The swirling waters of Niagara have ever been a challenge to a vast army of adventurers who found in their own daring heedlessness a means here of gaining money and a mushroom glory. Of all these "Niagara Cranks," as they are known locally, the tight-rope walkers undoubtedly have the strongest claim to our admiration for the utter daring of their feats, however mercenary may have been the motives. "Tut, tut! my friends," would reply one of these brave, popular heroes if you had mentioned fear, "'tis nothing at all"; then, confidentially, he would have whispered in your ear: "You can't help getting across. You get out to the middle of the rope, and there you are. If you turn back you lose your money, and if you go on you get it. That's all."
It was the great Blondin who stands king of the tight-rope walkers of Niagara, leaving behind him a reputation as the greatest tight-rope walker of the century.
Charles Emile Gravelet was born at Hesdin, near Calais, on the twenty-eighth of February, 1824, and died in Ealing, near London, February 22, 1897. His father, whose nickname, "Blondin," from the colour of his hair, descended to his son, was a soldier of the First Empire who had seen service under Napoleon at Austerlitz, Wagram, and Moscow, but died when his son was in his ninth year. The pluck and strength that young Blondin had was displayed as early as his fourth year; when only a few years older he was trained by the principal of _l'École de Gymnase_ at Lyons in many gymnastic feats, and after six months there, was brought out as "The Little Wonder." He excelled especially at tight-rope dancing, jumping, and somersault-throwing. One of his notable jumps was over a double rank of soldiers with bayonets fixed. The agent of an American Company--the Ravels--aware of his success in the French provinces finally gave him a two years' engagement for the United States, which afterwards was extended to eight years. He came to America in 1855; and it was not long after, when looking across the Niagara Falls, that he remarked to Mr. Ravel:
"What a splendid place for a tight-rope performance."
[Illustration: Goat Island Bridge. Showing Niagara's Famous Cataract and International Hotels.]