilities for carrying freight safely, reasonably and promptly, if the same care and wisdom are used in addressing and packing shipments for South America as for domestic trade in the United States. “The commercial Instinct for merchandising is not very highly developed in South America, but the people there have much the same nature as elsewhere, and are reached in much the same manner, except that they are more sentimental and like to be made love to. The love making they appreciate most is a display of confidence in them manifested by loaning them money for the purpose of building up and developing the republic they live under and love. “South Americans recognize that public and private debts figure conspicuously in the older and more successful countries, and they see no reason why the per capita publie debt of their nation and the cities they live in should not equal that of England, Germany or the United States. Judging by extracts taken from our (North American papers, there are not so many famous grafters and less newspaper publicity is given to grafting in South America than is the case with us. * - ’ ( . “Spain and Portugal have sacked and sapped the South American republics for hundreds of years. Last year 147,000 emigrants from Spain moved into Argentina to till the soil thus atoning in part for the injury wrought by their ancestors to the. South America countries. These poor People from Spain are mor 3 needed in

Argentina than the rich; they have succeeded in making ten heads of wheat grow where one grew before, and by their labor have been able to utilize the land, hitherto nonproductive, controlled by the members of the Buenos Ayres Jockey club. “Brazil is dominated commercially, to a great extent, by Germans, who sit steady tri the boat and daily enlarge their sphere of influence. They are ever ready on the ground with technical knowledge to produce whatever is wanted, as and when wanted,

Street of Tegucigalpa, Honduras.

packed to arrive in the units wanted, with customs duty paid and bill rendered for delivery where and when wanted. This' is one of the secrets of their success in Brazil, as they stand alone among nations tor giving such complete service. "South American republics are in much the same position as many unfortunate manufacturers' in North America who are short of capital, owing to the inability of their bankers to see visions. It is said that in North America there are only twp bankers who are big enough to recognize good visions and capitalize them. “A foreign consul remarked to me that Europe was supplying the money and North America was selling the goods. By that he meant to say that American influence and commerce were growing rapidly in South America.

-‘-‘I had a great time wherever I went. I found the people, native and foreign, sympathetic and generous of time, effort and money. I must tell you about a thrilling ride I had in Peru. By the way, I found the railways of the west coast, though owned by the English, operated by Americans from the top to bottom. It seems to be clearly recognized that the operating genius of American railway men, is unrivaled. At Lima, Peru, expressing to J. H. Feehan, manager of the Central railroad of Peru, desire to go up the mountain, my request was immediately granted. For seven hours we ascended the grade—a four per cent one —finally arriving at our destination, Rio Blancho, 12,300 feet up. The rain clouds were driving about us and the blue sky gleamed beautifully through them. The view was vast and superb. I was ‘tobogganed’ back to Lima, 75 miles. That is to say, a man named .Kelley took me on a handcar and ran down the line right into the city by gravity. We made the return trip in two and a half hours. It was rather late when we started back and for half an hour at the end of the journey we ran in

HYDROPLANE ATTRACTS SOCIETY WOMEN

Mrs. Payne Whitney of New York is one of the society women who have been attracted by Steve Mac Gordon’s hydroplane, which skims over the water j like a seagull. The picture shows Mrs. Whitney and Mac Gordon just after « fl, « hu ■ ... t

the dark. It was my most thrilling experience in South America. "I do not feel that one *can too strongly underline the fact that for most part the American diplomatic and consular representatives now in South Ameriba are rendering service of the highest possible value to the United States. Undoubtedly the foremost man among these able public servants is Ambassador E. V. Morgan at Rio de Janeiro. He is an ideal ambassador. His tact, sympathy and intimate knowledge of all classes and conditions of society mark him Off as a diplomatist of extraordinary ability. So popular is he both with the public and Brazilian government that when It came to be understood that he was at the point of retiring from the service, the Brazilian government specially requested the Washington government not td permit him to retire. I say this about Mr. Morgan and his confreres of both services because I realize how important it is that the United States should have in South America men thoroughly initiated into the life of those countries. To change a man like Mr. Morgan at Rio de Janeiro, or our ambassadors at Montevideo, Buenos Ayres, Santiago or Valparaiso would be a calamity. They all have won a position that only tact and time give one and they have spent a great deal of money over and above the pittance allowed by our government.”

ATTACK OLD CHURCH ABUSE

Prominent Englishmen Join to End . Sale of Life Rectorates in British Isle. London. —The Duke of Rutland, Earl Fortescue, Lord Hugh Cecil, Sir Charles Walpole and other prominent men have organized, at the suggestion of the Westminster Gazette, a movement to rid the Church of England of the evil of the sale of "advowsons,” the right of presentation to a church or other ecclesiastical benefice. Of the 13,000 benefices in the United Kingdom more than eleven hundred are dispensed by the king, more than seven hundred by the universities, and the rest by either bishops and other ecclesiastics, or else by the nobles, esquires or other private individuals who own the "livings” in parishes. For centuries it has been the prerogative of these private "owners” of .parishes to sell the post of established preacher, which Is literally a life job. There still remain in England and Wales about six hundred parishes where the right of naming the rectors is held by private owners, who sell it the same way as other property. In these places the parishioners possess little, if any, guarantee that the requirements of religion or social well-being will be considered by the patron. The owner has in the parish pulpit an asset which produces a certain income and creates a parson’s freehold, and not even the bishop can prohibit the sale if certain forms be observed. The present movement is an attempt to preserve the spiritual rights of villagers. For a living worth <1,500 a year a clergyman pays <6,000 down and he gets a life post At his death the place again is sold. When he is ill he has to hire a substitute or do without. There is no way to get rid of him, so long as he commits no crim* Inal act.

W. R. GEORGE IS ABSOLVED

Directors of Association of Junior Republics Express Confidence In Accused Official. New York.—William R. George, founder of the George Junior Republic, was exonerated by the board of directors of the National Association of Junior Republics of the charges brought against him recently relating to his alleged treatment of certain young women members of the Freeville Republic, in this state. A board of judges composed of Joseph H. Choate, Samuel Seabury and Miss Lillian D. Wald, to whom the records of the case had been submitted, found recently that George had been guilty of "willful misconduct,” but had not been swayed "by a desire to injure or abuse” young women. The report of the special committee and the opinion of the board of judges were upheld by the national directors.