New Orleans daily crescent. [volume] ([New Orleans, La.]) 1851-1866, 1866-01-24
Gqlu 0rlsalls 4ailp Grtstellt
The Italian opera.
now ITArrEAREp 10 a RUSTIC

i H. al
now IN APPEARED 10 RUSTIC.
"a
Mr.. Edttor--I'm plain man, and / live, move
and pay my taxes In the little town Of Jonesboro' I;
Tread - the papers about the Italian Opera which
Is showing insMozart Hall, and as Inever saw an
opera, and being that wasn't crowded with my
work, i concluded to take Polly and go. Polly,
you know, is my wife, the mother, am proud to
say, Of eleven children, all Of whom have. their
fathers nose a might add hair, also, for hayn't
got Y myself having been afflicted for several
years with badness on the brain, ~ and their
m.,ther's motion Of talking back"
twenty-five cent shows have been !" fit for
my fs1mily, but considering that Mfr. Strak0sch,
who b, osses the opera, couldn't bring the ltalic
folks f.o foreign shore to sing the airs Of sunny
Italy, aaA,d put on airs generally for the amuse.
ment Of tie American public without enormous
expense = as the show bills always say, hauled
ont cart de yisity Of Secretary Chase, valued at
one dollar, I'd allowed the tcketseler to palm it
without muf muir.
seats near the 81, age (my hearing amt as good as
it was) and we stlt down, congratlating ourselves
that We had ma.raged to ssgo early" 'Twant
long before young chap come along, touched me
on the shoulder, and SAID
OF course said I, 7 and Polly took em."
But you didn't secni e them" taid the young
char; !, !, s !. ). -.
fastened together, and supp osing that was what
he was abiding to, some body secured them
when they were put in here
The chap then explained to me that the seats
were engaged by other parties who had gone
earlier than Polly and /, and said we must find
seats somewhere else. As we passed along the
isle, Polly being ahead, saw bit Of paste board
sticking to her shawl which read !. taken"
laughed low smile as reflected that j had "gone
early enough in life to "secure'' her for all the
operas and other feeting shows Of this world, and
there couldn't no chap tell me to yacate my seat.
We found couple Of seats, Ct length, that hat
wasn't (paste1 boarded up, and settled ourselves
for spending the evening with :. Martha which
the programmes said was Flotow' chef ouore,''
though who Flotow was, or what kind OF COM
plant chef dauure is haven't the slightest idea.
Torrance was over concluded that Flotow must
have had the chef d'guure pretty bad. But
mustn't get ahead Of my story.
saw some empty seats next to the stage, and
asked Polly If she supposed they were secured.
Polly had been to the theater once, and knew
what's what. She said them seats was for the
band. Sure enough, brass band marched in
pretty quick and taking the seats, began to tune
up their Instruments, and they was tuning Of 'em
during the most Of the show.
There was something on the front Of the stage
with green cloth. 1t INSTRUCTED my view of the
curtain somewhat, and asked a man sitting by;
the side Of me what 1t was. He said it was the
prompter's stand. didn't know any more about
1t then than did before but didn't want to show
my ignorance. Isimply replied that it was care.
less leaving It there, for the performance would
4 commence pretty quick-Mr. Strakosch ought to
be little profnpte,' in clearing the stage. The
man smiled: my wife poked me in the ribs to hush
up, and ! knew that somehow i had put my foot in
that prompter's stand.
$ The brass band firted with some inexplicable
music through their horns for q time, and then Mr.
Strakosch i suppose it was him, though he was
out of sight,t tinkled a tea bell which was the
signal for the curtin to rise. There was a hand
some young woman sitting in chair, while quire
of girls iii short dresses and red yarn stockings
were singing to her, though couldn't quite catch
the words. Mr.. Strakosch should give them a
talking to and make them pronounce their words
palmer. Icould have heard better, suppose, if
the band had kept still, but they bowed away with
all their might the whole time, trying, apparently,
to drown the gals voices which they seemed likely
to do at one time, but the gals getting mad,
marched down close to the band, and poured such
q torrent Of screeches, screams and yells upon
their bald heads that they had to cave in finally
The audience cheered and got excited myself,
clappng my hands and shouting to the girls,
I tsbuliy for you -
The girls fell back in good order, asharp-shooter
popping an occasional shot at some musician whose
horn was exalted too muchly, and the band dis
; comfted and demoralized by their defeat, was
only brought into line again by the vigorous efforts
of the ffe-maior, who Iashed right and left with q
small walking stick which he held in his hand.
The good looking young women, whose name is
Paulina Cassna, on the bills, then came forward
and warbled about in q bushel Of birdlke notes
that should be legal tender if Twas Mister Chase.
She was soon Joined by plump and handsome
vocalist, who is billed as Mad. Amalia Strakosch,
though never saw a mad woman in such good
humor before in the whole course of my life.
j told Polly, when we got home, il she would
look as sweet and bewitching when she had one
of her tantruns as Mad. Amalia did, she might get
mad every day in the year, and would cheerfully
turn the old homestead into mad-house, acting
keeper for the remainder of my days. Wife bri-
bled up at that, and called me an old fool: She is
going on fifty five, but she can't bear to hear me
prasiug other women.
To resume My hearing is poor, as said before.
/ remarked to q man sitting next to me that we
were too. far back, and he told me to go to the
was didn't know, but I went and got one, paying
half dollar for the use of it. I was good deal
confused when got back to my seat, for l didn't
know how to use the double-barreled continuance
which the ticket man gave me, never having seen
one before. When the women's voices broke loose
again put the ''lornett' to my ear, but couldn't
hear BIT better than did before. My wife gave
me dig with her elbow, (she's sharp woman
whispered, .Don't you know then's to look
throhgh?n ] saw through ii at once.
Opera is fine thing, have no doubt, if one
could only asee it, as my youngest boy says. but
the torne@ (and screwed it up to the highest
pitch,) didn't help me a bit. asked my wife tc
explain 1t to me as it went along, (when she was
q girl up in York State she used to beat them al
at singing school,) but she only replied, "pay
'tention.r and didn't ask any more questions.
Martha, or the Fair of Richmond was the
title Of the opera last night The Fair is intro
duced III the second act. Whether it resemblet
Richmond Fairs Or not, can't say, am too old te
go '.on TOT that city. AT the Fair the two engag
ing young women appear again, dressed in theil
every day clothes, attracting the attention of {
couple Of young men who hold little private
conversation with them singing at tops Of theil
voices All the fair people unite in the singing
Joined by some strangers who happened along jus
then; the band adding to the general confusion
with unex anlpled cheerfnlness and yigor, What j
that she didn't know either. / would suggest IL
Mr.. Strakoseh that his opera would be better
understood if they didn't all speak their pieces
together, lone at q time'i would be good rult
for the operators to follow, should think.
Yours, etc, JOHN SMITH
CARRIAGEs............. ..CAKRIAGEs