The Vermont transcript. [volume] (St. Albans, Vt.) 1864-1870, 1864-04-22

cross father, and q malicious fool. were
the constant interrupters of their stol-
en- meetings. Rose was dressed IN
little tucked up gown of white silk
striped with pink, and wore II pipsv
hat; Lubin wore q nondescript sort of
blue silk coat and tapped waistcoat.
while the Zany tumbled into thou
sand shapes IN sort of milor's dress
all white, and blue broad-brimmed
hat There was good deal of hiding
and searching about with soldiers. ur-
I'll the true lover enlists, and finallvre-
turns a general to marry Rose. It
was a flimsy pretty bit of nonsense,
mixed up with dances and songs, and
now and then Il chorus; and it was
all over in half an hour.
silly as it was. it pleased the audi
ence, who shouted, laughed. and en-
cored everything A display of fire
works was to follow, and then n short
farce. Between the acts, l tried the
little Russian / knew, and asked the
old woman, who had turned round and
offered me some honoy-cakes, How
she liked it?'
My little father" she said, quite Sc
uously, III is the most wonderful thing
/ have ever beheld since ! saw those
accursed French act at Moscow, in Ma
poleon's time.
Suddenly all the chatter and laughter
died away. The curtain had not risen
but a faint crimson light was shining
behind it. II was the commencement
of the pyrotcchnic display, and l was
curious to see what the Russians could
do in these matters. The first scene
was to be the illumination Of the Krem-
lin at the coronation of the Emperor
J Alexander the First Probably that
was the only preparation, for, though
the red light widened and glowed the
curtain, strangely enough, did not rise
The people stamped and shouted. All
at once the bajozzo tho clown, in his
white dress, ran forward, pale as death,
( his eyes staring his hands tossing about
like those Of a mailman. 1--WE are on
fre" he shouted. "Sayc yourselves,
YOU who cam
Bravo, Feirari!" cried the peasants,
with roars of laughter Excellent
Viva Terrari Bravo, FerTan r
The clown fled from the stage as it
seemed, in an agony of feigned fear.
The laughter redoubled A man in
evening dress rushed forward, whisper
ed to the orchestra, and waved his
hand to some men who were not yisi-
bic to the audience The curtain rose
swiftly at that ominous signal, and dis
closed, to my horror, n rolling mass Of
fire and crimsoned smoke. Already
the flies had caught fire and We're hang
ing in blazing steamers. Fire rose
from below, fire cleaned from above,
fire darted its quick tongues from
either side The theater was on fire.
The baiozzo had not been feigning, but
was terribly in earnest
l shall never forget the scream that
burst from those four thousand people
when the reality broke upon them.
had only an instant to look, but in that
instant | saw row after row of white
faces turn as by one impulse to the
door Then, came Il stamping rush as
of herd of maddened animals. Many
tore forward without a thought but OF
their own safety, others snatched ar
{ their children, others dragged forward
their old mothers or fathers, or bore
their wives or sweethearts in then
| arms. Then came the grapplo for life
7 the trampling sutfocating battle for ex-
istence that only served to hasten Oh
/ death.
/ In many things / am coward enough
{ hut in sudden danger ! have always
= found myself cool and collected Per
haps a sailors frequent hazards, and
| the constant thought Of the possibility
1 of death is a sort of training; perhaps
= it is constitutional quality. l know
= not how it is. 1 only state the fact.
saw Immediately that though for the
/ moment safe, and far from the full tor
r rent of the struggle, my hopes of es
2 cape were quite as desperate as the
= hopes Of those who were tramplina
t each other to death at the entrance be
t low Unfortunately, one OF the grea
= folding-doors opened inward. In thu
r first rush it had been closed and nov
, the pressure was SO great it could no
J be moved one way CT other.
= The flames were spreading rapidly
4 the smoke rolled towards us iii blind
' ing clouds, and from those clouds dart
e ed and leaped serpent tongues Of fire
, The flames seemed with cruel greedi
p ness to spring from seat to seat. TIL,
, slips were blazing, the orchestra was /
D seething pit of fire. The screams anC
a groans on all sides were heart-break
, ing. Ihesitated for a moment whethei
D to remain where | was and meet death
d or to breast the human whirlpool be
e low At that moment surge of flame
. ran along the ledge of the next box t.
S me- backing and blistering as it went
s The heat grew intense. / determined
y to make one struggle for life. | raj
4; to the head Of the stairs and looked
Y down. There, the herd Of screaming
b shouting people fought with hands anC
/ feet in horrible tangle of life or death
| gave myself up as lost, when {
+; hand seized my coat 1t was the ole
+ housekeeper, screaming her entreatie'
D to me to save her. / told her to cling
/ to me and / would do what Z could
r 1t gave me courage to think | was
cf,.t,osrlf,,., Con. com ono Iogila ,,,x~gqlf