Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1872-02-09

have adopted their "kids" will treat
them as kindly and teach them their
business just as thoroughly as
though the parent was present over
looking the lessons in the flesh.
In gymnastics, the youngsters arc
first taught some simple posturing
and the dancing positions; then
comes what is technically called
the "split," which consists in spread.
ing the feet apart till the legs are
are at exact angles with the upright
body, a feat which any lissome lad
or lass of six years or less can do
almost without practice. Next they
are taught "bending," which means
to throw the head back as far as
possible toward the heels; this be-
ing learned, a grown person places
his hand under the back of the
youngster, when a slight toss, by
throwing the feet over the head,
transforms the "ben0' into "som-
ersault." When the child has mas
tered the backward and forward
"somersault," the hardest of his edu-
cation as a "tumbler" is over. The
other feats can easily be practiced
-"vaulting," "battoute leaps"
"spring-board somersaults," ''fiip
flaps" "hand-springs," "cart-
Wheels" and the like are learned
in few months.
If the young person, either male
or female, is to learn the tight-rope
business, he or she is not, as one
might suppose, exercised on low
rope stretched near the ground
On the contrary the pupil is placed
at once on a rope at as great an ele-
vation as is required in the regular
performances, and from the very
first learns the business as it must
afterward be done. There are two
reasons for this-frst, it accustoms
the novice at once to the height;
and, second, it gives space for the
employment of the "balance pole"
a long bar of twelve or tw enty feet
in length, and which, were the rope
stretched low, would constantly en-
barrass the learner by striking the
ground on either side. AS it is alb
solutely necessary to future success
that the performer should be per-
former should be perfectly bold and
selt.possessed, and not become TIM
id by reason Of hurts received in
the falls which are at first unavoida-
bly, many, men are stationed Oh
either side the rope, into whose
ever-ready arms the youngster falls,
and so never comes to serious grief,
however frequent are the tumbles.
When children first essay to ride
alone, a heavy leather belt is
buckled round the waist; from this
belt a long and strong cord passes
through ring in the top Of the
"pad" or "surcingle," and the free
end is held in the hand Of the "ring-
master" If, being thus protected,
young master looses his feet, All in
stantaneous pull upon the cord
draws him fiat down on the back Of
the horse, and by no stretch Of in
fantile ingenuity can he get under
the animals heels.
The apprentices frequently learn
to ride the ''pony act" in which
the tiny pattern Of man, dressed
in a jockey or u courier, urges on
his steed with his shrill cries and
many wavings of his little cap
This act is always ridden on two
ponies, and the young rider will
contrive to slip and fall between his
miniature steeds, while thrill of
horror pervades the crowd, who APP
plaud most Justify when, the next
minute, the plucky little fellow re-
gains his feet, picks up the reins,
and drives on faster than ever. The
compassionate audience need not
waste their sympathies, however;
this fall is merely one of the "tricks
of the trade" introduced simply for
"effect," and the cord, before de-
scribed, would not let the rider fall
if he wanted to. On the whole, the
improvement in the manner Of
training children for this sort of life
is most marked and commendable.
1t is not business to which every
parent would care to bring up their
little ones; but, after all, "pcople
must be amused" and every one of
these circus children is thousand
times better off in having an honest,
though perhaps humble trade, than
are the thousands Of miserable little
waits that swarm in our streets and
alleys, whose present condition is
utter poverty, and whose surest ex-
pcctation of rise i'll life is ground
ed upon hopes of a future OF sue
cesstul and undetected thieyery.
One word more-many persons
suppose that "circus-riders" are in
variably and inevitably given to
drunkenness and dissipation. New
er was there more unjust asser-
sion-thcre are black sheep every
where, but there is quite as great a
proportion of true, honest wives,
kindly, loving mothers, and faithful
husbands in this as in any other
line of life-their misfortunes in
this regard is the same as that of
the theatrical profession, viz, that,
owing to their public lives, every
scandal in their ranks is known and
magni6ed, while people in quictcr
walks of life may, perhaps, be ten
times more licentious, and yet not
one.tenth so notorious.
The artist who has to back a fiery
horse at night, or do trapczc per-
formance at height SO great that
a fall from his dizzy perch would
be almost certain death, is not like
ly to shake his nerve, or loosen his
grip, by the use Of intoxicating
liquors, so there are few instances
of habitual drunkenness among this
class Of professionals.
| WOODEN NAlLs.-A little matter
curiously illustrates the influence
Of the opening up Of the Far East
upon the nations Of the Vest
Wooden nails, as everybody knows