THE FEMALE GYMNAST.

Westport Times, Volume VII, Issue 1038, 17 January 1873, Page 3

THE FEMALE GYMNAST.

"Lounger," writingtothe ' Bendigo Advertiser,' gives a peep hehind the scenes, and tells how the sensational market is supplied. " Presently in comes a stranger—' La petite Minnie, the graceful and daring lady from pome of the first London theatres. Minnie looked graceful enough certainly, but by no means ' daring,' and there was a nervousness about her movements, an anxiety ahout her countenance, which made me rather doubt the proclaimed facts of the wonders she had done in public in the trapeze 'business ' She was of course in tights, and she deported herself so awkwardly in them that the lounger began to think she had never had them on before. The bell which was to introduce her for the first time to a Sandhurst audience would ring in a few moments, so I had a minute or two to speak to Minnie,. She was fragile and delicate, and more modest than female gymnasts usually are. I asked her how it was that she happened to come with a London reputation, to appear at this theatre for the first time. The thing seemed strange, and she evaded the point, suggesting that I should ' ask him,' nodding to a tall, flash, loud young man, who stood looking on. I did ask'him.' And then I learned that Minnie had been in training for her hazardous feats just ten days ; that she had in fact never appeared anywhere, except in a small private room, on the trapeze hefore, and that she had never been in London in her life, nor performed in any character, anywhere, all her days. No wonder the poor girl soon alter fell from the bar, and narrowly escaped death ! She duly appeared that evening, shortly afterwards, and acquitted herself, considering her extreme nervousness and newness to the ' business,' remarkably well. The audience were pleased more and more the greater risk she ran, and when she ' came off,' amidst prolonged applause, she showed me her hands. They were gashed aud bleeding from the ropes. A few evenings afterwards her head was cut, her limbs were sore, and her hody was picked up senseless from the seats in the orchestra. The manufacture of ' graceful and daring lady gymnasts ' would seem to be a profitable iudustry—profitable, that is, to the manufacturer. Poor Minnie seems to he poor enough, hut the young man she is pleased to call ' him ' seems to know no poverty, and certainly runs no risks. I asked her why she did not quit the profession after her late accident. She told me she could not. She felt giddy and shaken, and unwell; but she was under engagement to ' him ' for twelve more long months, and with ' him ' she would have to stay. She is, however, constitutionally unfit for ' daring ' acts of any kind, and the sooner the agreement is cancelled the better.