Posted 13 years ago
Nostalgic
(72 items)
Not everyone can say they have a circus mallet kicking around. My understanding is that it would have been used to pound the tent pegs into the ground and the wear marks would seem to support that theory. Weighing 10.5 lbs. and measuring 31" from top to bottom, this is a hefty hammer. The head is 9.5" long and 5.75" in diameter.
Nostalgic: when I was a young lad ,probably mid 1940s ,went and watched them put up the big top-they used 3 men to pound the iron stakes in the ground along with Elephants-was like a jack hammer-asked my cousin how they got the stakes out-he told me they used the Elephants-not even sure if they have circuses that travel like that anymore.My older cousin got a job hauling water for the Elephants -for a days work he got a free ticket the the circus-In one of my history books they said in 1900 a circus traveling by rail from town to town with animal feed-human food-advertising-straw- all expenses the cost was $1500 a day.Not sure what that would be in todays money.Thanks for letting me walk down memory lane.
Oh, Lee Sayer, what a lovely tale! I'm grateful to you for sharing it and am so pleased to have sparked a pleasant memory.