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Show (French Shepherds Use j Stilts to Advantage Walking on stilts is a fnd that does jiiot die with Use ages. On the tomb i?f one of the oldest Pharaohs Is u .'crude bas-relief depleting a court pro cession. The procession Is led by a trumpeter who Is perched on high is Li Its. Every nation. In 1 fact, has had Its . ;cxpert stilt walkers. In China, unci iJnpan the fad Is popular with youths, some of whom are so adept In tills jniode of walking that they require no j '.supports or uprights to steady them. In southern France stilts are more .than fads. There they arc used al most continuously by the shepherds, iwho have to keep watch over Iarg Hocks of sheep n3 well as to pass 'through bogs. The stills are usually from six to eight feet high and are strapped tightly to the knees. roth men and women in that part '.at the country are expert stilt walkers. '.In their hands (hoy hold a long stick .or rane as a support So accustomed jare Ihese people to the stilts that shep .herdesses have been known to Unit socks while walking on them. . A frequent pastime of these people jare slill races, and not a holiday jpasses without a sl'.lt contest of some (sort. One contest recently was won 'by' a boy and a girl, each fourteen I years old. The third to come In was a 'shepherd, whose ago was about . seventy. |