St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1892-12-25

b AS for Biondin, he was the greatest
man in America. Even railroad con-
ductOrs let themselves be introduced to
him. He was made man from the mo-
lnent he stepped off that rope, after
using it as foot bridge over the Mia
( CARA river. Prior to that he was only
"a gymnast. He was good gym
mast, to be sure, yet only a gym
mast, quite unknown to fame. But
Blondin was gymnast with Ma
poeonc ideas. He conceived the
mighty idea of conouering the awful
Niagara with his balancing pole, and
came quietly over from France and
studied the ground. Then he startled
the world by the mere announcement OF
what he was going to do, and then laid
the world PROSTATE at his feet by do
ing it.
But Blondin did cot content himself
with merely taking the world by
storm. AS soon as the world was fairly
his own he proceeded to knock it speech
less. 1t was Stupendous enough that
man should walk airily over the gaping
chaSm with its dizzy swirl of green
water sweeping under his feet 700 feet
below. That alone was quite sufficient
But that was nothing. Blondin next
dressed himself up in way that
made him look like an ape OF
prlze-fghter proportions, and In this
guise scampered over the rope, cutting
up all sorts of monkey antics on the
way, hanging by his toes, skinning the
cat and other similar playful capers. all
in midstream. After that he trotted
gayly over his rope wheeling a wheel
barrow before him as he went. But his
great and eliminating feat was when he
walked over with an able-b0dled man
hanging to his back. The name of the
hero who took that eXhilarating ride is
now unknown to fame. 1t did not seem
to occur to most people at the time that
it required almost as much nerve on
his part as it did on the part Of
BlondIn. At all events he was not
cOmmAmorated in song and story as was
Blondin, and he did not get medals to
pin on the left side of his coat as did
Blondin. Yet he certainly was not with
out his share of claim to glory. 1t is
literally true that people dropped into
verse over Blondin. The poets got at
him very early in the days of his glory.
One of them wrote this:
The fearless Blondin walks, perchance into
his tomb.
His dauntless courage fails him not
Fen tho thy roaring torrents be his fatal lot
Heaveuward he looks, and inspiration draws
Each heart beats high; he makes moments
Rests at full length upon the fragile rope.
One cheer ten thousand voices send OF ear
nest hope.
Still another of humorous turn wrote
this:
Remarkable pusson enterprisin Strainger
You probably Startid on 10 railroad trac
or praps curb stun then you took to fensis;
i then you Scared to rafters OF moo houses.
Remarkable pusson:
II merely of taking of walk you clear
1000 dolers neerly every time.
Ileii ine hier you get the Strater you kin
walk,
this shows you amt at al like common foax,
which can't walk mulch when they are Ele
: waited.
At the age of sixty-eight Blondjn is
Still vigorous and as agile on the tight
rope as he ever was. Only recently he
appeared in Manchester, Eng, and
among other bits of midair playfulneSs
cooked an omelet on the tight-rope and
passed it down to the admiring audience
below.
: He is still and always was wonder
fully strong man. 1t has been said,
indeed, that one element of his security
on the rope lies in the strength Of his
arms, which enables him to carry
much heavier balancing pole than that
used bv the majority or tlgnt-rope walk
ers. The pole Calverly used weighed
only twenty pounds. BIondin, however
repudlates this theory of strong arms
and heavy pole with scorn. There it
an element of mere brute strength in is
which shocks his feelings. Tight-rope
walking, Blondin says, is thing of skill
and art and not Of strength. 1t is his
constant statement when this subject
comes up that the tight-rope walker is
born and not made.
Blondin's father was a gymnast like
Blondin himself, but he was never
tight-rope walker. But when Blondin
came into the world great tight-rope
walker was born, and it is only another
instance of the great truth that the gifts
of illustrious fathers seldom descend to
their offspring; that none of Blondin's
children are tight-rope walkers. There
are two or three things about Blondin's
walking which go to make up the secret
of his success. One is that he has never