Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1880-09-08

The king of Bavaria is poet and has a
poets ccentricites-with the advantage
over all other poets of being able to crafty
thsm, no matter what form they may take.
He is fond of the opera, but not fond Of
sitting in the presence of an audience I;
therefore, 1t has sometimes occurred, in
Munich, that when an opera has been con-
cluded and the players were getting of
their paint and inery, a command has
came for 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-
vidal in the vast solemn theatre for au-
dience. Once he took an odd freak into
his head High up and out of sight,
over the prodigious stage of the court thea
tire is maze of interlacing water pipes, so
| pierced that in case Of fire innumerable
little thread-hke streams can be caused to
descend, and in case of need this discharge
can be augmented TO a pouring flood.
American managers might make a note of
that. The king was sole audience. The
opera proceeded; it was a piece with
storm in it; the mimic thunder began to
| "-Ab hC-d " WAL
snd the mimic rain to patter. The kings
interest rose higher and higher; it develop
| into enthusiasm. He cried out
''it is good, very good indeed But l
will have real rain Turn on the waterl"
The manager pleaded for q reversal Of
the command; said 1t would ruin the costly
scenery and spiended costumes, but the
king cried:
mo matter, no matter. | will have real
rain Turn on the waterr'
SO the real rain was turned on and began
to descend in gOssamer laces to the mimic
flower beds and gravel walks of the stage.
The richly dressed actresses and actors trip
ped about singing ibravely and pretending
not to mind it. The king was Delighted
his enthusiasm grew higher. He cried out:
Bravo, brayoi More thunder More
lightning Turn on more rain :"
The thunder doomed, thelightning glared,
the storm-wInds ragged, the deluge poured
down. The mimic royalty on the stage,
with their soaked satins clinging to their
bodies, Topped around ankle deep in wa
ter, warbling their sweetest and best; the
hddlers under the caves of the stage sawed
away for dear life, with the cold overflow
spouting down the backs Of their necIs. and
the dry and happy king sat in his lofty box,
and wore his ores to ribbons applauding.
''More yet :" cried the king; ''more vet,
let loose all the thunder: turn on all the
wateri | will hang the man who raises an
umbrella"
When this most tremendous and effective
storm that had ever been produced in any
theatre was al last over, the kings appro-
baton was meaSurelesS. He cried:
Magnificent, magnificent Encore Do
it again!''
But the manager succeeded in persIad-
ing him to recall the encore, and said the
company would feel sufficiently rewarded
and conplimented in the mere fact that
the encore was desired by his majesty,
without fatiguing him with repetition TO
crafty their own vanity.
During the remainder of the act the
lucky performers were those whose parts
required changes of dress; the others were
a soaked, bedraggled and uncomfortable
lot, but IN the last degree picturesque. The
stage scenery was ruined, the trap-doors
were so swollen that they wouldn't work
for week afterwards, the fine costumes
were spoiled, and no end to minor damages
were done by that remarkable storm.
1t was a royal idea-that storm and
royalty carried out. But observe the mod
Grafton of the king he did not insist upon
his encore. If he had been a gladsOme,
American opera audience. he
probably would have had his storm repeat
ed and repeated until he drowned all these
people.