The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1879-11-27
VULGAR HABITS at THE THEA
TER AND cat URCH.

IEh n II Cb OkChs
Those who have been accustomed to
attend public assemblies in Eastern
cities are apt to contrast the conduct
of Texan audiences with that Of Assem-
bl es in oil CT commemorative. VsIy
certainly pit and galleries 10 Austin
are OF Infinitely better behavior since
the place in which all classes, saints
and sinners meet, is nearer the heart of
the city. Vulgar boys aud coarse,
rude, ignorant men and women rarely
enter the portals of Millett's Opera
House, snd when they do they conduct
themselves more quietly than when
they gave tone to opinion and led the
fashions on Pecan street. People are
constantly talking about the deport-
ment OF artists and actors and of those
who address public assemblies but for
get to condemn or correct the faults of
auiitors and spectators. We criticize
actors and public speakers unsparingly
for the slightest deviation from rules of
dccorum or good taste, but listen help
lessly and silently TO annoying, half
whispered conversations between silly
girls and their smOoth-pated lovers.
We have our eaIs cfackad by cat calls
In the galleries. We are made
to sw car at vain fops and gaudy girls
who come swinging aud swnying and
did4ppering along the aisles after the
curtain rises, or after the preacher has
read his tex. The very sentence one
Wit hes most to hear is drowned in the
rusiling of Il train end in the Lreakipg
of the new boots of an ape in broad
cloth. Such people should be taken
out and killed by MilleLt in the one
case or Brother Chaplin in the other.
They Iced only put forefnger un-
der the chin and thumb point on top
of the scull, and press as one does q
patridge's head, and the soft substance
supposed to be brains will be displaced
and death instantly ensues. OF
course we would not have Brother
Chaplin feel himself under any oblgs-
tion to deal thus ru1ely with any dis
turber of his congregation, unless his
conscience impel him to this harsh
ness; but Capt Millett should not hesi-
tate. The inopportune coming in
and going out, and hideous howlings
and shrill whistling in the galleries
and the goose gabble of silly, unthink-
ing, grossly selfish people, too idiotic
to appreciate splendors of scenic
effects or faultlessness of acting or
divinest music, should not be tolerated.
Audiences and spectators as we'll as ac-
tors may be properly criticised, and
there is nothing truer than the fact
that no vulgar, badly behaved audi
ence ever saw an actor at his best or
woman exhaust art and excellence in
music. The depraYity of the audience
Is fatal to the efforts of an actor, and
bad manners thus cheat US of
pleasures we pay to enjoy. OF
course it signifies nothing how
many of the nice young men must go
out for drinks between the acts. This
disturbs nobody, and the multitude are
pleased to know those who cannot cit
two hours in comfortable seats of the
Opera House, and NUT drink between
the acts. C)mRon decency and re-
sprCU v.-.a-------f--L---a -;-i-ii;p----
of those who have paid to see and
hear require these thirsty people to
avoid entering the aisles of the theater
after the curtain has risen.
But all in all, Austin audiences are
wonderfully we'll behaved. 1t is only
remarkable that gentlemen who do not
drink half dozen times through the
whole day cannot wear out the three
or five acts of an evening at The Opera
House without as manv imbibations as
there are acts. OF one fe.ture
OF the conduct of an Austin
audience everybody approves. When
q play is bad or an actor incapable CT
ignorant of his part, Austin playgoers
do not howl or hiss. They are only
silent. The failure to applaud is the
strongest possible assertion of disap-
probation on the part of good-natured,
generous multitudes gathered at Mil
lett's, and if he can only silence the
ugly boys in the gallery and prevent
the projection of coarse boots over the
railing above peoples heads in the par
terre the public will be we'll pleased.
Especially should the manager be
pleased that his patrons do not antici-
pate the falling of the curtain on the
last scene of the last act to rush head
long into the street as if each feared
his life depended on the speediness of
his exit. Ladies have protested and
the exit Of audiences is as orderly as the
incoming of the splendid woman who
sails in after the curtain rises that every
body may hear the rustling and see the
length of her intsrmlnable train. Such
dresses should not be worn to such
places. Partisan taste and common
sense condemn it. Short dresses are
every where approved for the street
and for the theater, and those horrible
busters are only made for the parlor
and ball room.