The Portland daily press., 1879-08-07
v. @. A. & P. G.


The events that occurred yesterday will
cause the 34th anniversary of the club to be
long held in pleasant remembrance. The
musical entertainment announced proved in
every respect a decided success. A large
audience was in attendance, among whom,
besides our guests at dinner,we noticed Messrs.
Geo. S. Hunt, w. HI. Milliken, j. P. Lewis
and w. A. Eaton. The drift the ''can-tater''
is to portray the fun and jollity of V. c. A
camp life, as also the ceremonies performed at
the initiation of new member. The cast of
characters comprises an x-Commissary, Cloyes;
Chief Cook or Fryer, Shaw; Pill Garlic, the
candidate for admission, Colby; Gutterpup, a
peddler and camp loafer, Ross Dead Head a
festive hummer, Fernald; Veteran a friend of
the can didate, Tewksbury; together with
Waterman, Fireman and Potato Slicer, res
pectively represented by Winship, w. j. Shaw
and Pray. Your space will not permit us an
extended notice of the performance, and every
part was SO perfectly rendered that hardly
more than general pra Use is left for u.s. If we
recall to mind the excellent make up of the
venerable ex-Commissary and the admirable
manner in which he sustained his part Gut
terpup intrudes upon our thought with his
basket of roses and fine acting Then the I'M
calmly form of Dead Head comes into view
whose contortions for moment Danish
everything else from our mind, until the clear
ringing notes of Pill Garlic, or those of his
friend, the Veteran, divert our attention, or
the deep, sonorous tones of the Chief Cook roll
around u.s. During the performance the
varions leading charac ters were presented
with tokens from their admirers in the shape
O. full blown sunfowers, cabbages, beets car
r OTIS, and the like. The delight of the audience
was frequently manifested by unbounded ap-
plause, while a broad grin of satisfaction rested
on each face during the entire performance.
Brother Shaw has abundant reason to be
proud of his work, and thereupon we congratu-
late him. Among the thousand and one
troupes performing Pinafore throughout the
country, we do not believe there is one that
can excel, and but few equal, the company
we listened to this afternoon-we are sure of it
so far as regards vocalization. One of these
days when the weather gets cooler and the
evenings longer, why would it not be good
plan to induce them to produce the thing in
Portland. 1t is pity that it should not be
enjoyed by larger audience than attended
upon it here. By the way. your compositor
made us say that Mss Colby was among the
foreign talent engaged for this piece. He
missed figure there we wrote Messrs. Colby,
&c. There was no performance last evening,
only pc rtion of the work being given to a
party of ladies and gentlemen who made us
visit.
After supper last evening the initiation GER
emonies were performed. -Four candidates,
viz: w. w. Colby, M. Chenery, HI. L. Stur-
tevant and A. L. Millett, were paraded in
front OF the tent, where they were addressed
by ex-Commissary L. B. Smith, who received
from them the pledge and administered to
them the oath, and after partaking of the
mystic roll, according to the ritual all marched
in procession to the cliff in front of the light
house, where is the dreaded passage through
which only can the candidate attain to men,
bership. The scene was very impressive and
awe-inspiring. The duskiness of night had
settled in the rocky chasm, from which pres
entity arose the initiatory hymn, set to the
grand strains of Old Hundred at the close of
which there was minute of breathless sus-
pense. Then amidst the sudden glare of blue
lights, the explosion of fireworks and the SOL
emn pealing of the bell, a dash was made for
the passage, on emerging from which each can
didate was hailed with cheers and received
fraternal greeting from all the members.
| Colby, who in the musical performances had