Daily Ohio statesman. [volume] (Columbus, Ohio) 1855-1870, 1868-04-04
COLUMBUS, O., SATURDAY MORNING,

Claude from his earliest infancy, was
''eserting him, and asking us to play the
a,urth act only. as he couldn't answer
.nr any Of the rest of the part of the
-oming to time. Then horrible thought
possessed him as to what he should do
with his hands, and he suggested that
te should defy the rules of the cos
iume of the period, and wear an
i.vercoat with large pockets, by which
that embarrassment could be evaded.-I
Then he limited mysteriously that he
touldn't go any further than the fourth
bet. But the climax was reached at four
pollock that afternoon, when Mr.. Pop
ham was conveyed to our hotel in a
state of almost speechless intoxication,
prompted by desire on his part to
.'make call" 1 firmly believe that
Popham, until that day, never tasted
anything stronger than his own soda
water. We saw that matters were des-
perate, and as but few hours were be-
tween us and the performance, we placed
Mr. Popham under course of treatment
hot recognized, perhaps, in the materia
medica, but of which spirits of hartshorn
and cold water formed the principal
agents. Our gentle ministering acted as
a sufficient soberative, and Popham
passed from the state of maudlin stupor
to that of loquacious idiotcy We went
to the theater, and found the house
crammed in every part.
The play commenced, and in the third
scene, when Claude made his first ap-
hn fr
prise, with warm and respectful greet
ing. His acting showed evidently that
Popham had mistaken his vocation; but
all passed off well. and at the end of the
act we surrounded him to offer our con-
gratalations. He shook his head gloom
lily and said: eff the fourth act was only
but l am afraid I shan't get any farth
er than the fourth act''
In that memorable scene in the act
named. where Claude expresses his de-
termination to be a soldier, the audience
began to show their "little game" A
gentleman in the front of the parquette,
opened soda water bottle with tre-
,nendous pop! And as the agonized part
lngs with the mother and deceived wife
went on, the soda-water bottles went off.
have since made a calculation that
there were in the front seven hundred
men, and that each man had brought
with him ten soda-water bottles, so that
the moment the signal pop was fired,
there was not less than seven thousand
bottles opened-and then Mr.. Popham's
confounded soda-water was remarkably
good soda water, and the noise, as the
fusilade became more spirited, was alb
solutely deafening. Just imagine the
effect, in close atmosphere, of the lib
Grated effervescence of seven thousand
soda water bottles on the following
beautiful language:
Col. Dumas. 1 will desert this day,
if you will go with me.
Claude. 1t is the favor would have
asked thee if 1 had dared, (pop and
sensation.) Place me wherever foe is
most dreaded, (about twenty terrific
pops and increasing sensation,) where
ever France most needs life! (The
pops! crescendo.) Then as he goes ON
to relate that he "will (pop y return
(pop! y better (pop y man pop pop!
(pop y than a (pop y prince, (pop !!
pjizs pop y &C., &C., &C., and that
and that amidst the carnage and the
roar of battle, his soul would fly back
to Pauline" the carnage of the soda
water and the roar of battle in the front
of the house, and the roars of laughter
both in front of the house and on the
stage, made it positively the most ex-
traordinary scene l ever witnessed.
Popham, who learned afterwards
had his misgivings on the subject, from
the remarkably large order made on his
establishment during the three days pre-
vious, by this time had become frantic,
and wishing to die game, strove to raise
his voice above the din, and rushed mad
ly about the stage, his eyes glaring, his
mouth foaming, and his short hair stand
ing on end like quills upon the fretful
porcupine. He just succeeded in max
ing the audience hear the final line of
the scene: "Your pardon sir,-Tkey are
my last aoords. FAREWELL" and he rush
ed off the stage and out of the theater,
amidst the most tremendous burst Of
laughter that ever heard
He was was right. He did not get
any farther than the fourth act )" and it
was thus that this remarkable first ap-
pearance ended in-Pop,
Au>.. n