e, the
mayor, the city council and other high dignitaries attended the opening
performance in a body.

The company was the cream of the circus world: S. P. Stickney, one of
the most respectable and talented of old time circus men; Sam and Robert
Stickney, sons; Emma Stickney, his daughter; Tom King and wife, Millie
Turnour, Jimmy Reynolds, the clown whose salary of one hundred dollars a
week had so excited the cupidity of Alfred; Woody Cook, who came from
Cookstown, Fayette County, only a few miles from Brownsville, and who,
like Alfred had left home to seek his fortune; James Kelly, champion
leaper of the world; James Cook and wife, of the Cook family, were of
the company.

All circus people in those days were apprenticed, all learned their
business. One of the latter day hall room performers would have received
short shrift in a company of those days, when every performer was an
all-round athlete; in fact, in individual superiority, the circus actor
of that day outclassed those of the present. The riders were very much
superior as they had more competent instructors.

The only particular in which the circus performance has progressed is in
the introduction of the thrillers--the big aerial acts, the mid-air
feats. Combination acts are superior in the present circus and in this
alone has there been improvement. The circus people of old bore the same
relation to the public as does the legitimate actor today.

There was an aristocracy in the circus world of those days that could
not be understood by the circus people of today. Some twelve families
controlled the circus business in this country for years. They were
people of wealth and affairs.

The Robinson family was one of the oldest and most famous of their
times. The elder John Robinson left an estate valued in the millions.
The numerous apprentices of this master of the circus were the most
famous of all of their times. James Robinson who was the undisputed
champion bare-back rider of the world, was an apprentice of "Old John"
Robinson. Assuming the name of Robinson, he held a place in the circus
field never attained by any other. He toured the world heralded as the
champion, yet he would never permit himself to be announced as such. He
earned two fortunes. Today at an age that leaves the greater number of
men in their dotage, Mr. Robinson is healthy and active. He enjoys life
as few old persons do. In the office of his friend, Dr. J. J. McClellan,
he may be fo