The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1894-07-16
SILT WALKING WHOLESALE.
Latest Novelty in the Way of Shows
at Paris.
From the London Telegraph.

lHerCuFldI uenlZenS OF the Gay City have
discovered another lively method of in
dulging in their favorite pursuit of ia
bagatelle." On Tuesday afternoon was
opened, in the Rue Spontina, street near
the entrance to the Bots de Boulogne,
peculiarly characteristic entertainment,
with the fantastic name of the Echasso-
drome Parisien. Being not very severely
classical, the Partisan gobemouches were
Satlshed with ny Bird term, which simply
signifies display of walking on stills.
The "echassiers,' - who were of both
sexes, came from the Landes, where stills,
from the nature of the soil are absolutely
| indispensable, and their competition for
the various prizes offered showed them
to be thoroughly proficient in an exer-
| else which is certainly interesting and
| peculiar, but scarcely graceful. The
| curious district of the Landes, between
Bordeaux and Bayonne, mainly consists
| of heaths and pine woods, interspersed
with few patches growing barley and a
| little maize
The surface of the ground is dull gray
! or ash colored sand, and over this I'M
promising pasture wander scattered focks
Of lanky, coarsewooled, ill-conditioned
sheep, tended by shepherds, who, from
! time immemorial, have been noted for
walking on stills, by the assistance of
which they are not only able to stalk over
the prickly bushes and avoid the disa-
greeable contingency Of filling their shoes
| with sand, but they attain an elevation
not afforded by the level surface of the
| ground, and from their artificial altitude
can overlook their focks and prevent
their sheep from straying. They also
| carry long pole, that, when stuck into
! the earth, forms support against which
the shepherds can rest and knit stockings
all day long. Altogether, the appearance
OF this extraordinary tripod, of which
| the apex is hnman something in a sheep
| skin, is weird, not to say alarming.
| BY the aid of their wooden legs, the
peasants of the Landes, with very slight
exertlon and without an exceptionally
rapid movement, will go over the ground
at pace which would keep a horse at a
hard trot. Nature, however, is a power
not to be trifed with, and which sooner
or later visits with visible censure the
| violation of biological rules; consequently
the artifcially long-shanked inhabitants
of the Landes are somewhat diminutive
| in stature and are said to be a not very
long-lived race. These poor people have
to endure severe privations, among which
chronic want of water is the cruelest;
but of late years steps have been taken to
remedy the evil arising from the circum-
stances that all the streams in the
The railway through this desolate re-
gion was built by English engineers, who
imported a contingent of English navvies
to assist in the most la borous part of the
| work. Obviously, a navy on stills
would be grotesque anomaly. The
English wOrkmen, therefore, wore French
wooden shoes, or sabots, which they care
fully stuffed with wool or with straw to
| keep out the sand; but the contractors
took care that their employees, when they
had finished their toll, should not be
| constrained to walk long distances
through the sandy wilderness, and the
men were lodged in IA kind of travelling
| village placed on trucks and pushed on
the rails, day by day, as fast as the line
advanced, food and fresh water being
sent to them from distance, sometimes
of forty or fifty miles
1t must not, however, be supposed that
walking on stills is a custom indigenous
| to the French Landes. In the Middle
Ages laborers from Flanders were i'm
ported to the Garonne for the purpose of
| durining the marshes, and their presence
in this part of France is commemorated
| in a place still known as Bruet, or
! Bruges. These Flemings probably
| brought with them their stills, the anci-
emit Flemish name for which was
"schaetse," which would in process of
time be naturalized as the French
'echasses."
| There was formerly an annual festival
| held at Namur, in Belgium, called the
| Battle of the Stills, and which, to all
seeming, was unique in Europe. The
! youth of the town were divided into two
amicably hostile camps, under the re-
spective names of "Melans" and
i "D'Auresses,' - said to represent two very
ancient families of Namur, the relation
between whom in bygone times was of
the nature of that which existed between
the Capulets and Montagues of Verona.
On each side there were from 500 to 600
com baUants, all mounted on stills. Each
army had its commandant and its regi-
mental officers, together with its dis
tinctive cockade and flags, which last
| during the action tioated from the win
dows of the Hotel de Vile.
At the signal for the battle to begin the
com batants advanced to the sound of
! trumpets from two opposite eXtremitieS
of the Grand Place, and the engagement
began in right earnest, the object of the
| wooden-legged warriors being to knock
each other over, in which laudable en-
| deavor they were cheered by the writhed
smiles and waited Kisses of the prettieSt
maidens of Namur They were only to
use their stills and their elbows to trip
their opponents up, and at given time
! the ''Holan or Cease kicking" was
] SOUNDED, anu Inc army WHICH ndQ
! knocked over the largest number of
| legs was declared the victor.
This fantastic exhibition was witnessed
in the course of generations by the En-
peror Charles v, by Peter the Great of
! Russia, and by Napoleon l., but the mag
! istrates of Namur, toward the close of
the 18th century, suppressed the Battle
of Stills as yearly function, because it
frequently led to slightly undesirable
! occurrence of cracked skulls and frac-
tured arms and legs France and Elan
ders cannot, however, lay claim TO mo-
| nopoly in silt walking. IL is, indeed, a
very ancient manner of locomotion, but
in countries not Astounding in marshes or
in extensive sandy wastes stills have not
been turned TO any practical use and
| have usually only formed part of the
stock in trade of showmen and mounte
banks for the amusement Of the frequent
ers of fairs and village festivals.
Bows at all times have been accustomed
to improvise Suits by means of a couple
of poles with a thong of leather or cord,
through which the feet could be passed,
and their prowess on these artificial sup
ports has led TO their being rewarded by
the enthusiastic admiration of the small
girls of the village and of their getting
from time to time some extremely ugly
tum bles. The modern "echassiers' have
been immortalized in Dickens "Old Curl
osity Shop" and in Mr.. Frith's picture
i of The Derby Day" Still, il is to be