The Brookhaven ledger. (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1875-1883, 1880-08-12
HisfeHanw.
MARK TW AIN.
Characteristic Passage From His
"1ramp Abroad 2

| have found out that there is
nothing the Germans like so much
as an opera. They like it, not in a
mild and moderate way, but with
their whole hearts. This is a legltl-
mate result of habit and education.
, Onr nation will like the opera too,
by and by, no doubt. One in fifty
Of those who attend our operas like
it already, perhaps, but | think a
good many Of the other forty-nlne
90 in order to learn To like it, and
the rest in order to be able to talk
knowingly about it. The latter us
ually hum-the airs while they are
being sung 50 that their neighbors
may perceive that they have been to
operas before. The funerals of
these do not occur often enough.
In Germany they always hear
one thing at an opera which has
never vet been heard in America,
perhaps-I mean the closing strain
of fine solo or duet. We always
smash into it with an earthquake
of applause. The result: is that
we rob ourselves of the sweetest
part of the treat; we get the whisky,
but we don't the sugar in the bottom
Of the glass.
am told that in q German con
cert or opera they hardly ever en-
core song; that, though they may
be dying to hear it again, their good
breeding usually preserves them
against requiring the repetition.
Kings may encore; that is quite
another matter; it delights every,
body to see the King is pleased
and as to the actor encored, his
pride and qualification are simply
boundless.
The King of Bavaria is poet, and
has a poets eccentricities-with the
advantage over all other poets in
being able to CRAFTY them, no mat
matter what form they take. He is
fond of the opera, but not fond OF
sitting in the presence Of an audi
encc; therefore, it has sometimes
occurred, in Munich, that when an
opera has been concluded and the
PLAYERS were getting off their paint
and finery a command has come IL
them to get their paint and finery
on again. Presently the King
would arrive, solitary and alone,
and the players would begin at the
beginning and do the entire opera
over again, with only that one indi'
vidual in the vast, solemn theater for
audience. Once he took an odd
freak into his head. High up and
out of sight over the prodigious
stage of the Court Theater is q
maze of interlacing water pipes, SC
pierced that in a case of fire innu-
merable little thread-like streams OF
water can be caused to descend, and
in cases of need this discharge can
be augmented to pouring flood.
American managers might make a
note of that. The King was sole
audience. The opera proceeded; it
was piece with storm in it; the
mimic thunder began to mutter, the
mimic wind began to wall and sough,
and the mimic rain to patter. The
Kings interest rose higher and
higher; it developed into enthusi-
asm. He cried out:
at is good, very good, indeed!
But | will have real rain! Turn on
the water"
The manager pleaded for rever-
sal of the command; said it would
ruin the costly scenery and the
splendid costumes, but the King
cried:
"No matter, no matter. l will
have real rain! Turn on the waterr'
So the real rain was turned on
and began to decend in gossamer
lances to the mimic hower-beds and
gravel walks Of the stage. The
richly dressed actresses and ac-
tors tripped about singing bravely
and pretending not to mind it. Ihe
King was delighted; his enthusiasm
grew higher. He cried out:
Bravo! bravo. More thunder
more lightnining! turn on more
rain" .....
The thunder doomed, the light
ming glared, the storm winds ragged,
the deluge poured down. The MIN
ic ROYALTY on the stage, with Their
soaked satins cling to their bodies
sloned around arkle deep in water,
warhling their sweetest and best;
the fidlers under the caves of the
stage sawed away for dear life. with
the cold overflow spouting down on
the backs Of their necks, and the
dry and happy King sat in his lofty
box and wore his gloves to ribbons
applauding. A"u
more yetr,' cried the King,
''more vet: let loose all the thunder,
| turn on all the water, | will hang
the man that raises an umbrella!
When this most tremendous and
effective storm that had ever been
produced in any theater was at last
over, the Kings appreciation was
measureless. He cried:
Magnificent, magnificent! encore
| Do it again. -
| But the manager succeeded in per
suading him to recall the encore
and said the company would fee
} sufficiently rewarded and compli-
lnented in the mere fact that the en-
core was desired by his majesty
without fatigueing him with rep
etition TO crafty their own vanity
! During the remainder of the act
the lucky performers were thos
whose parts required changes o
| dress; the others were 3 soaked. be
draggled and uncomfortable lot, bu
in the last degree picturesque
The stage scenery was ruined, tn
trap doors were swollen that the,
wouldn't work for week afterward
i the fire costumes were spoiled, ant
4 no end of minor damages were den
/ bv that remarkable storm.
/ 1t was royal idea--that storm
-and royalty carried out. But oh
serve the moderation of the King
| he didn't insist upon his encore
\ If ithad been a gladstone, unrefec
ting. American opera audience h'
probably would have had his storm
repeated until he drowned those pee
pie. at a.ss
i Mr.. NJ. VEpDer finds that wa
ter is not freed from organic impuri
| 4 ties in freezing, and that the germ