Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 114, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 14 May 1915 — SPARKS SHOW WAS MIGHTY GOOD ONE [ARTICLE]

SPARKS SHOW WAS MIGHTY GOOD ONE

Not the Largest By Any Means But Every Act Was Clean and Thrilling—Large Crowds.

The Sparks show drew a large crowd Thursday afternoon. Practically every seat in the tent was occupied and it was a happy circus crowd which bought circus ice cream canes and lemonade and applauded the thrilling acts of the performers and the clowns. At night there was another good sized crowd, the tent being more than half filled. The circus consisted of two rings and a large center platform. There was some very good horseback riding, but this as a show feature is probably soon to be relegated to the background, for 'the horse is becoming less and less used for riding and many persons do not appreciate the difficulties of expert riding. The trained horses made a very nice appearance in their cavalry drill and in their dance steps. The trained elephants, the trained seals and the bucking mule were interesting features. The mule refused to permit a darky "to get on its back or even inside the circus ring, attacking him viciously with its teeth, aarbchdng his clothing and dragging ban about almost as a dog carries a rat. A 'Uttle pony that galloped speedily on a revolving disc proved a

delight to the children. Trapeze, ring and bar performances were all good and a tight wire act in which a little Jap girl excelled was very clever. The menagerie was small, there being five elephants, five lions, a Royal Bengal tiger, a leopard, a cage of seals and sea lions, a cage of monkeys mid that was about all. In these days of zoological parks in about all of the large cities the menagerie feature of shows is also losing interest. Taken all in all the circus was very creditable and satisfaction was expressed by all with whom the reporter talked,