St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1901-11-16
AACRoBATS' PRACTICE HALL.
A Famous Resort in London for AL
Sorts of Specialists.

a Famous Resort in London for AL.
Sorts of Specialists.
There are very few Londoners, says
the London Mail, who know that
down in the unsavory New Gut
on the right-hand side as one goes
toward Waterloo road, is a lttle,5
grimy-WindoWed coffee shop.
Above the door is the legend-fa-
miliar enough hereabout Beds six.
pence night sisobviously apoor
mans hotel. Yet any weekday,
from ten to eleven in the morning up
till one to two in the afternoon, the
curious in such matters may observe
passing in and out never-ceasing
stream Of well-set-up men, clean
shaVen, spruce and alert, the very last
sort Of individuals one would mag
inc to patronize for its board or lodg-
ing an establishment such as this. n
Nor, as a matter Of fact, do they do.
so. Follow any one Of them, and you
will find that he passes straight
through the little shop, down dark
passage, to emerge eventually into q
lofty hall, round the walls Of which
are ranged all kinds Of glymnastie ap-
Eparatus.
And on the floor, suspended from
rings in mid-air, dangling from trap
ezes near the ceiling, are men and
Womentumbling, flying, swinging.
walking on their hands, standing on
their heads, throwing somersaults BY
the score, and twisting themselves
/ into every conceivable contortion to
which the human form divine is ca
Ipable Of lending itself. For this IL
a professional acrobats' practice
room, and its name and fame are
known from end to end Of Europe,
and, indeed, all over the world
wherever gy ymnasts and such Ike folk
travel, and they travel far. They are
largely foreigners these people.
Listen to the babel Of tongues Re
gard the various types. Yon little
dark-eyed lassie, WHO'S turning cath
crime wheels" with such zest, is q
Neapolitan and a debutante, appren-
| ticed to troupe by parents who were
too poor to keep her. Likeit? Ask
her. She knows to-day, poor child,
for almost the first time in her hither-
| to sad young life, what it means to go
to bed unhungry.
Here is an Austrian laddie train
ing under Mr.. Harry Ara. He has
only been a few months with the
| troupe, and already Che tells you
proudly) he can turn 40 "nipfaps''
| without pausing for breath.
A child woman, with black elf locks
and Jewish cast of countenanee, is
solemnly engaged in throwing her
arms and legs about and around, now
like the sails of a windmill, and anon
hkesthe tenfacles of some strange spe-
cies Of octopus. She is an Armenian,
the sole survivor Of her village, at the
time it was raided by band Of Kurds
early last winter.
Of the inanimate things that are
ranged round the walls, the most are
not what they seem. A billiard table,
for instance, which looks as solid as
one Of the best 80-guinea match ones,
proves on investigation to be fitted
with a dummy bed" Of green baize-
covered canvas, upon which the per
| former can fall headforemost, Il need
Ihe, from almost any height without
hurting himself.
| Originally, one Of the habitues of
| the place informs us, this curiously
SITUATED practice hall was a penny
gaff Of the old approved style. On
the little stage at the back blood and
thunder melodramas were presented
might afetr night to admiring an-
dienees Of boys and girls. This was
80 years and more ago, but By degrees
The patrons fell away, and at the same
time, awkward inquiries began to be
instituted concerning its license. So
old Mother Potter, its proprietress,
who superinfended the production Of
dramas galore, aye, and played IN
them. too, on occasion found, like
Othello, her occupation gone, and IN
continently died.
For the better part Of a couple Of
decades afterWard the bare, gaunt
hall. masked by the griny coffee shop,
remained closed and well-nigh for
Igotten until one day an enterprising
pro- acrobat in search Of place
wherein to practice, discovered It,
land made its existence known to his
brother and sister pros. 2 since when
1T has taken on a new lease Of life and
prosperity. Every day acrobats pass
lin and out, bent upon learning new
tricks which they have conceived, but
which they are not as yet perfect in.