Daily union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1865-1866, 1865-12-10

MOBILE, ALA. Dec. q, 1863.
| GENTLEMEN:-We have just had new
play at the Theatre here, and when you learn
that it is pretty good thing, you will natur-
ally desire to know all about it. Just now
the legitimate drama is banished from the
stage, and we have in its stead carnival"
or, as it is styled in the bills, "combina-
tion," of colored minstrelsy, cheap panto-
mime, and what our Gallo population call
the "ballay" The latter, which, to the pO-
etc mind, is the romance Of the combina-
ton, consists exclusively of ankles and-sO-
forth. At least you don't remember while
il is going on that it consists much of the
dancing. The Highland and other sorts of
exaggerated Fling by nine or ten pretty girls,
one half the length of whose skirts is to be
found on abstract L." have been known to
inveigle older men than / am into the front
seats Of the parquette before now.
But about that new play. 1t is dramati-
cation of Miss Braddon's story of 'Only a
| Clod,n and is entitled 'He's got Money"
! The title, you see, is bad. 1t is the worst
part OF the play. | suggested to the author
that ''He has the Spizze-.nctGm," would be
far more attractive one; but he didn't seem
to think so, and let it stand. With that
name it ran one week. With mine, it would
have been running now. Indeed, there
would have been no such thing as stopping it.
When the curtain rises on the premonitory
symptoms of the play, you suddenly find
yourself in Van Deiman's Land, and one of
the Deimans with his servant, is before you.
He wears an enormously red coat, and repre-
sents himself as an officer Of the British
army. As the army register is not where
you can conveniently lay your hand on
it, you take it for granted that he is one, and
say nothing about it.
This officers name is ii. LOwther. Tha,
of his servant-whom he has had detailed
from one of the Alabama REGIMENTS
Francis Fredethlyn-a name you pronounce
with hydraulic emphasis on the dcth. While
master and man are fooling away your time
by talking about their personal affairs, some
young gentlemen drop in TO drink glass of
Lowther's wine, which seems TO be scarce
with him, as when they have thrown them
selves on the outside of what tley find in the
tumblers, he doesn't ask them to take any
more
Having swallowed the wine and snapped
a few jokes, the young gentlemen go away.
but not until it has leaked out that Lowther
is much in love with Every wealthy heiress"
in England, Miss Maud Hillary, whom he
had long been in the habit, before leaving
home, of inviting into the garden whenever
the bull-bats were abroad, and the Watchdog
seemed disposed to be uniriendly.
The mail bag is then brought in, and
when the letters are turned out, one Of them
is found to be FOR Fredeth,yn, whose cores
pondence is evidently limited, as the recep-
ton o. tbs letter as.onisacs him frightfully.
He seizes it eagerly, tears it open frantically,
holds il Mt arms-ength, and reads three lines
Of il with protrud.ng eye-balls, hands it
hastily to his master, falls into a chair, and
leaning h.s head on a table, exclaims in the
most heart--eGder'ng accents, I'm ur-r-
rich Pm ur-r-rich from which you at
once infer that his father has struck oil, or
is in Mississippi or Alabama stealing cot
ton.
But the truth of the business is, the letter
is from lawyer in London, telling him that
his uncle has Just gone up the final spout,
leaving him a legacy of 100000 a year in
postal currency, which he ought to have left
to his only daughter, but didn't because she
had run off with a young fellow who didn't
exactly come up to his ideas. Fredethlyn
Immediately throws up his situation, Buys
himself some good clothes, and the curtain
falls.
While they are making preparations to
bring in the next act, you go out and get
drink, which costs you quarter, but if it
were "the meaner the whisky the higher the
higher price" you would lack dollar and
a half of having enough money to pay for it.
When the curtain rises again we find that
all our Van Diemanders have arrived in
England, and that Fredethlyn is now moving
in the first circles of society, having been
presented with a season ticket in consequence
of his abundance of funds. Here we first
meet Maud Hillary, and are struck with her
fine personal appearance. We are told con-
fidentially that she and Lowther were form
erly engaged 10 60 halves in an entry for the
matrimonial stakes, but that the arrange
ment was quashed by the latter on account
of the scarcity of greenbacks-
Without the least intention of laying her
self liable 10 an action for fraud, Miss Hill
ary swindles Fredethlyn out of his heart
and declines to give him corresponding
section of her own individual anatomy to
show for it, But, suddenly one day her
papa comes into the room looking as blue as
a brigade Of colored infantry on dress par
ade and while she is trying to worm out Of
him, 10y the most afectionate appeals, the
cause of his distress, wiping an imaginary
tear from her left eye with lace handker-
chief and crying "Oh, papa no! hop
when he hesitatcs TO tell her, a servant comes
in with a surgeons instrument-case of pis-
tolls. Whereupon, Maud thinks suicide" at
once and the sly attempt papa makes TO in
duce the servant TO conceal the box under
his coat-tail, confirms her apprehensions.
She therefore throws an additional quantity
of tears and tenderness into her appeals, and
the old gentleman finding himself cornered,
comes out Aat-footed and Acknowledges the
hominy. lie tells her he is broke all to
smash, that in consequence he had intended
to introduce an aged funeral into the family
with the help of the pistols, and that unless
he can raise 10000, switch he don't know
where it is TO come from, he still thinks it
would be satisfaction to him to blow out
his brains.
Maud tells him 10 let his brains stay where
they are, as blowing them out won't blow the
money in, and she'll make it all right. Papa
consents TO do SO and saves his ammunition:
She then goes to Tredothlyn and asks him to
lend her the contemplate sum of 10000,