The Opelousas courier., 1892-12-31
KING OF THE TIGHT ROPE.
WONDERFUL PERFORMANCES OF
THE AGED BLoNDIN.
Agile as Ever, Though Sixty eight
Years Old-His Proud ReeoLlec-
tions of Niagara Falls.

Years Old-His Proud Reeollec-
tfons of Niagara Falls.
II LONDIN is a name that seems
* to belong to past generations.
Men who are now old remem-
Der seeing in their youeh his
wonderful performances. To most peo-
pie he is only a name, a great name OF
:he past. And to most it is probably
startling to learn that the agile chevalier
Is not only still living, but actually CIV
ing his bewildering exhibitions. Yet
This is true. He som years ago went
into semi-retiremeut. He was rich, and
he had made thousands of perilous Jour
neys along the tight rope. It seemed
time to take a we'll wen rest. Yet from
time to time he energies from his retire
ment and resumes his old place upon the
rope, with all his old skill and grace and
daring, and with all his old effect upon
the spectators.
Thus only a few weeks ago he began q !.
series of performances in the Botanical
Gardens, at Manchester, England, in the
presence of admiring and fascinated
thousands. His rope had a clear stretch,
of 1873 feet, and was eighty. eight feet
above the ground. There was no safety
net under it. That is an appliance Blon-.
din has never used aud never will use.
Why2 sIt would ruin my reputation"
lie says. So a false step would have
been fatal. But he had no fear of false
steps. He was clad in a brilliant cos
tune, s%urmounted by a brass helmetl
with ioaaing pldmes. On being hoisted
to his rope, which was less than two
inches thick, he walked along it from
end to end as unconcernedly as though
he had been on a Broadway pavement.
Not so much can be said for the specta-
tors, who were literally spell bound at
even this simple performance.
Then the old gentleman blindfolded
himself, and then drew a big bag ever
his head. In that manner he recrossed
The slender bridge, just as easily as be-
fore, while many of the spectators turned
their eyes away in fear. Next he put on
2 cooks cap and apron, and returned to
The middle of the rope, bearing a basket
Ind a stove. He set up the stove and
kindIed a fire in it. From the basket he
took various utensils and some eggs. He
broke and beat the eggs, and cooked
them into an omelette on the stove, and
then, "as a guarantee of good faith"
out the omelette and a flask of wine upon
! tray and lowered it to the ground, that
the spectators might see that it was real.
After that he carried his son across on
his back, balanced himself Oh a chair at
the middle of the rope and traversed the
sope on a bicycle. These are the feats
be used to perform thirty, forty years ago,
and more. Now he issan old man of
sixty-eight years, and he does them just
as easily and as unhesitatingly as ever.
That is the most extraordinary fact of all.
Among his almost counties medals and
other trophies, that which Blondin most
highly prizes bears this inscription: "Pre-
tented to Mons. /. F. Blondin by the citi-
9 n of Niagara Falls, in appreciation of
. feat never before attempted by man,
but by him successfully performed on the
18th of August, 1859, that of carrying a
man upon his back over the Falls of
Niagara on a tight rope" That medal,
one might sag, sounds the keynote of his
life. Niagara has been everything to
him. Before he crossed that awful gorge
he was a great gymnast; but since then
be has been indisputably supreme. He
has crossed Niagara three hundred times
then, but it was that first perform
ance that made him what he is.
Show did you feel when you set out to
cross Niagaraa" he was asked. "Were
you nervous, afraid9"
"No, no! Poufi Mol" was his ener-
getic reply. "I left that for those who
watched me. Some of them said: HE
won't dare to try1t.' Others said: sThe
crazy fool of a Frenchman must want to
suicide But I crossed, and I
have crossed it 800 times since them"
"But it was really dangerous, wasn't
its"
eyes, to be sure it was. The rope
have snapped"
NJ. Blondin calls his pleasant home
London Niagara Villa" and one
Of the most conspicuous objects in
t is a huge oil painting, depicting
him in the actof crossing the falls, IN !
the presence of the Prince of Wales and !.
! great crowd.
"Blondin," Of course, is an assumed
name. Jean Francois Gravele is what
he was chrlstened. His father was q
gymnast, and he himself began rope
walking at four years old. At twenty
he had a considerable reputation
n the provincial towns and cities of
France. 1t was there that the famous
Ravel saw HIM, and wa much impressed.
lie sought the young mans acqualnt-
'Come with me- he said. uJoin my.
company aud go to America-to New
York. You will make your fortune.n
"Agreed," was the reply; ssL1l go
With you."
"Well donel But first, what is your
'sJeaa Francois Gravele.n
'Gravele2 Pahi That will never do.
such a name would never do for The bill
We must change it. Ha! I
Blue eyes, light hair; of course.
lou shall call yourself Blondinl"
So "Blondin" it was, and the young
nan made a great hit in New York.
eight years later he crossed Niagara. In
IL his career he has never used a safety
And he has never fallen from his
ope. He has never had an accident of
ny kind. save one, in which he merely
cratched himself a bit in one spot. They
aY the secret of his success Ia in fba