AT HOME IN MID-AIR.

Otago Witness, Issue 2523, 23 July 1902, Page 73

AT HOME IN MID-AIR.

NEEDING COOL HEADS AND STEADY

EYES.

As specimens of individuals who live only for their ptofession, wira-walkers and trapeze aitists ;re often remark iblc. Of them it ha«, with much truth, been said that "the> practise >-very day how to break their n-;cks eveiy night."

No performances given in public aie there th'-'.t entail more reheai.^al than the-e. Some artists, indeed. s.p2iid neaily th? whole ot each day going through the even-

ing'.s progiamme and in inventing new tricks. Our first picture shows a feat not at all easy to accomplish. The pei former walks to the centre of th"? w;ie, takes off and throw- awjy ids coat, lights a cigar, and then plays the g'atar, the while he

balance- hi- walking-stick upon Ips right foot, standing mi the wire with his left foot only. The sti<_k balancing 1? T'lf nn^t difficult part of thi^ "act," and the pel - former always uses a stick with a clocked handle, so thai if a .slip js made the falling Mick catcher in Ihe let .-pre ad below, and does, not drop on to the audit nee

Dancing .md tuning somei- mlt- 01. the viie are included in the i duration >>f all such entertainer*. But not a few tlev<.r feats are done standing "-till. as, the next little picture demrnsirates. Hvie the individual shown stooping down places a .-mall cannon-ball on hi.s back, and by an adioit mo\ement causes it to travel up to and oxer his head, and finally come to a .top. renting oxer his clo.sed eye.

As before suggested, •wire-walkers and trapeze people have to be continually hunting foi something fre^h with winch I.j excite the interest 0/ their audience

Often 3 novel acr th.-il lv- i iken mm-lli--to mtoUi. kuulus uiuaue oulv lor. &o Luujj

«o tlie mals of its originator ore learning to copy it. The outcome of ihis rage for "innovations'' is the introduction of more complicated feats, such as that which comes next. In this the balancer does not merely poise himself upon the wire, but he stands instead on a ladder that lests upon the wire, and which is kept upright, not by the aid of his hand*, but by the giip of his teeth upon a cord that passes to it.

A variation in feats done at a considerj'ble elevation is .«een in the succeeding picture. With special skates fastened to his feet, the man boldly travels along a wire stretching fio-n. one end of a big building to the other. It cannot be said that he actually skates. ; but. with one foot behind the other, and the rims of his skate wheels overlapping the vir. lie launches

himself from one little platform, nnd. witlicut making fuither effort .other thau that neceb.=ary for balancing himself, by the mipetu« of his rtart runs across the wire to the second small platform at the farthei end.

We now come to a fc U that call" for great steadiness of movement as well as extreme precis-ion of eye on the part of those who give it. Two men. with a long ladder, mount to th? tiapeze. across which the 1 tdder is balanced. The pair then cautiously letire to o i -uo--itc • nd.< of tlie ladder, which all through the ti ick rests. = cc-i-e\v fashion, on the tiape^e-bar. When

each is at tlie end the man on the left fastens a kind of rope sling to the ladder, climbs cautiously down thi*, and finally rests, hanging by the btck of his head, as f ketched. The w hole of the time the man up above has to intently watch the ladder, ready, by coiTstantlv .stepping backwards and forwards, to counteract any tipping

moronic m -et uj'^JV the e\olutions of his connadu To tini-h the Teat, the initial pi.ict— Ims 10 be j\i-Ij \i -1 a- cm full y ie\er«-ed, iiii the t^\o ag 1111 stand -id' by side 011 the tiapezc'.

The trapeze, v. c may in o> uion. is ks^ e>isv than th w.ie to pciftim upon. Pupil.*, nicked, begin h\ walking .1 ball — y gicat calf-de\ sloping exeiu-t — ihtn pa-s 1.11 to the rope ;.nd w irt tight and sUck, .md finally tackle H>? unsteady trapeze Aid to what .i pitch ot pcifection the\ bring ilioir ait the new lllu-ti ltion pio\e-. On the lett the pei'minei btl.incf> nnn-•-c-lt on oh.- fowl on t'K-.niii >^ swin^.u^ bar. On the light pi icing li.- luuHlkt.-iJiief

upon the bir. ihe mvi. i_ai^fu!h loweis hnn-c'li' till he is kneeJuig ovei it Then. \try cant mash, hi- hei'l got* down, down between his kiict-, till he can aunally M.MZC the handkeichief m In- moii.h .<i-d then list to .vi upright positi ni. All the time, be n understood, hi- fe>- ' ai.d In- liaiid,.ie stietch>-d oi t in enn<t\ an: he is balanced on his knres. In none of the ■achievements ih it we are noticing Joc~ nieiu hIKD-glli couut foi Anything; every-

thing is done by patient knack .>nd jool nerve and daring. Finally, here is an item given on 'lit slack wire made slacker still. The clow .1 just lies easily along the w.ic — or lather .l appears easy — and swings sideways to and fro, keeping time to the music of f h? cichestra. Sometimes the performer staits with the wire quite taut, and assistants gradually slacken the. strain till the wire

appears as here «hown, the man upon it meanwhile varying his tricks to iiiJt the varying degrees of tension.

As regards the danger of such perfoimances as these, it i» comfoitiug to note that serious accidents are .'aid :o be less common than is the case with some popular forms of violent athletics.