The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, March 9, 1902, Page 15

THE SUNDAY CALL. Intended for the Rus- ian Priesthood,Cin- Chose the in Prefer- ence to the Church. Accident During an Aerial Act, Wh.ch Nearly Cost Him His Life, Turned His Mind to Juggling as Less Hazardous qguevalli I'rapeze quevalli, the great ne story of his life s much in the intri of remarkable c ssia and his f: fit himself he ran away t to take up g through the distin- g devil” and ¥ feet and four This sobered his he decided ness mily for the e fall of ness pheum as one of the world to juggler, g P Petersburg mo: remark- things Cin- e below. I did— ar vou begin ol. I thirsted for away from home to s 1 was laid excite than I %had counted on. \appened in t ugh is wise d taken ament in years old 1 school tourr t I ed looking gen- began uestion me. He owed me W I went my heir congratul rested spectators of the stranger He even eater 1ha: nignt. at table watching the stranger sud- was ap- to fol "hile we were seate the warious denly excused features y mself. ared a few , attired in To our consternation o through the o remarkab nce I had B e Sl t and to take me me after his arents that I ado assuring mj nish the world before I was out of my teens My father, who wished me to enter the priesthood, was righteously horritied. He a hed stranger a cold out of the I hac rried me t seen the hypnotic At iast, no longer able to resist, I allowed myself to be virtually abducted, end was taken across the Russian frontier gy far Odessa. There I went to work at the profession 1 AETER SEYEN i have followed ever since—only with a dif- ference. The difference lies in the v twe hardened Ta IT ONLY RE fEARS FRACTLEE S BIVE e be- har- nerv 1 type— ence of climate as well as stock. The likes everything strong. Hia , his dishes must be hot his pleasures according I began working at the trapeze a few feet from the ground, gradually goir till T felt quite as much or fifty feet above the earth as withi feet of ft. I grew utter! My trainer treated me t fugure for me. 1 women to scream honie f. As T roved mu about Europe_ I found that h more Interested in teats daring. I began slowly tricks which caused cut, hiding their faces, few pe of skill than of to the ople were tirely abandon couraged, per- E now in my 20d men to set their jaws and shudder. wr Sybhis T ehudder 35 recall Fhele for which T had to were no nets in those days—he woulg 3 and ancestors, e been called a coward who deigneq S2ved me more than once from what e them. If a performer did not take seemed certain death, and now B y life in his hands every minute It Proved ‘itself capable of the of his act he could not produce the de. TMOSt arduous training upon sired sensation scientific lines The nearer death, and yet escape ft, | Degan to educate every the more highly flavored for the Mus. Muscle and every'merve of my covite palate Wicasisry body, almost ~separately, in call me *“tt ying Bevtl fact; not alone those of the title came oving my undoing. One [INEer ends, but the less acute day whose business it was SUCh 2s those in the back to wipe the slippery moisture from the Where I learned to play a game bass of ‘the tray ked out to ©Of Pocket billiards without th drink by one of b and that be. Use Of hands. I found that fore he had completed his work. I found °©V' muscle and every fiber the first trapeze bar clean and dry, and capable of the highes supposed the others were also. As I training, and gradually left of swung through the air at a terrific rate, fifty feet from the ground, I seized the second bar, but to my horror my hand slipped just as if the bar had been greased, and down T plunged headlong! I think that everything that happened my life flashed through my brain in that frightful moment of des: 1 was in and the glass held by the teeth. . T would not-advise the amateur jugsler to attempt this feat till he had mastered some sim- pler ones—throwing A slipper from the - foot to the point of the nose, balancing it there, ‘and back to theé foot again, for instance, or 'tossing his watch into. the alr and catehing it in his waistcoat pocket, being always, careful to practice with the other fellow's watch. But all things are possible to infinite patience, even,the invention of new tricks s fast as the old ones are imitated by one’s followers in the profession. If there is one thing of which' the: professional jugsler is In constant terfor it is -that gallery cry of “Chestnut!” .and It costs him many a night of sleeplessness to beat his brain for new features. The trouble is that one may'invent in.a min- uté, but it may require’a year of practice to perfect, for there must be no experl- ments on the stage. . Every trick must be so. perfectly actquired that one may _quired enough of the world's goods to | cock and the partridge, but it set me whirling so that I lost consciousness. I did not re- cover my senses for four