The Charleston daily news. [volume] (Charleston, S.C.) 1865-1873, 1872-02-09

| Two hundreQ ucEetS among my persona
friends, but / feared that they might not come
me at first, grew steadily more and more
dreary till not vestige Of fun seemed left
and grieved that could not bring q coffin
on the stage and turn the thing into q funeral
I was 80 panic-stricken at last that went to
three old friends. giants In stature, cordial BY
nature, and stormy voiced, and eaid Z.
"Thfs thing is going to be failure; the jokes
them. / would like to have you sit In the par
quette and help me through. :! .s... -.
They said they would. Then l went TO the
wife Of popular citizen, and said that II she
was willing to do me very great Kindness
would be glad If she and her husband would
sit prominently in the left-hand stage:box,
where the whole house could see them. e1-
turn towards her and smile, as signal, when
l had been delivered Of an obscure joke
land then" answered. ''don't walt to inves-
tigate, but respond p'
She promised. Down the street Imet q
man had never eeen before. He had been
drinking, and was beaming with smiles and
good nature. BE said:
"ly name is Sawyer. You don't know me-.
but that don't matter. haven't got cent,
but If you knew how bad wanted to laugh,
you'd give me ticket. Come, now, what do
you say ~ --f---
"Is yonr laugh hung on hair-trigger
that is, is 1t critical, or can 1t get off easy n
MY drawllng infrmity of speech 80 affected
struck me as being about the article wanted,
and gave him ticket, and appointed him
to sit In the second circle In the centre anu be
responsible for that division Of the house. I
gave him minute instructions abOEt how to
detect indlstinct jokes, and then went away
and LETT him chuckling placidly over the novel;
ty OK the idea. "a
I ate nothing on the last of the three event.
full days-I only suffered. had advertised
that on the third day the Office would be
opened for the sale Of reserved seats. crept
down to the theatre at four In the afoernoont to
see II any sales had been made. The ticket
seller was gone. the box-ofice was locked
up. had to swallow suddenly or my heart
myself might have known 1t. I thought
OF suicide, pretended illness, flight. I thought
Of these things In earnest, for was very
miserable and scared. But had to Of course
drive them away, and prepare to meet my
fate. could not walt for half.past seven;
wanted to face the horror and end 1.-THE feel
Ing of many O. man doomed to be hung, no
o'clock. and entered the theatre by the back
door. stumbled my way In the dark among
the ranks of canvass scenery and stood on the
stage. The house was gloomy and silent, and
Its emptiness depressing. went into the
dark among the scenes again, and for an hour
and half gave myself up TO the horrors. whol.
heard murmur; it rose higher and higher,
and ended In crash, mingled with cheers. Il
made my hair rise, 1t was 60 close to me and
go loud. There was pause, and then another;
presently came third, and before I well
knew what was about, was In the middle
Of the stage, staring at sea Of faces, beWil-
dered by the fierce glare Of lights, and quak-
ng in limb s wta terror Tsa that nanss seemed
full-aisle and all s....,sE
The tumult In my heart and brain and legs
continued a full minute before could gain
any command over myself. Then rec0g-
nized the charity and the trlendliness In the
faces before me, and little by little my sfdght
three or four minutes was comfortable and
even content. My three chief allies, With
three auxIliarles, were on hand in the par
quette, all sitting together. all armed with
bludgeons and all ready to make an onslaught
upon the feeblest Joke that might show Its
head. Aud whenever q joke did fall their
bludgeons came down and their faces seemed
hearty countenance was seen looming redly
in the centre of the second circle, took 1t up
and the house was carried handsomely.
Inferior Jokes never Jared SO royalty be-
fore. Presently delivered bit Of sert-
GUS matter with impressive unotion, Qt
was my pet,) and the audience listened with
an absorbed hush that gratlfed me more than
any applause; and as Idropped the last word
of the clause happened to turn and catch
Mrs. - intent and waiting eye; my con-
versation with her flashed upon me, and In
spite OF all could do smiled. She took 1t
for the signal, and promptly delivered mel
low laugh that touched Off the whole audience,
and the explosion that followed was the
triumph of the evening! l thought that that
honest man Sawyer would choke himself;
and as for the bludgeons, they performed like
pathos was ruined. It was taken In good
faith as an Intentional Joke, and the prize one
Of the entertainment; and wisely let 1t go at
that.
ALL the papers were kind 10 the morning;
my appetite returned; I had abundance Of
money. "Alrs well that ends we'll"