Cincinnati daily press. [volume] (Cincinnati [Ohio]) 1860-1862, 1860-07-07
N. r. WilIis's Description Of Blondin the
ROue.WaIlxer.

ROpe-Walker.
Willis, in the Home Journal, thus describes
NJ. Blondin's passage over the Niagara Rive
in the character of an Indian Chief
After being dressed in his hesh-colore6
tights, wampum apron, bead necklace, anC
mocassins, he came out with his particularly
uncombed sandy hair uncovered as yet by
its crown Of feathers( to look a little into the
arrangements for his performance. Fol
fifteen or twenty minutes the little Tecumseh
was hopping about, trying the cords which
held the ropes to the stanchions cooking the
pistol which was TO be fred to announce his
return, giving directions for the music bind.
ing the lgatures of his balauce-pole, and
answering very merrily all the Jokes and
questions of the lookers-on. In his motions,
back and forward, he took no regular step;
he simply bounded. Like child's soap
bubble, the difficulty seemed to be TO get to
the ground--to keep from floating away.
During all this time, of course, had the de-
sired opportunity for the study of his face
10 was one which nineteen people out of
twenty, on seeing it in a crowd, would pass
over as wholly uninteresting-the twentieth
and more observant man giving him good
look, as one of the most coolly determined
and honestly spunky little fellows he had
ever seen. The top of his skull, of course, is
very high with his bump Of 6rmness. His
cheekbones are prominent, his nose straight
and with thin expanded nostrils, his lips thin
and firm, his cheeks hollow and pale, and he
wears a sandy mustache and imperial-d Ia
Louis Napoleon.
Though any thing but a beauty, he is a
man il is impossible not to take a fancy to.
Retiring to his shanty for a minute or two,
after all was arranged, his temperance was
announced by grand utmost-iana from the
band, and forward came Tecumseh, with
high crown of many-colored feathers on his
head-not with slow pace, as would be ex-
pected from an Indian Chief, but dancing
Jig all the way to the precipice. 1t was Curl
GUS, however, to see that the smile on his lip
and his other signs of merriment for the
many, were altogether mechanical and artifi-
cial, while the closely-pressed eyelid through
which his keen blue eye was hardly visible
showed the inner minds utter absorption
aud concentration in the work he had to do.
The rope was drawn from shore to shore,
eight hundred feet across, and two hundred
and fifty feet high over the Niagara rapids
a perilous bridge for human feet to walk |
took hold of his arm as he stood trying the
rope for q moment with the ball of his foot
1t was like a bunch of iron-wire, wholly un-
impressible. And away he went--his moe
casined feet hugging the two sides of the
swaying cable, his balance-pole playing up
and down, and his little figure gradually di-
minishing as he walked steadily on and
proceeded to stand upon one leg and hold
the other out at right angles The spectators,
of,course, were all breathlessly silent; though
i found it much more breathless to think of
afterward than to see done, he did it with
such apparent ease and certainty, that it was
like seeing a bird fly or a spider walk the
ceiling--not to be wondered at for that kind
of creature. b-. rltI So. s.I..
am inclined to think il. would be more.
startling lbetter enabling one to imagine
himself in the performers place) if he were
to do II in common clothes. Looking scarcely
larger than a butterfly as he reached the op-
posite shore, Blondin remained fifteen or
twenty minutes out of sight, and then the
pistol was fired to announce his return. He
came quietly on to the center, where he
stopped TO lie down at full length on the rope,
and execute various postures and gymnastics;
and, between this and his reaching our shore
again, he made several pretended trips, as if
losing his balance-the screams of the af-
frighted ladies, at this, very comicaIly varying
the tune which was being endeavored by the
band. As he came up the slant of the rope
again, Saw that his lips were tightly drawn
together, and his features were rigidly set
with the mental exertion, and it was an ex-
preston Of face that would be worth painting
as Il type of determined will Through ali
the anxiety OF q spectators suspense | could
not help admiring the little man exceedingly,
and was the first TO give him hand as he
stepped on the cliff. It was cold, clammy
grip that he gave me in return, and his fin
gers felt icy and wet. Everybody who could
reach him gave him shake of the hand on
his way to the shanty, and the enthusiasm
for him seemed universal. And so ended
the show of human life put fearfully in peril.
Mr.. Blondin, ] was afterward told, has a wife
and several children, and resides at Niagara,
having adopted it as his theater of perform
hnce. His professional profits amount TO ten
thousand dollars year.