days, and then I found myself much more of a wreck than many a man who has never lived to tell the tale. My craving for excitement by this time was considerably dampened, as may be imagined. When I returned to the stage it was to find, if possible, some simpler and less hazardous feats for the public entertainment. I took to juggling. break my fall, Tossing this globe of iron twenty feet into the air and catching it between the shoulders 18 a dangerous trick, for mis- placing it a single inch elther way means a dislocated shoulder, and a little higher up means a broken neck. The skill lies {n catching the ball slantingly, stopping its force before its final landing, although this is done so quickly that the eve can- not follow it. It is like another feat—that of tossing an egg twenty feet in the air / E’.‘?Egceyogflc s <UgRs perform It éven' fn the dark or under erd crHIMN, SEFARATE other adverse condition; AND cAavcH THEM, I often’ fall, or rather pretend to fall, | TIRO ary i ANND HND ONE Just ito Eive the audience an idea of the| Sh A EQEE DAY difficulty of a trick, for being performed s with ‘such apparent ease people fail to conscious the whole distance. It seemed the dangerous tricks for those more- and catching it on a china plate without grasp the fact that this perfection‘in this a thousand miles, indeed, that most ter- amusing, although I still cling to one breaking it. To catch it squarely means |nstanée may be the result of years of rible journey of my career, and then I or two, such as.the forty-elght-pound & broken egg.. To catch it slantingly, geverest effor, For instance, the trick struck vire. It served somewhat to {ron ball. breaking the fall, allows the juggler to o¢ holding &, billtard cue poised hnflmn_( make the necessary twist at the close that saves both. There i nothing more fascinating than attempting to set the laws of gravitation at defiance and partially succeeding. I practiced an hour a day for two years to learn to balance one billlard ball upon another. I mot only succeeded with abso~ lute perfect spheres, but can now balance them upon a cue, the cue upon another billiard ball, the ball within a- wine glass tally upon :two balanced upon: the chin, \ setting free one of the latter,.catching it, | toppling the horizontal one over ahd catching it in the center of the forehead sand balancing 1t there, the third cus go- | ing to the left hand. It has the appear- ance of ease, but requires years to per- fect. I should advise the 'amateur to use a cutcher’s mask for the fifst six months | of practice on this trick, else he might 15 Mhm ? »ou PERS IN_BicA Lastly T do not hesitate to counsel young aspirant to the strictest self-de N even in those “small vices”” which are a part of our modern clvilization. It is hard to forego them at times, but there is everything to be gained by absolute avoid- ance of any form of dissipation, and everything to be lost by indulgence. This almost monastic severity of daily regimen is a wonderful preservative, for athletes who are not overtrained usually attain a long life. I have twice tried to retire, having ac- isfy a centinental taste, where living cheap and habits are simple, but after a 51‘ You can >BRARA FIYE YESHES WILL TEACH YoU TH1S BEBILL 152D BALL | TRICK t is impossible for & man te love his pro- fession and rsue It successfully for years, ver strenuous it may be, wit out its becoming absolutely a part*of Therefore if a novice undertakes any branch of professional athletics with a view to attalning an approach to p tion he must make up his mind t in it for life, to work three hard how day off the stage and alc t nothing short of absolute self- dedlca- to his labor will suffice for that ca- pricious goddess Success BIRDS ARE GCOD SURGECNS. ATURALISTS are well aware of the fact that a considerable num- ber of the bird creatiom possess a knowledge of the principles of surgery that is not far from supernatural. The manner in whicd they endeavor to aid nature is very inferesting. The wood- or instan , are able to dress their wounds with conside able skill. A famous naturalist says t on several -occasions he has killed wood- cock that were when shot convalescing from wounds previously received. In every Instance he found the old in- jury neatly dressed with down from the stems of feathers and skillfully arranged over the wound, evidently by the long beak of the bird. In some instances a solid plaster was thus formed, and in others ligatyres had been applied to wounded or broken Hmbs. One day he killed. a bird that evidently, had been ses verely wounded at some recent period. The lcse an eye. wound was covered and protected by a plucked °2 sort twork been d by body arranged as to f ter compl y covering and p: wounded surface. It had evide acted as a hemostatic wre each limb. yor r, had dressing its wound ts beak with some long: nd had it not been d starvation. Ve uld have died ~¢