In the old days it was the general custom for the circus proprietors to
put their own children into the business, teaching them to do
everything in the acrobatic line, from bare-back riding to trapeze and
bar work and slack-rope and tight-rope walking. Many of them were also
skilled musicians and could play several instruments in the band.
At the present day many persons not familiar with the inside life of
the circus will no doubt be horrified to think that a man wealthy
enough to own a big circus and menagerie would train his sons, and
particularly his daughters, for the ring. Let me say on this score that
I could name a long list of families in which this custom prevailed,
and must say that the private and domestic life of these people was far
above that of the average families in fashionable society. Almost
invariably the members of each family were devoted to each other and
were refined and intelligent. Many of the young women of these families
married wealthy and cultured men, and retired from the circus business
to become the mistresses of refined and happy homes. Many old showmen
whose children were star performers carried accomplished teachers with
them on the road, and the children were as well educated as if the
entire time had been spent attending school.
Their training and work in the ring not only afforded them splendid
physical exercise, but taught them patience, application, alertness,
and many other valuable lessons which made their progress very rapid
when it came to their lessons from books. It is a fact worthy of notice
that the circus people are a long-lived race. I can name almost a score
of famous performers who have attained an age of more than eighty
years. This would tend to show that circus work is quite as healthy as
any other. I may add that the charge so frequently brought against
showmen, that the training of children for the circus ring is cruel, is
not well founded.
While I have seen many instances of cruelty in this connection, there
is nothing in the work itself which necessitates hardship or harshness.
In fact, quite the reverse is true.
The child is the sooner trained into an ability to do a dangerous and
daring feat through gentleness and encouragement. In other words, the
more they overcome their fear in every direction the better able are
they to swing from one trapeze to another, to walk the tight rope at a
dizzy height, or to turn somersaults from the back of a galloping
horse.
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