CIRCUS DAYS 5 
we could find, and we were always so dead tired 
that we didn’t care much where we slept. 
Since those early days in the circus, I’ve been 
around the world many times, and I’ve seen all sorts 
of men, living and working in all sorts of condi- 
tions, but I’ve never found a harder life than that 
of property-boy, unless, perhaps, it’s that of a Malay 
prisoner. Sometimes I wonder how I stood it and 
why I liked it. But I did stand it and, what is 
more, I loved it so much that I persuaded the boss 
to keep me on when we went into winter quarters. 
The moment we arrived at a town, the head 
canvas-man rode to the lot on which we were to 
show and laid it out; that is, he measured it and 
decided on the location of the tents. The men with 
him drove small stakes to indicate where the tent- 
pegs were to be placed. In the meantime, the prop- 
erty gang unloaded the show. Then we drove the 
four-foot stakes for. the dressing-tent into whatever 
kind of ground the lot happened to have. A man 
can work up a good appetite by swinging a fourteen- 
pound hammer for an hour or so before breakfast, 
but before we started we had also many other things 
to do. The dressing-tent had to be spread and 
hoisted; then the properties were sorted and placed 
in their position for the performers to get ready 
for the parade. Meanwhile the canvas-gang was 
getting the “big-top” up. Then, when the parade 
started, we went to the “big-top” and arranged the 
properties there, made the rings, adjusted the guys, 
