Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1877-04-04

audience was not unfreQuent tricI
with this gentle creature, while to throw
an insolent sutton down q flight of stair
was her chief JOY. She could roll up
piece of silver plate in her fingers, and
placing thick hickory-nut in the palm
of her hand, could grind the hard shell
into fragments by a single grip.
She is described as being large and
very handsome woman, and to whom
the advantages of many charms were
heightened by several of the highe,
feminine accomplishme nts; as she was
beautiful miniature painter and fine
organist. A disappointed love, aggra.
waited no doubt by the sad fact that She
was u nable to get her hands upon the
faithless swain and crack his skull
drove her into g. convent.
THE STOUT sPANIARD.
The quaint Froissart relates several
entertaining stories of the famous Err
noulton OF Span, one Of the strongest
noblemen of olden times. One Christ
mas day Ernoulton was visiting the
Count de Folk, at the latters castle, in
company with many Of the notables of
his day, including Froissart. The en-
bers in the fireplace of one of the main
apartments were quite low, and the
host remarked, "What miserable fire
for this cold season !' Ernoulton,
hearing the observation, bowed assent
to the count, and strobe down the steps.
"He was tall man," says the gossip
ing chronicler; big in his limbs and
by no means burdened with flesh"
Just outside the moat were number
donkeys, who were being driven past,
laden with heavy billets of wood. To
seize the largest of these ouadrupeds,
burden and all, to swing them lightly
upon his shoulders, to mount the
stairs, and, breaking through the crowd
of knights that surrounded the fire.
place, to tumble into the hearth, upon
the fre-dogs, both the wood and the
donkey, was for Ernoulton but the work
of few seconds.
It was this hero who, at the battle of
Lourdes, ran about the field armed
with large Ratchet, chopping off the
feet Of the eneny's stoutest soldiers.
GREAT JUMPERS.
The art Of leaping has always held a
high place in the universal science of
athletics, from the time of the ancient
Egyptians up to the present day. The
Orientals seem to have excelled in this
respect. Colonel Ironsides relates one
occasion in which he himself saw an
old white-headed man, who, with a
single jump, was able to bound over
the back Of an enormous elephant,
fanked by five or six camels of the
largest breed. The poor man, how
ever, was not satisfied with himself,
and cried bitterly, bemoaning his de-
parting powers, having been agile
enough, he said, in his younger days,
to clear the backs of two elephants,
with the attendant camels, at solitary
heap. .EHEG .esz
Charles XII, of Sweden, was another
famous jumper. This ruler, whose
wonderful mental, moral, and physical
qualities constituted him every inch a
king, had knack of leaping unframed
to the ground from second-story win
dow, and would sometime to amuse
the children st the court, take flying
jump over the back Of half dozen
horses. He was also q very swift run
ner, and at fencing, lifting heavy
weights, and tanning apparently intract-
able horses had hardly an equal in his
kingdom.
Grimaldi, the "iron Leg" of Italy,
had a playful trick of jumping, in
company, up towards the ceiling, and
knocking off portions of the crystal
pendants of the chandeliers with his
feet. He would also, when invited to
join in the dance, amuse the refined
company by hopping over their heads
during the figures, or by occasionally
catching some one of the attendant
cavaliers upon lis shoulders, and pranc-
ing through an entire minuet without
letting his prisoner down from his UNI
comfortable perch. ami. tass 81 4,,a
.a. BELL-RINGING FEATs.
q In closing this brief sketch Of few
of the skilled athletics of this and other
ages, reference may justly be made to
the wonderful bell-ringers of Seville,
and some other Spanish cities. These
daring gentlemen exhibit a degree of
strength and reckless courage, for no
incentive whatever except the love of
adventure, spiced possibly with a slight
C1dV1uS III AOIOA1Oty. vi Jcto udy .,
when the regular bell-ringers are re-.
posing, a few daring youths in Seville
rally out in pairs, and creep quietly up
into the church-steeples. One of each
couple then seizes upon one side of the
top of the great bell, his companion
grasping the other, when, by main
strength, they swing the ponderous
metal to and fro until its changers echo
and re-echo through the city. In doing
this, of course, these hair-brained fell
lows are alternately hanging at arms
length under the bell, or flying upon it's
upturned side. To lose their grip would
be to dash them to the pavement a
hundred feet below, as the bells in Sc
vile cathedrals are lung in open arches
directly over the edges of the great
stone towers.
A French tourist, who has witnessed
this bold operation, says. az was
passing near the Church of Salvador
del Mundo: people were gazing earn
estly into the air, and one old man near
me cried aloud, Those are not men,
they are devils 7 On looking up to
the top of the steeple, [ was at first led
\ ~, e.