MONKEY: While we’re talking about the circus, Ruth Kearney of Kane had a great story to share about a runaway circus animal.

She called Friday to tell us about her memories of the big top.

“I went to the circus when it came there either in 1939 or 1940,” said Ruth. At that time, her family lived along Seaward Avenue in Bradford, in the area where the Emanuel Lutheran Church now sits.

She recalls getting up early to see the animals being brought to the circus grounds down the street. They arrived by train to the depot at the corner of Kendall and Seaward avenues, and the circus employees marched the animals the rest of the way to the grounds, she explained.

She said when she was someone around 8 to 10 years old, “If I remember right, the thing that interested me the most was the trapeze,” she said.

Seeing people fly through the air would certainly have made an impression on us, too. We’re not great with heights…

Anyway, “One time the circus came, a monkey got loose from that circus, and it came up to the big tall trees that were in our front yard on Seaward Avenue there.” Can you imagine!

“Oh there was just so much excitement in Bradford — people came to see the monkey in the trees.”

She believes the fire department made attempts to retrieve the monkey, but “It wasn’t until the next day that someone from the circus got it down. I think they finally put a trap in one of the tall trees.”

INAUGURATION: We know after watching Friday’s inauguration that it feels like Americans are quite divided at the moment.

The division could be worse.

One this day 156 years ago, on Jan. 21, 1861, Mississippi senator Jefferson Davis resigned from his seat on the Senate. About a month later, on Feb. 18, 1861, he became president of the Confederate States of America. His resignation came in the days after Mississippi seceded from the Union.

You guys know the rest of the story.

When the topic of politics comes up, it’s easy to find ways you disagree with your friends or neighbors. But finding what you have in common — especially coming out of the end of a gory political battle — that is a skill, an art even.

Are we up to the challenge?