F Berkeley Smith: 3 books

It is the small boy who crawls under the circus tent who most keenly enjoys the show. He has watched while the big double-top canvas was being raised and staked taut, transforming the familiar pasture-lot into a magic realm, more alluring and seductive than the best fishing-hole in the town creek.

This is a late 19th century look at what Paris was like at the time. Excerpt from the intro: When the sun shines, the city is en fête. Rows of geraniums flame in the well ordered gardens of the Tuileries. Masses of flowers, gay in color as the ribbons streaming from the bonnets of the...