The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1904-03-18
The GaSping GraSShOpper.

There was no place big enough. GER
tainly no place to be hired that was big
enough, for the public exhibition with
which Nine. la Comtesse de Bigarada
proposed to electrify not only tout
Paris but also all the world. if it
would only come to see her
Now all the world knows the history
Of the fascinating and illustrious Com
Jesse. She had begun life as ballet
girl, beyond which, spectively, his
tory does not go-as perhaps it is just
as well 1t should not do-and in this
calling she led a blameless life while
earning 25 francs a week. yet manag-
ing. by admirable economy, to allow
her widowed mother 100 francs a week,
so that she must have been possessed
of great financial gifts Later, she had
developed into an equestrienne. which
IN vulgar parlance would be described
as a circus rider. Then, which is ex-
traordinary, her muscles and biceps
developed in a wonderful manner, and,
although she never became a female
Sandow, she could pull herself I'D and
down ropes and trapezes in a way that
was truly amazing, or would have
been If the gossips and gommeux of
Paris had not unkindly suggested that
the use of invisible wires was not I'M
known to the various music hall stages
Of the universe.
By this time. however. her name,
which was then. for business purposes,
La Sautereile ReSpirante," had be-
come pretty widely known. and it be-
came more so when the public learnt
that, with true Protean activity. she
had now become a champion lady BIZ
cylist. Then, after having gathered
further laurels in this exciting calling,
she disappeared from the public gaze,
only to return a year afterward and
RstOnish the boulevards, or rather the
cafe frequenters of those boulevarda.
as La Comtesse de Bigarada.
And figure to yourself. mon ami.
one person would say to another, Ia
Comtesse de Bigafada She is though,
No! the absinthe procured with the
money of La Sauterelle finished him off.
That and the table d'hote at five francs
vim compris."
But who. say then, mon cher, was lie
COmte de Bigarada? Pas connu. Not
of the Quarter st. German, should
suppose?"
mo, not altogether. But stin count
-un comte drolatidue His father
was a cook to the first king of Molva-
liza, then grand chamberlain to the last
king of Thessavia, and was made a
count The son, La Sauterelle's defunct,
was an atrocity. Une bette a corne.
Drunken, diSSolute, hideous, dressed
like the fashionable young men of the
exterior Boulevards. All the same, a
count of Thessavia and Rousseleta, and
the devil knows what else"
And now she is a widow and if not
a grass one at least without corn. What
Heinz"
'Astonish the world. She is a looper
of looDers. The built a barn for her
outside Pere la Chaise-"
'Ah! Ready-handy to inter her
when she breaks her neck
Absolutely As she will But, first.
she gets five thousand francs a per-
1ormance, paid in advance. There is no
admission under a louis two louis to
the piste three to the promenoir. four to
the stalles, ten to the loges l shall go
every night Her neck is a little scrag-
gy, it viii snap like a match Who
wouldn't pay a louis a night to see a
woman's neck broken? And not dear
at the price. She will astonish the
world"
Inc kindly and genial young French
man spoke truly. The "Gasping Grass
hopper" did astonish the world at her
first appearance. and also before she
did it; for the feat she was advertised
to perform was a double looping of the
loop, up one circle or Wheel so feet
high, then over a gulf, or chasm, 40
feet broad; then-hoop lal-down an
other wheel or circle, over a smaller
chasm. and off the stage.
The feat was advertised, and we'll ad-
vertised too, which is the secret of true
advertisement. Double-crown posters.