MAY WIRTH IN AMERICA.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume 8, Issue 52, 1 March 1916, Page 7

MAY WIRTH IN AMERICA.

AN INTERESTING INTERVIEW. Writing in the Los Angelos Record of September 7th, 1912, Estelle Lawton Lindsay, well-known authoress, says;— "May Wirth is the latest woman to do things that the world had solemnly declared no woman could do. May is the star equestrienne in the Barnum and Bailey circus. She is 16 and pretty. She is built like a brick wall and she draws a salary that must give the opponents of woman’s independence a pain under their ribs w-ben they think of it.”

Tli e writer describes how she interviewed May in the dressing-room of the Barnnm and Bailey circus and says: "May Mirth stood stolidly, pulling her high-priced legs into a pair of pink tights. Turning suddenly to avoid a tornado of dogs I lost my balance and 'aught her to steady myself. Her desh was like iron under silk. My face must have betrayed my astonishment for the girl said carelessly, "That is

v. hat my profession does, gives health and strength. I began riding when I was 7. Now I can do things no woman ever did before in the history of the circus business, and some things that

nly three or four men can do. "For instance, I do a forward some* -unit on the back of a running horse No woman ever did that before—and

■cry few men. Since I came to America from Australia I have learned a more difficult feat still. In circus par'■mce it is called the "back across." Now and again one’likes to improve, you see. This act consists of turning a somersault from the front of one running bourse to the hind-quarters of another in the rear. Don't tell me women cannot do anything they wish and that they will work to do."

Mirth’s Circus opens at Taihape on Friday, March 3.