OCR Text |
Show SELECTED. Cruelty to Hoy Acrobats. The H uilou brothers are performing at the Alhambra. London, and their performance perform-ance .-uggests the followins remarks to the London On lic-tra, The boys in question performed the feats described some months ago at the Tammany in New York city : "A performance so haztrdous as to make it highly objectionable is repeated at the Alhambra. The peril to which a little boy is put is absolute ly cruel. Three acrobats two grown up, one a chil l ot eight or nine are concerned in it- A net of cotton cord, which may possibly break at any time, is stretched across the stage. About thirty t'ett j above the net is a frame of some thirty feet long. At either end of this are short stirrups, by which the elder brothers hang head downwards The boy takes his place in the middle, standing upon the tr ime. One ot the brothers now begins to swing, and the boy leans from the bar at the precise moment, mo-ment, and his hands are caught ty those of the swinging man, aud the two swing backward and forward in regular motion. The other brother now begins to swing, and the boy is thrown from one to tne othT, sometimes some-times caugnt by the hands, sometimes by the ankles, sometimes throwing a somersault, sometimes two somersaults, somer-saults, in his flight from one to the other. It is nothing short of marvel ous, but done with apparent ease ; the risk is alarming. The extreme difficulty of the feat can be readi.y understood by all who have an acquaintance with feats of the trapeze. In ordinary trapeze feais the ropes ropes are of so great a length that the arc of a circle described by the performer as he flies through the air intersects the arc of a circle described by the trapeze bar for a considerable distance, and he can catch it whether it meets him at the level ot his che.-t, face, or the extreme stretch of his arms over his head. In the short swings made by the tiaulous. the radius ra-dius of which is only their own length, aud the two additional feet of the stirrup stir-rup rope, it is necessary only for a mo-ineut mo-ineut that the swinger can be in a position po-sition to catch the hands of the flying boy. the mistake of a fifth of a second in his swinging would send him out of reach. The full knowledge of this is rejuired for the full appreciation of this marvellous feat. The performance perform-ance is terminated by the boy ascending ascend-ing to a stid higher bar over the centre of the frame, and from this he leaps something like twenty feet down belore he is caught by the hands of the swinging swing-ing brother. We need hardly point out how immediate im-mediate is the risk of an accident to the poor boy as he swings through the air. Unnatural development of his muscles have already stunted him, broadened his chest, and given his frame an abnormal hardness. He has been two years and a half learning learning and these feats and is i- perfectly fearless, having never dui-ing dui-ing the whole training hurt himself in the slightest degree. But even sup posing be does not break his ne-k, which" may happen at any moment, the effects of mch severe training at his early age may be ruinous hereafter. Public opinion should check such re-puUive re-puUive sights, if ihp law will not." |