New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1873-07-06

again, the audience recognized us both,
and cheered louder than before. In fact.
they appeared to see far more histrlonlc
genius in our performance than the stage
manager and chief OF the supes did. You
can ina yipe the swearing with which those
two gentlemen prologued and epilogued the
announcement that we need not 90 On the
stage any more.
We vanished into the room Of orr old
patron, whom, in our sheer desperation and
for short. we took to calling "Snufy.
Here we crawled out of the Augustan age
into our own, by getting into our clothes as
quickly as possible. My friend in his good
nature Iorgave me prod Ag him with the
battleax, and once more In condition to
appear in the street in case OF emergency
we plucked up courage, resolving to see the
thing out. We mingled among the supes
until we imagined our identity lost. at least
to the stage manager, if not to Mr.. Butler.
After while We veEtured up stairs to the
wings again, where We were recognized and
commented upon by the ballet girls. and
chatfed worse than ever by the blonde
pages In their ignorance of Roman his
tory they called my friend Brutus, ! recol-
lect. and myself Julius Caesar. Being
a freshman, Of course ] told them that 1t
was Caesar who got stabbed, in annals, and
it could not therefore be Brutus whom had
prOdded IN the ribs. They didn I care; they
Casa1ed me more than ever. We had not
been very long in the wings when | OBJ
served blonde cbarmer In the guise OF a
page, with silver scales and her hair grace
fully disheveled, leaning against side
scene, with her feet akin DO. as shall have
to call it in my ignorance of the proper
term She was evidently just ready to go
upon the stage. Her golden back hair was
toward me. Thinking to pay in her own
coin at least one OF my most persistent tor
mentors. stole up behind her and gave her
hair a playful twist. The lady turned
briskly around, and. glazing at me. de-
manded in all indignant. tragic way,
What does this mean, sir!' Then dis
covered that / had been pulling the nalr OF
the leading actress, wife of the leading
actor. the Prince of the piece. She, the
Queen OF ali the Fairies in order that she
might watch her princeiy lover unobserved.
was then dlsporting herself in the disguise
of a page at the court Of his Highness's
royal father. OF course she was an utter
stranger to me, and l was dumbiounded.
"What does this mean, sir 2 she repeated.
There comes my husband. ! will speak. to
him." Locking in the direction indicated
by her eyes, l bebeld the Prince, in all his
magnificent clothes, stridlng toward us
from tow ard the stars dressing room. "For
heavens sake, madam" l faltered, "dOn't,
don't do that ! took you for somebody
else At this, the two pages OF our &C
quaintarce, who seemed always on hand
lust in time to witness any discontinue,
burst out laughing, in which the Queen OF
the Fairies could not help joining. His
Highness the Prince stalked by us on to the
stage. and ] walked to another wing. the
two pages following and amusing them
selves with me, until it came time tor them
to join the Queen before the audience.
For the next fifteen or twenty minutes l
have din recollection Of being in every.
body's way. 1t was probably owing to the
fact added to that Of scarcity OF supes,
that Mr.. Butler, the chief, SO tar forgot his
anger and the past as to ask us it we
wanted to go on as fishes in the grand sub
marine scene in the last act. In that we
would have little to do cut to stand still,
and he thought he could trust us that far.
Finding US willing to be fishes, he led us
into property room, filed with all sorts
of sea monsters, and babe us take our
choice NV friend, in bis fat ferocity, chose
to be shark said l would be a whale.
Aa fish and shark, my friend looked
like an exaggerated edition of himself
as a young man, excepting only about the
mouth. There, what was intended to be
fierce was in reality oddly lackadaisical. If,
however, tie shark was weakly sentimen-
tai INV whale was pOndeIOus and impress
sive, the largest of three of the same spe-
cies. | inspected it as it lay sprawled
upon its Intellectual back on the floor of the
property room; it was an unsavory thing,
upon a framework of half.tanned leather
and ill-cuYed whalebOne. Another supe and
myself carried the carcass to the stage,
where, behind fiat, they were arranging
the submarine scene-the home OF the
ut
Here I was made to mount the center
pedestal at the back OF the stage. with a
lesser whale in either hand. Then they put
the frame right over me. My whale had
evidently been made for a much taller supe
than l was, as the holes for the eyes to
look out of were about foot above my
head; and the whole weight OF the colossus,
instead of resting upon my shoulders, as it
was designed to do pressed somehow
right upon my forehead. About
the time the weight began to be painfully
stand it, the curtain rose. There l was.
like another Jonah, cooped up in that dark,
sutfocating carcass. My complainings
could not be heard, or at least understood,
then, if uttered them. How l did curse
nv vaultiEg ambition that had so over
leaped itself! If had only chosen to be a
modest dolphin, or any smaller fish! " the
audience Of the submarine wonders, of my
friend theIshark, of my blonde, be-silyered
tornlentors. could see nothing; bat these
last heard occasionally in their comments
upon the 'boss whale" as they called me.
The confined air and the pressure upon my
head at last became unbearable. AS there
was no possible help tor me from without,
cast about within me, as l may say, for
what l should do for myself. The only
relief 1 could think of was to stOOp
down, leaving most of the weight upon
my arms, and my arms upon my knees.
No sooner had | done this than
could hear through the thickness Of nv
skin. "Get up, get up there! coupled with
muti1ed oaths; Get up. l say. and l recog-
nized the commanding voice of the chief of
the supes. Strengthen up that whale. or
I'll put you out of the theatre!' Now,
although that was the catastrophe l just
then coveted most, made mighty effort
and stood up again. After painful mo-
ment or so, determined that l would sit
down on my pedestal. even if the chief
whale waddled incOnstantly and teebiy in
the dust, lower than his fellows. and even
if should be taken and led OEt ;gnomin-
iously by my dorsal fin. And l did sit
down through the rest Of the scene. There
was marching going on in front Of me on
the stage. l could not see it, of course, but
l knew every time my faithful pages came
around by the remarks they made; which
were asides to this effect, "Sick whale, sick
whale. o. amt he cunning! Walk oft on
your fin
Atlast the scene was to close by the fishes
and all marching out; was to bring up the
rear of the procession. l stumbled around
the stage blindly, followed one of the lesser
whales by sort of fishy instinct, / sup.
nose To add brilliancy of effect to the
scene. an extra gas pipe had been brought
on to the stage, about foot above the
flooring, at the side where the procession
made its exit. Those who preceded, hav-
ing the use of their eyes, stepped gaily over
this. but tripped and fell SPRAYING, the
head of the whale plunging drolly out OF
the audiences view, leaving the tail ele