Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1874-10-09

all wheels, ropes, pulleys, traps and lumber,
like the sub-seenic regions Of an American
theatre, but minutely divided into rooms six
feetin length by three or four in breadth, the
means Of access being many narrow passages
about as broad as the subterranean alley- Of
a prairie-dog village. In each of these
rooms lived au actor perhaps two actors,
perhaps three, and through the half-open
doors those Of them who were not in the
cast could occasionally be seen inhaling the
fumes Of divine opium and luxuriJu,ly re-
cllning on a shelf, in GoweTy hyperbole,
called bed, which was rendered soft and
downy by the superposition Of palm mating
nearly as thick as tinfoil. There skins were
Of the hue Of a well-colored meerschalm.
and their aspect was that Of heavenly con-
tentment. From the fetid kitchen to the
chimmy-pots on the roof, the building Is
thus honeycombcd, and the rooms, with the
exception Of weak Efforts at ornament, are
as much alike as two peas. The pipes that
the actors were smoking looked like the most
Complicated instruments in the dentists ar
sCnal. One tragedian leaned bis glistening
! pigtan against a legend Of Confucus which
adorned the wall with perpendicular Wis
I
| tip Of his mahogany nose in little boxing
! glass; all smiled in vague way upon the
reporter and his guide, and went on chatting
to one another with kind Of dreamy, lotu,-
eating idiocy. NJ fresh air entered these
dungeons; it would be fatal if admitted
/ You might as well try to get free atmos-
/ pheric circulation IN the Roman camconbs,
or to raise a stiff breeze in the inmost
apartment Of the great Egyptian pyramid
1 At turn Of the stairway was seen a sacred
| gas-jet, kept constantly burning within Z
PLAIN glass globe before an image of the JOSS.
never to be extinguished except by a failure Of
the Illuminating material, By the destruction
Of the building, or its conversion to other
uses Other germs Of altars placed here
and there showed disposition to mingle
| the Iites Of religion with the commonplace
| duties Of everyday life Pilotel By his
efficient guide, the reporter found him
| self on the floor that IS level with the stage.
The rooms essential - a Chinese theatre
are not manv. The green room has about
! the same area as the stage, aud is only di-
yided from it by thin partition. Directly
| behind the orchestra IS II large opening in
! the wall, and some Of the noisier instruments
are really in the grecn-roon, but the tWi-
]
ing visible to the audience which is desira-
bic to conceal. The reporter found it filed
with histrions in the cast Of the play which
was in progress. Many Of them were royal
ly arrayed in silks and purple and gold,
heavy with embroideries, and worth kings
ramson, walking listlessiy about with lugu-
brious efforts at mirth, or sitting thought
fully on the trunks that contained the stage
| al kaf 10 haa rftl1s
cost So 600 in China, where every thread
Of it was obtained bat it appeared impos-
sible that it could be made and purchas-
for four times that amount in this country.
The operation Of robing and di-robin. was
going on with the assistance Of two sallow
property men. who mingled their monotonous
chatter with the dulcet gibberish Of the uE-
occupied comedians and trageiians, various
ly attiled as kings, mandarin~, warriors,
peasants, angels OF demons. The wall Of
Queen Elizabeth's clothes-press was not -
thickly covered with garments as these.
There are suspended on all sides. masks,
weapons, boots and shoes Of silk and velvet,
80 tLickly that scarcely superficial inch Of
partition was visible The presence Of the IL
eyitable American was received here os else
where. as a matter Of course, only one person,
sonage Of the Chm Lung dynasty, which
Aourished eight thousand years before the
Christian era, seeming To object. He swept
a superb robe Of blue silk about the stage,
looking occasionally out of the corners OF his
almond-eyes at the intruder, and striking
attitudes that were nearly as graceful as those
Of tobacconi~t's lay figure. Unteryiied,
however, bv the evident hostility of the pre-
7 tstI Ifftl
spected the embroidered dragons on his robe,
tweaktd a horrid demon by the nose, ex-
aminei a warriors spear, and pe-red incon-
tinently into all the dark hooks aud ill-smei-
! ling corners Of the unsavory place. Be
hind the green room i n smaller room, con-
tanning the paints which are as necessary to
| the Chinese actor for facial decorUtion as to
| the American Indian. There are no private
| dressing-rOoms. The three or four men Who
| rlav the rurt Of women have a room by
| themselves about the size Of the front entry
| Of a small tenement house, where the reporter
found them teetering in N exceeding Lumber
way before little looking-glas-es placed on
on the tops Of small bureaus, ard applying
red raint 70 their cheek-boues until it WAS
literally an inch thick. Piay-baoks were
| were now here to be seen. A Chinese actor
/ i mace IKE ilttt o4 Cultnlii- 'H''N1e
work, and if, when finished, lie does not
know his business sufficiently well without
prompting. he is good for nothing bat TO be
returned to China with the seIaI-corTscs Of
his countrymen. quite as played out and use
less as they are. The actors were continual
IL passing out and in through the only two
entrances to the stage, without special dircc-
ton from any one. Further details than
those that were apparent to the eye, II was
impossible to obtain. The Chinamau sell
dom 81 eaks English in 4 way that Is not pain
ful to the listener and besides he Is prone to
suspect that every inquisitiye person Is tax
gatherer S. the reporter ran the saunt-
Of the ,Joss-alters, the paint-room and the
kitchen, and found himself once more in the
open air.-Sdn Frdna,co Chronicle