Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 191, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 29 August 1917 — Rensselaer Kiddies to Get Free Rides on Ponies and Elephants. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Rensselaer Kiddies to Get Free Rides on Ponies and Elephants.

Every circus must have a spectacle a “spec,” as many of the inhabitants of white top land call it. But to the Gentry Brothers Shows, coming to Rensselaer on Tuesday, Sept. 4th, befalls the honor of featuring not only a spectacle, but a children’s riding hour, when the pages of storybooks are turned and the dreams of childhood come true. Immediately after the matinee each day the Gentry elephants, the camels and the two hundred ponies are mounted by a host of laughing and shouting kiddies and it seems that the menagerie tent of the circus contains all the youthful happiness in the universe. And the animals like it, too. The little eyes of the huge elephants twinkle gleefully and the ponies neigh their pleasure. Even the jungle beasts cease their deep throated growling during this magic period—- “ The Children’s Riding Hour.”