Going to the Circus

The Ringling Brothers &  Barnum and Bailey Circus came to Wichita, our home town, once each year.  We always went to the circus, but not in the usual way.  Of course we had no money for tickets to the performance, but my Daddy, once again, made sure we had a special experience.  He awakened us at about 4:30 in the morning to go to the circus.  It had arrived in town the night before.  With sleep  still in our eyes, we loaded three girls into the cab of Daddy's truck and went to the Circus grounds.  As we arrived, we saw the circus people unloading the animals and equipment. We watched intently.  We saw the marvelous elephants pulling on ropes to help raise the tents.  We watched the circus cooks making pancake breakfasts for all the performers.  We watched in awe, as the trainers fed their animals, the growling tigers in their cages and the roaring lions in theirs.  Big hunks of meat they fed them, more than enough to feed our family for months. We were fascinated. We saw the trapeze artists unload their trunkloads of costumes. We saw the "Fat Lady", the midgets and the "Tallest man in the world", all considered oddities for exhibition in the days before the American Disabilities Act.  We marveled at the horses, as  they helped unload the circus, too. They shoved bales of hay around for the floor of the rings.   We stayed until all the tents were raised, and the circus was ready for the opening night. the trapezes were hung, the animals fed and caged and the circus was prepared for the crowd. It was exciting, seeing the circus come together, and we never for a moment lamented the fact that we would not be seeing the performance that night.  We went home about 8:00 a.m. to a breakfast of corn meal mush with maple syrup, and thought we were the luckiest kids in the world because we had just been to the circus!