Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1872-10-18
shall not have it. This takes fifteen min.

shall not have it. This takes fifteen min.
utes.
Mother examines boy on his lessons
Boy does not know them; tries to peep.
Mother reproves; makes boy kneel; pre-.
pares to whip; whips; Mother weeps.
Boy catches flies on the floor; bites her
| finger.
Enter cook to see what the noise means.
Cook takes boy to task. Boy stops his
ears. Cook bawls. Cook kneels to lady;
reproves her also; tells her she must
keep her own temper if she would train
her boy.
Lady sulks, naturally. Boy slips be.
hind and cuts her work out of her EN-.
broidery frame. Cook attacks boy. Cook
sings a lament, and goes out to attend to
dinner; but returns in frantic distress.
During his absence everything has boiled
over; everything has been burned to crisp.
Dinner is ruined. Cook now reconciles
mother and son; dfags son to his knees
makes him repeat words of supplication.
While he does this, cook turns his back
to the audience, takes off his beard care.
fully, lays 1t on the floor, while he drinks
q cupful of tea. Exit all, happy and
smiling.
This is all, literally all It took an hour
and half. The audience listened with
intensest interest The gesticulations, the
expressions of face, the tones of the
actors all conveyed the idea of the deep
est tragedy. Except for our Interpreter,
should have taken the cook for a sooth.
sayer, priest, q highwayman and MUIR
derer alternately. l should have suppos.
ed that all the dangers, hopes, fears, de-
lights possible in the lives of three human
beings were going on on that stage. Now
we saw how very far-fetched and prepos.
ferrous had probably been our theories of
the play we had seen before, we having
constructed most brilliant plot from our
Interpretation of the pantomime.
After this domestic drama comes
fierce spectacular play, too absurd to be
described, in which nations went to war
because Kings donkey had been killed.
And the Kings and their armies marched
in at one door and out of the other, sat on
gilt thrones, fought with gilt swords,
tumbled each other head over heels with
as much vigor and Just about as much
art as small boys play the battle of Bun
ker Hill with the nursery chairs on a
rainy day. But the dresses of these war
like monarchs were gorgeous and fantas-
tic beyond description. Long, gay-color-
ed robes, blazoned and blazing with gold
and silver embroidery, small flags, two
on each side, stuck in at their shoulders,
and projecting behind, helmets, square
breast plates of shining stones, and
such decorations with feathers as
passes belief Severa! of them had
behind each ear a long, slender bird of
paradise feather. The feathers reached
out at least three feet behind, and curved
and swayed with each step the man took.
When three or four of these were on the
stage together, marching and counter
marching, wrestling, fighting and tumb-
ling, why in the world their tail feathers
did not break, did not become entan gled
with each other, no mortal could divine.
Others had long wings of silver filagree
work behind their ears. These also
swayed and tapped at each step.
Sometimes there would be forty or fifty
of these nondescript creatures on the
stage at once, gesticulating, attacking,
retreating, bowling, bowing, bending,
tripping each other up, stalking, strut
ting, and all the while caterwauling, and
all the while the drums beating, the gongs
ringing, and the stringed instruments and
the castanets and the flies playing. 1t
was as dazzling as a gigantic kaleidoscope
and as deafening as cotton mill. After
the plays came wonderful tumbling and
somersaulting. To see such gymnastic
feats performed by men in long damask
night-gowns and with wide trOwsers is
uncommonly droll. This is really
the best thing at the Chinese theater-
the only thing, in fact, which is not in
comprchensibly childish.-H. H., in tile
Independent.