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The circus business is an unlawful calling, one that cannot be defended on scriptural ground.
The performances are calculated to amuse the giddy and thoughtless and to excite the laughter of fools....
He [the editor] urges the friends of Christian morality to remember that they were bound by sacred ties
to discourage every species of amusement calculated to corrupt the principles of the rising generation.
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―Chillicothe Weekly Recorder Editorial |
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Church ain't shucks to a circus. |
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| ―Mark Twain in Tom Sawyer
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John Bill Rickets, another army veteran, tried to start a circus in Scotland like Astley's. When it didn't work out there he tried again in Philadelphia. The year was 1793.
Rickets's circus was a big success: George Washington was a fan. But Rickets got overextended and came to a bad end, possibly involving pirates.
Despite the condemnation of Puritans, times were ripe in infant America, and across the shrinking globe, for the spread of circuses.
 
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An elephant came to America in 1796. People paid just to see her.
Mistress Mack, Mack, Mack
Dressed in black, black, black
With silver buttons, buttons, buttons
Up and down her back, back, back.
She asked her mother, mother, mother
For 15 cents, cents, cents
To see the elephant, elephant, elephant
Jump the fence, fence, fence.
He jumped so high, high, high
He touched the sky, sky, sky
And he never came back, back, back
'Till the fourth of July, -ly, -ly.
―American children's rhyme
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Behold the astounding adventures of John Bill Rickets!
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