Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1862-05-26
UP IN THE AIR.
From the London Packet ]


| found him suffering from extreme debility
snd nervousness, brought on by the overstrained
tension Of the muscles and sinews. He Old
me that he was rope dancer, slack and tight;
a tumbler, stiff and loose; sprite, acrobat, and
b5ttIe-equilibrist; and many other things which
have escaped my memory.
His family consisted of his wife-a pale, sick
Iy woman, somewhat older than hinself-and
very handsome little girl. Accustomed as 1
was to witness the devotion Of women by sick
bedside, and the irritability of male patients
the elfsacrifce of Madame Tornados and the
demOnstratiye gratitude Of her husband for
each act Of attention, surprised me. He was
under my care for some months, and, as he re-
covered, grew talkative and familiar. One
evening, as he sat in an easy-chair, propped
up by pillows, he favored me with the follow
ing narrative. / purposely suppress any pro-
fessional techhicalities and acrobatic argoe
which would be unintelligible to the ordinary
reader.
You see, SIR" he began, " my father was
n hawker over in Lambeth Marsh. / never
knew my mother, because she died when was
quite young. 1 don't know how it was /
learned tumbling. The first thing / can re-
member is standing on my head close to West
minister Bridge, and a gentleman going by
giving me a shilling. Now, my boy the
gentleman said, do that again, which did
Now, said he, spring, which 1 did and
came on my feet again Good boy,' said he,
man, sir, was the great Mr.. Ducrow Well,
sir, Of course, after SHck encouragement from
SUeh a man, tumbler / became / spared
neither pains nor trouble, and practiced till
became master Of my art and head of my pro-
fessiOn.
About seven years ago-I was Just twenty
three-l first met with James Ranford, who
was also in my line, and he proposed that we
should work together. / consented and we
travelled about and exhibited at town halls
and assembly rooms, and large rooms at inns !;
but We did very badly. Ranford had a wife
and child, so it fell harder upon him. Twas
forced to lend him what little I could spare
for could not see young woman and little
baby go without while had it, could L?
Well. sir, things get from bad to worse
and my partner, being a man of violent tenn
per, took to drink-he was always given that
way-Rnd, sm sorry to say, be used to beat
his wife. Sometimes my blood has boiled
and have walked away for fear that should
interfere. However, l used to cheer up the
mssus as well as / could, and nurse the little
girl, and they both grew to like me very
much.
lone night, at a place called Peddlethorpe,
we had no audience at all We were without
money, and were asking each other what we
should do, when the Squire's son and a lot of
young gentlemen came in and asked US to
perform for them, which we did; and they
gave US a couple Of soyereigns, and, more
After supper the squire looked at one of our
bills of the day. and said, HOlloi why see
you call yourselves Messrs. J. RanfOrd and
W. Kerr No wonder you get audiences
/ suppose these are your real names?" We
answered that they were.
.'0h. thatH never do he said. "YOu
must have an alias; you mustn't let the public
suppose that you are Englishmen. II is con-
trary to the rules Of professional etiquette
You must make out that you are foreigners. -
well, at that all the/gentlemen began to
laugh; but II was settled before We broke up
that night that, for the future, we were to call
ourselves The two FOscari-the spinelsss ST.
amese of Syria
Well, sir, from that moment Ranford and
( began to do well; but m sorry to say that
our good luck only caused my partner to drink
the harder, and, IN consequence, TO behave
more badly to his wife. His child he GER
tainly was very fond Of, partly, think, be-
cause he had only known her a short time, for
RanfOrd was one Of those men who liked new
faces. As soon as lie met a stranger be was
ell life and spirits, aud he would do anything
OF 20 anywhere 10 0bllSe him; but when he
had known a man for some time he didn't care
for him, but grew cross and contradictory.
"At last We got an engagement at q garden
near London, where there was grand gala
night every week, on which Occ casion a balloon
ascended. / scraPed acquaintance with the
Geronaut and one evening went up with him.
The sensation was singular. cannot describe
IL, but l liked 1T very much. The RrOnaut
showed me how be managed to steer through
the air when 10 throw out the sand, and how
20 descend As we were sailing over London,
he said u He
"'YOu eOuldn Z do the slack rope up here,
FOscari, could ysu
"sWhy not!' / said; and as spoke the idea
flashed upon me what q splendid feature in the
programme it would be- Perilous perform.
ance of the two FOscari Brothers, who will gC
through their inimitable evOlutIons on q slac /
wire suspended from . balloon floating thous
ands of yards above the surface Of the earth !!
A balloon, 1 thought, could bear the weight oi
two meR outside IL. The wire could be fast
ened to the sides Of the car, and, when at
sufficient height,we could get out and perform
AS soon as 1 reached ground 1 went Il
Ranford, who first laughed at the notion, and
then agreed to 1t. The proprietor OF the gar
dens asked US to name our terms. We did so
lie tried to beat US down, but al last consented
and We went up and did II y"
interrupted him by asking if the danger
was not extreme
Not bit," replied my patient. "If Ifel
from a wire fifty feet from the ground the
chances are that shosld break my neck; if !
fell from a height Of fifty miles could do nc
more. Then, if our feet miss we have oul
hands to hold on by by. However, was say
ing we went up, and when he had risen q Ger.
tain distance we got ont out Of the ear and
cOnmenCeu II soemoQ OQO
to me at first, tumbling and swinging in the
air, with the garden and audience, and the
houses and the trees such depth beneath US
but what struck me as being the strangest wa:
whsn we hung head downwards, aad looked uI
at the clouds I used to feel that the earth
could not be 50 very distant, for. high as we
had risen, the sky seemed as far OF from US a:
ever.
"Our performance gave great satisfaction
and was favorably noticed in the daily and
weekly papers. We were told that the act
that thrilled the audience most was the last
one we performed before descending. Ran
ford. who was q heavier man than L, hung
from the rope with his head downward; then
taking hold Of both bis hands with both mine
swung by their support; and then by way oi
climax, L let 90 my left hand, and hung on
only by my right. / never felt the least fear
We knew each others grip, and 1t was all