Pike County press. (Milford, Pa.) 1895-1925, 1898-05-27
AN AERIAL ROMANCE

No one who saw the tawdry flnery of
his tinsel trappings and the cheap ap-
pointments of the famous Signor Sal
viatoria as single handed and alone he
prepared the paraphernalla for his
tight-rope performance which had
brought him his glory would have ever
imagined that there was time or space
in his busy life for a romance. The
Sgnor was a peripatetic perambulator
of the rope, and his field of perform
ance lay In country towns, where Il
was his wont to stretch his narrow
pathway across a street from roof to
roof of houses whose owners were will
ing to extend that privilege to him in
exchange for tickets to "the Great and
Only Megatherian Concert" which fol-
lowed the outdoor exhibition. Yet he
mad q romance, and there was in it
those elements which one greater than
the SignOr Salviatoria might easily
have crystallized into a melodrama
that would have stirred the applause
of a thousand galleries
The greatest act ever done" he said
with natural and easy disregard Of
accent and syntaX, Il done in an Ohio
town about ten years ago. was doing
my turn there for 6 week, as 1t was the
county fair season. and ! was follow
ing their trail like a sleuth for they
brought people to town and helped my
business, never none too good. The
third night of my performance, which
was a half-hour exhibition in midair
before the concert had begun, I had
gone up to the roof to get things ready,
and while l was pottering around
snuggin' up the rope and see
ing that there wasn't any loose
cogs to be dropping, I heard a screech
up through the scuttle hole leading to
the roof and the next second out
popped a woman like one of these here
jumping jacks 1t gave me hard pull
on my nerves, but l few over TO see
what the matter was. 1t was my land
lady-and here want to say that when
l stop for any time in a town l go to
boarding house where can get rate
that won't break me. Got to do it in
this line. Can't give 1t all to railroads
and hotels
"In this case not only stopped at
this boarding house, but the landlady
let me stretch my rope from her roof
to the roof of the house across the
way, and as it was the main street of
the town, it was convenient all the way
round for me- The only drawback was
that the lady had half-crazy husband
that never had done anything for her
when he had his senses, and now she
had to support him and take his abuse
of her every time he got in a Jealous
fit, which was every time she had a
new boarder that was anything for
looks and style"
Signor Salviatoria stopped a mo-
ment at this remark, stroked his little
chin whisker, and smiled retrospect
| lively.
"She had only been polite to me be-
cause l had been polite to her, as any
gent should be when there is a pretty
woman around, and the landlady was
the prettiest little woman, about as big
as piece of soap, l had met.
| An Noo say ihEf NlEh BOl W ueI
she had slung the cover to the scuttIe
hole over 1t and was sitting on it with
her jaws set and trying to stick her toes
into the roof to help hold it down. In
a mighty few words she told me her
husband was on the chase after her
with hatchet to kill her and he would
be up from below in a minute. She
. | Ia. 7 7
didn't have much experience in that
kind of business and didn't know what
to do. l didn't have anything to de-
fend myself or her with, either, and
the more thought Of the situation the
more l begun to think how many
things there we're that was more dan
gerous than walking a tight rope fifty
feet above the earth, and me as inno-
cent as babe. The little woman told
me to bring a barrel half full of sand
there was over in one corner Of the roOi
and we'd set il over the cover Of the
scuttle to hold it down. done it as fast
as l could, and when we had the barrel
there and about fixed, the crazy hus-
band came slashing up with his hatch
et AS luck would have 1t the sand
fell in on him and knocked him of the
ladder below and the barrel got stuck
in the hole, so the little woman and
me had a minute or two to think, and
she done the thinking
Are you afraid? said she.
Some, says l. nodding toward the
scuttle hole.
"T mean OF mel? says she smiling.
Not much says l.
"'Are you strong?' says she.
That's part OF my act. says I. 'bu
not against crazy man with a hatch
ct, says I, wondering what she woult
do next and about how long it woult
be till the crazy man was on deck will
his tomahawk cleaning in the air.
Then, says she, grab hold of me
right quick and carry me across the
rope over to Mrs. Peck's house SOS my
husband won't get at me with that
axe
'She had more nerve In a minute
than / had in a week, but when she
said that my professional pride come
to me. and without any more talR
reached for my balancing pole, and
STOPPING down so she could get on my
back. which she didn't like very much
! made a quick run for the end Of