Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-06-01

1t doubtless appears to the onlooker
at the circus that the midair gymnasts
l-"aerialists'' in the vocabulary of the
arena-are quite safe from injury so
long as they have the broad, soft net
| spread beneath them. They may swing
from bar to bar, as high as the roof Of
the tent will permit. or toss a child
| from hand 20 hand through long. peril
Gus distances. and all the while the
| blase spectator observes with the mere
| suggestion of thrill. assuming in his
| inexperience that there is no real dam
ger in what is called with greater truth
! than color this marvellous feat of dar-
| ing" As a matter of fact, however,
| the aerialisfs are in imminent danger
of broken necks through. every work
| ing moment of their turn, which be-
| comes evident indeed. when il is said
| that the nerve strain cannot possibly
| be borne through two seasons without
4 long period Of rest between for what
may be called nerve recuperatiOn.
| A famous aymnast who is the head
| of family OF performers said that the
/ midair gyInnast branch. of circus work,
which appears so easy and safe of ac-
complishment, WAS so full of danger as
TO be fought shy of by faint hearted
people, who preferred ground work"
| and smaller salaries to its risk. Safety
lies wholly in self possession. attention
and nice. practiced calculation of dis
tances through which TO leap or turn or
throw. There are four in this family,
and the safety of each depends, not on.
ly upon the individual, but upon the
nerve and skill of the others. When
the family is in action. it becomes. at
once a machine, and each member
moves and turns and even smiles with
mechanical accuracy If one part
should fail, the whole would for the
moment be in danger of destruction.
Now" SAID the Gymnast. 1--WE are
merely human. We can't all be perfect
in action all the time so from time to
time the machine goes to pieces, but
we are so well schooled that we soon
put it together again. When there hap
pens to be n fall-as there does fire.
quently-three hearts pretty nearly
stop beating upon our bars until the
fourth Of the family rises from the net
1t wouldn't be possible TO continue our
act if every one of us didn't know how
TO fall. That's the secret of it. and the
the fall takes place. Men in our branch
seldom break legs. They break their
necks or backs and quit the business
once and for all. You've seen fall,
no doubt Well. did you notice how the
boy doubled his legs up and got his
face as close TO his breast as he could ?
If he failed to do that. lie would never
survive the fall. He'd break his leg or
his back sure. It's n terrible time for
me as the head of the family every
time there's n fall"
The gymnast has a high fall to dread.
The acrobat. on the other hand. has to |
guard against a fall through but two or
three feet.
There's as much danger in our work |
as in any circus" said a certain star,
one of the best acrobats in the business |
and good and trustworthy man out |
of it. I'm the tumbling particularly n |
man is liable to break his back any
minute or dislocate his ankle in landing
badly. My family (of six, two of |
whom are boys) is so well trained that |
it works perfectly. So just now 1 have |
an easy mind. Last season. though. |
had two bad accidents and had to dis |
charge n man. He didn't catch my /
that the poor boy dislocated his Shout |
der The fellow looked at the audience |
for an instant. and then the trouble /
came, so l lost confidence in him and /
let him go. In our business. you know, /
every one has to have confidence in ev
cry one else-perfect confidence. If
you can't get that condition, You can't |
work, that's all. You can't keep your
too. 1t may be a fall of three feet and
n broken back come from it. You can't
tell when accidents are going to hap
pen either. They come so unexpected
~ that they knock you out. The head
of the family has to bear the worry,
though. He's responsible for his ap-
prentices. and the 13 I've taught have
brought me gray hairs pretty early in
life"
This man is thoroughly conscientious
in the training of his boys morally as
we'll as in their work. He regards his
care OF them as a high duty, and he
watches them in the circus ring as
carefully as a mother might. Hence
they are saved from many an accident.
He always breathes easier, too. when
the days work is over. Watch as care
fully as one may, he said. the business
is such that accidents are bound to
happen.
How can you accept an apprentice
with an easy conscience, them" he waS
asked.
Well he replied, there's danger
wherever you go. No matter what
your business may be. II you are care
less the chances are that you will get
hurt. / train my boys and men in at
tention and accuracy That's the best
they can have. It's like this:
II man throws a baseball at my head.
1t will strike and hurt me if l don't
stop it. I've got 10 take care, and it's
the same in every walk of life. 1t is
very dangerous work, bhe acrobat's.
but them The acrobat shrugged his
shoulders to complete the sentence.