Seventy Years a Showman

George Sanger

• Publisher: Seton Press
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9781406769531, 9781443731133
• eBook ISBN: 9781447497189

SEVENTY years a showman. Seventy years! A long, long day is waning at last. Here in the peaceful shadows of the Garden of Life I pause awhile. I want to drink in the scene. I want to realize the full meaning of it all. Rest—yes, I can rest now. The way has been long. It has often been weary. A showman's life, my friends, is not all glory. Beneath the glitter and the tinsel is many a heartache. The open road is often strewn with thorns. And now the journey is nearly ended. Far away in the west I see the setting sun. The garden is hushed in sleep. Ay! The showman's day is gone. The shutters are up. The camp fire, long lighted, is dying away. In its glowing embers I see strange faces. They are the faces of the Past. Tell us the showman's tale, you say. And why not? The very thought of it brings back to my ears the jingle of bells. The dim figures before me turn into a thousand shapes and fancies. Tell you the showman's tale? Ay, that I will. Once more I hear the blare of music and the sound of drums. I catch the laughter of merry children. Walk up! Walk up! Walk up! This way for one of the most singular stories ever told by living man! This way for a tale of strange things, scenes, and adventures!

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Introduction
• Contents
• Sanger And His Times By Kenneth Grahame
• Author’S Introductory Remarks
• I. My Parents and Early Days
• II. Secrets of the Freak Show
• III. The Battle of Oxford Road
• IV. Making the Most of a Tragedy
• V. The Scourge, and Some Strange Remedies
• VI. A Ghastly Adventure
• VII. The Body-Snatchers
• VIII. How the Chartists Spoiled Newport Fair
• IX. The Raid on Lansdown Fair
• X. Showmen’s Lynch Law
• XI. Grim Tragedy and Legal Farce
• XII. How Father Saved My Leg
• XIII. How a Giant Died
• XIV. How the Gipsies Fought at Moulsey Races
• XV. The Great Hyde Park Fair
• XVI. Some Shows and Strange Superstitions
• XVII. I Turn Coster and Fight a Bully
• XVIII. A Conjurer at Last
• XIX. I Start a Show of My Own
• XX. I Go to Stepney Fair and Meet My Fate
• XXI. How Showmen Turned Firemen
• XXII. The School for Learned Pigs
• XXIII. Second Sight and a Queer Incident
• XXIV. Race Gamblers and “Tog-Tables”
• XXV. More Justices’ Justice
• XXVI. How the Mummers Gained a Victory
• XXVII. I Lose My Father and Gain a Wife
• XXVIII. The Pantomime Played in a Charnel House
• XXIX. A Disappointing Fair and an Explosion
• XXX. My First Child is Born and I Lose My Mother
• XXXI. I Meet York’s Lord Mayor and Many Misfortunes
• XXXII. A Lucky Tour Gives Me My First Circus
• XXXIII. How Buck-Jumping Horses are Trained
• XXXIV. I Beat the Yankees and Become Proprietor of Astley’s
• XXXV. John and I Dissolve Partnership
• XXXVI. On the Continent: an Adventure and Historic Meeting
• XXXVII. “The Lions are Loose!”
• XXXVIII. How I Became “Lord” George
• XXXIX. The Wild Wolves that Terrified London
• XL. Good-Bye to Astley’s
• XLI. Meeting With Royalty and a Gracious Queen’s Letter
• XLII. The Latter Years, Some Partings, and Farewell