There have
been performers of this class who play with sharp daggers while
maintaining themselves on thin and swinging wires.
Another class of equilibrists are those who maintain the upright
position resting on their heads with their feet in the air. At
the Hippodrome in Paris some years since there was a man who
remained in this position seven minutes and ate a meal during the
interval. There were two clowns at the Cirque Franconi who
duplicated this feat, and the program called their dinner "Un
dejouner en tete-a-tete." Some other persons perform wonderful
feats of a similar nature on an oscillating trapeze, and many
similar performances have been witnessed by the spectators of our
large circuses.
The "human pyramids" are interesting, combining, as they do,
wonderful power of maintaining equilibrium with agility and
strength. The rapidity with which they are formed and are tumbled
to pieces is marvelous they sometimes include as many as 16
persons men, women, and children.
The exhibitions given by the class of persons commonly designated
as "jugglers" exemplify the perfect control that by continual
practice one may obtain over his various senses and muscles. The
most wonderful feats of dexterity are thus reduced into mere
automatic movements.
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