After a nine-year hiatus, the circus is back in town. Well not our town. The field near my backyard where it once visited now houses a funeral home, condominiums, and the police station. Instead, it stops at cities around New England and points west. The famous Ringling Brothers, Barnum and Bailey Circus is now called just Ringling. They stopped performing in 2017 after 146 years.

            Ownership said operating costs were high, audiences were growing smaller, and pressure from animal rights groups made it difficult to put on a proper show. So, they folded their tents (Actually, they hadn’t used tents in years, instead performing in vast arenas. I imagine the basketball and concert fans were glad to see them leave because it has been reported that the smell of the elephants left an unpleasant aroma behind for weeks).

            One of my favorite memories as a kid was when I would wake up in the morning to the sounds of the elephants trumpeting. Thanks to the generosity of the circus’s band leader, who stopped into my dad’s barber shop for a haircut, I got free tickets and the run of the grounds, meeting the performers and watching them rehearse. My favorite parts were the clowns. To this day I cherish those memories.

            According to Ringling’s website, management decided to “modernize”, to “re-imagine the circus”, and focus on “authentic human personalities” and avoid “pop-culture” tastes. They moved away from “corny, traditional tropes.” Hey, what’s wrong with tradition and what’s a trope anyway?

            Tradition is the circus arriving in town on a train or on trucks. Children and their parents would line the streets to watch the elephants and clowns marching to the fairgrounds in anticipation of a fun afternoon or evening of excitement and laughs.

            Alas, the “Greatest Show on Earth” is not so great as it once was. The new version has no elephants, no lions, no tigers, no dancing bears, no prancing ponies… no animals. They don’t even have a ringmaster or a live band. And no clowns! That’s right, no clowns.

            I can see getting away with eliminating wild animals, they were often abused. Living in small cages is no way for a wild animal to live. But clowns! Really? They also felt that clowns were creepy hiding behind heavy make-up, a stereotype associated with horror, and “scary”. What? Thanks Stephen King!

            Where are these hard-working funny folks supposed to go? Are they expected to pack up their red noses, giant shoes and tiny cars and move to Washington?

            Fear not, clowns are not going away. The World Clown Association held their annual convention in Boston this past March. (Imagine thousands of clowns roaming the streets of our state’s capitol city.) The top banana of the group visited nearby New Bedford, which is surprisingly, a mecca for clowns, and I don’t mean the city’s politicians. There is actually a clown school there. Really.

            If you are not afraid of clowns (coulrophobia) and have a love of clowns (a crurophilia) and have a desire to yuk-it-up, be silly and goofy just for the fun of it, you can enroll at the not-for-profit Smile Factory, which trains clowns for performances at hospitals, parties, schools and a three-ring-circus of other events… but not the Ringling Circus.

            Call me corny, but I say bring in the Clowns.

By Dick Morgado

            Mattapoisett resident Dick Morgado is an artist and happily retired writer. His newspaper columns appeared for many years in daily newspapers around Boston.

            This week in Revolutionary War history, let’s check up on what was going on 250 years ago in New England and the northern Thirteen Colonies. Last week, General Washington and a long column of thousands of Continental Army soldiers finally arrived in New York City. The general would set up a temporary headquarters in lower Manhattan, 1 Broadway. From here, he prepares to inspect and strengthen defenses of the city.

            April 19, 1776 is the first anniversary of the Battles of Lexington and Concord. Therefore, the American Revolution had been raging, in its “hot” form, for a year. Patriots Day was this past Monday, and it commemorates the battles and the “shot heard round the world.” The holiday is not a federal one and is observed as a state holiday by Massachusetts and Maine.

            Back to 1776, Washington begins his General Orders for the day with “Parole Lexington,” choosing the town as the day’s password for guards and sentries. However, it is not evident that much more is done to highlight the anniversary. Washington instead writes to President of the Continental Congress John Hancock, urging the congress to act quickly in pressuring Native American tribes. He writes, “In my opinion it will be impossible to keep them in a state of neutrality – they must, and no doubt soon will, take an active part, either for or against us, and I submit it to the consideration of Congress whether it would not be best immediately to engage them on our side, and to use our utmost endeavors to prevent their minds being poisoned by ministerial emissaries, which will ever be the case while a King’s garrison is suffered to remain in their country.”

            With that, Washington is signifying to Congress to quickly press native groups to join the Continental’s ranks and also potentially suppress/outmaneuver (by what means, one can imagine) those that could ally the British. He also again highlights the importance of Canada, though doesn’t recommend a large-scale conquest of it, saying, “The security of that country is of the utmost importance to us, this cannot be done so effectually by conquest as by taking stronghold of the affections and confidence of the Inhabitants.”

            The next day, Washington writes to the New York Committee of Safety asking the body what measures are in place should British warships appear on the horizon. Along with requesting the manner in which 2000-2500 militiamen could be raised for such an instance, he asks for information on and men be stationed at “good lookouts on the heights and head lands at the harbor.” He also asks for signals to be developed and agreed upon across neighboring towns. Though not quite a beacon system like Byzantium or Gondor, he also asks for greater cooperation and understanding from New Jersey.

            That same day, as is the theme of the conflict, General Washington writes to Governor Jonathan Trumbull in Lebanon, Connecticut. He writes of the “the state of our ammunition,” saying, “I find we are greatly deficient in the article of ball, and as I understand a large quantity of lead has been manufactured at Middletown in your government.” Connecticut has recently increased production of war-time materials, while also receiving the pirated bounty of powder from Nassau. On that, he ends the letter, “P.S. As the quantity of powder here is much smaller than I expected, and the demand from Canada greater, I should be obliged to you if you would inform me how that has been disposed of which was said to be imported lately into your government on Continental account.”

            As Washington continues to be disappointed by the state he finds New York and Colonel Henry Knox continues to be delayed on his trudge from Boston with all the army’s artillery, on April 22 to the south, the Cumberland County Committee for Safety in Virginia drafts a declaration of sorts. Member Carter Henry Harrison reads it allowed on the steps of Effingham Tavern. To the people gathered, he calls on Virginia and the other colonies to “‘abjure any allegiance to his Brittannic Majesty and bid him a goodnight forever.”

            Similarly, further to the south, on April 23, the South Carolina Grand Jury in Charlestown issues “Presentments,” or arguments against the Crown and in favor of independence. It begins, “When by evil machinations tending to nothing left than absolute tyranny, trials by jury have been discontinued: and juries in discharge of their duty have assembled, and as soon met as silently and arbitrarily dismissed without being impaneled…” It goes on to state the Magna Carta has been breached, and in order to avoid anarchy, “a new continuation of government, independent of royal authority” is necessary.

            Slowly but surely, the war taking place is evolving from what was thought of as a civil war between subjects of King George III towards a war for independence, where by British subjects in the Thirteen Colonies are looking for separation. These acts by smaller town bodies are emboldening and inspiring voices in Philadelphia; especially those keen to write.

This Week in Revolutionary War History

By Sam Bishop