The daily Minnesota pioneer. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1854-1855, 1854-06-21
The Ventriloquist.

all the Species WHlCu III my OPAulOu uu'C hOOu,
ed the stage. His ability lies not in simply i'm
itatiug the human voice (the common province
of human ventriloquists and the most attaina-
ble) but those of all birds and beasts and all
noises whether natural or mechanical 1t was
difficult to say which was most admired in his
Organ--its astounding power or its minute llq-
uidity for he could give you as correct an
idea of the saving of huge piece OF timber,
as of the song of lnnet His entertainment
is divided into three parts, with two appropri-
ate scenes which he carried with him the first
represented an aviary and menagerie, in which
he personated the keeper, and as he approach
ed, every animal or bird gave its distinct growl
or whistle; the next was the interior of work
shop, in which he pretended to be making box
es and initiated the sounds of all the various
implements employed-these were rendered
characteristic by his DRESS and somewhat hui
morous by his broken English exclamations.-
But the third, and perhaps more ordinary scene
was his performance on a violin without
strings, of a variety of difficult music. Here
illusion exceeds conjecture; and what too was
the most delightful all came to partake in it. |
The "Fakir'' is fellow of very humorous
ideas. He had met with adventures in all
quarters of the globe, which it was his sole
amusement to recount. Among the number,
one that occurred to him on the road from
whimsical.
He had taken his place in the night coach,
but by mistake or cOnnivance was expelled to
the outside. The night was very dark, and
soon after the coach set off it began to rain,
which in regard to that country is to say the
water came down like cataract. Being ne-
Their provided with great coat or umbrella,
he naturally enved the situation of those who
sat under him. TO desire their comfort was
At,ro1 81, -
tain it. In the depth of his rOguery, there
fore, as we'll as distress, he resolved upon the
following exNedient: He was the only passen-
ger outside, ann his location being the dickey,
Che coachman at the other extremity of the
vehicle was incapable of peeping through the
blanket of dark upon his doings. He pretends
to hug and push child in his arms, whose fret
full whine he commenced and increased till it
cut the drums OF the other passengers ears
like razor. Two of those passengers hap
pened to he females, one of whom was moth
err. They instantly exclaimed, Dear me there
is poor child on the roofin the rain-let us
take it i'm The males, as gentlemen and
christians, were compelled to acquiesce so
down went the sash, and out went a lady s
head and shoulders to address the "Fakir. =
"Here, my good woman, give me the chid.''
mo, no,'' said the latter, mimicking the voice
of a female, "me dear little Adolphine shall
not 60 from her mamma" and then he COM
menced another series of soprano notes, inter
spersed with an abundance of based hush-a-
byes) more intolerablc than the former
"Good heavensn' said the humane female to
her con; r,anion, "its barbarous French wo-
man she'll ,,.;ill the poor thing.
Then leaning Grt of the window" Give me
the child, good womal. will you? it will catch
its death! Here, coach,Gan, stop!' "Stop,
ma'am!" said Jehu-" bless your soul! did
you ever hear of such thing lii such rain
as this? And if did stop, the young ones on
the dickey would frghtcn the cattle!'' The
Fakir now pretended to get mad with the child,
and scold it, at which the women opened upon
him-the gentlemen swOre; and between the
signalling, growing, screaming and threa fen
ing delightful tumult cnsued.
The dialogue, as he described it. then ran
thus:
Child squalling-Ya, va, va!
Fakir-Hush hush, child!
Women within-Don't use it so, good wo-
man!
Child-Ya, va, va va, va! {acresendo.)
Fakir-You Won little devel, you cry so much,
vot you want? @
Women within-There'sa brute Mr. Wig
gins.
Gentlemen-AI owing to the French revo-
luton.
Child-Ya, va, va!
Coachman-Steady, Betty, steady.
Fakir-YOu are Won little dam child
WOmen-Only hear the French monster!
FakT-I will throw you into the mud!
Woman-What does she say, bark?
Child-Ya. va, va!
Fakir-Won't yer be hush yer little rascal.
trow you away!
Women-Oh! you wicked wretch!
Child-Ya. va, ya-aa!
Fakir-Dere, den, cot dam he is in de pud-
die.
Here then, suiting the action to the word,
he made q noise as if he had actually deposited
the infant in the ditch, the cries of which grew
fainter and fainter, as the coach passed on
The uprOar that now ensued would have done
credit to st. Giles watch-hOuse, on ST. Pat
rick's day. The women Yelled and the men
thumped the roof with their sticks and swore
out of the windows. "Stop, coachman, stop
Murder murder murderation! She's killed
the child! she's thrown it into the ditch! Will
yoI stop, coachman"
in three minutes more" he replied, "to
change horses"
80 But there's child lying on the road p
I'll send some one from the inn to pick it
mp, marin. I mustn't lose time bstween the
stages"
The torrent Of abuse now turned upon the
coachman and one of the passengers who was
lawyer, swOre that if the child died, he would
prosecute the former for manslaughter and the
mother for murder. On arriving at the inn
the Fakir jumped down and ran into the ktch
en- to dry himself. The house was thrown in
stantly into conflsion-the French woman was
ordered to be seized-lanterns i0hted, and {
party set off to retrace the road, headed by thu
humane lawyer.