. The romance of a western boy; the story of Corse Payton. ever arouses in aboy the same feverish excitementas that kindled by a circus. The CIRCUS DAYS. 31 barbarity of it all appeals to his primal great tents, the prancing horses and thecaged beasts all combine to stir within him theinheritances of savage ancestors. The smell ofsawdnst intoxicates him as the odor of fresh earthand spicy forests palpitated in the blood of pri-meval man, filling him with the nntamed joyof life. And so Corse was canght in the spell of thecircns, and again ran away from home. Thistime he took a chn
. The romance of a western boy; the story of Corse Payton. ever arouses in aboy the same feverish excitementas that kindled by a circus. The CIRCUS DAYS. 31 barbarity of it all appeals to his primal great tents, the prancing horses and thecaged beasts all combine to stir within him theinheritances of savage ancestors. The smell ofsawdnst intoxicates him as the odor of fresh earthand spicy forests palpitated in the blood of pri-meval man, filling him with the nntamed joyof life. And so Corse was canght in the spell of thecircns, and again ran away from home. Thistime he took a chnm with him. They were gonefor five weeks. With a reckless enjoyment Corse followed npthe allnrements of show life. His histrionic tal-ents were now exerted in the sell-ing of peanuts and pink lemon-ade to the noisy circus circus parlance he wasknown as a butcher. Justwhat sarcasm is embeddedin that term one must dis-cover for himself. But aspink lenonade possessesdeadly possibilities some suchsuggestion may have passed on to its 32 THE STORY OF CORSE PAYTON. The circus brought many and varied experi-ences to Corse. A new and dazzling world openedup before him. The many hardships were palli-ated by the constant novelty, freedom and strangeexcitement of that roving life. It was an old darkey who said of the rollingstone: Maybe he dont git de moss, but he done gitde polish. So in that circus experience Corse got consider-able polish—polish of a certain kind. He learnedlife. He saw what appealed to the crowd, andthis knowledge he stored away for future use. He tells many quaint stories of those five weeks,but one story which struck me as particularlyinteresting I will relate for you. It shows thegreat memory of animals, and how their loveand confidence, being once gained, remainsteadfast. This incident happened in a city during thestreet parade. The caravan was moving majes-tically along. Its tinsel and coloring combinedwith its mystery and delightful su
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