The semi-weekly miner. [volume] (Butte, Mont.) 1882-1886, 1882-08-30

Among the attractions hooked for
the Opera House Was Apnie Pixley,
with M'!;.s. IN the lsst act Of this
piecs ,..,..e a.; trees and . set fount-
ain are used. A. the curtaia was
about togo up on this act on the fiTst
night, Mr.. +. noticed to his amaze
ment that each o, these objects was
held up In ito place by . negro stand
ing behind Il ipetead Of the usual
stage brace. "HI you tl,ere!" he
called to them.
Fix the braces and come off
quick"
"Dat's oil right, sah," responded
the Ethiopian who was sustaining
the fountain cody.
yves dem."
"Y0a're Wl,at::"
''De braces, eah."
Aud % they were. there was not
brsee In the hOuse, and Mr.. n. had
pressed them into service to sustain
the picturesque illusion Of the scene.
F, storn,ed and made things warm
generally, but 1t did him NO good.
1t was ''niggers or not set pieces" ~
Mr.. n. put It, and the lstter he had
to have.
"Weli, SIR" he says In tellisg the
etoFy, 1.-THE oct h abont forty minutes
long, and you can imagine those
c0ons did not take root during thi6
time. For the 6rst five MINUTES they
were steady enough. Then the fun
began. Fnt. one Of the trees began
to Wobble; then the brace put his
head out from behind the other to
SO what was going on between him
and the footlights. As for the fUunt-
ain, It began to sway steadily forward
and hack with . regularity Of motion
like the pendulum Of clock. Ny
wife got onto 1t, and she says tO
Med. between speeches:
"What ails the scenery, Mac::"'
I'll swear don't knew" said
Mac, "but I'd freelrtaks my oath
either me or It 10 drunk"
Here the nigger looked out from
behind the nearest tree and Annie
saw him. You rascal:' she hisssd,
how dare yen, sir. Get Off the stage
this minute.'
Cant, num- said tho coon.
with . grin like = whale, ''cept 1
take the tree wild me, num-
''llac had jnst got some Of his lines
Of: She took her cue, and a. she
finished another wooly head boIbed
into sight around the second tree.
The audience, who hal noticed that
sonnet hing was wrong, saw 1t now,
and commenced . sDicker. She
pjnched herself to make sure she was
not dreaming; and Mac hurried on
with one Of his long speeches to pre-
vent an outburst in front. A. soon
as he paused, husky whisper, audi
ble throughout the liouse, said:
"'IIurry NJ, Missee. Feb God!
ef don't get home aforc eleven
o'clock, de ole woman 'ull lanl de
hide Olf'n ME. suah.'
"'You black villain!' she cried, in
an aside. Get of, or I'll kill ycu.'
"'All right Missee,' was the reply.
Use swinc right away
"And In . couple Of seconds more
the tree walked Of into the wings.
The audience commenced to applaud
and the fountain stopped sea-sawing,
and with hob, ~ II It was making
. bow, fell forward with the brace
aprawlinQ on top Of 1t. The scOun-
drel had fallen into . dOze. and, be-
ing aroused suddenly. had lost his
balance. A. he fell, his side partner
coolly leaned the only remaining
tree against the fiat, aud came down
the stage to help him up. Med.
made kick at him. but aimed short
ana only upset himself. Annie
leaned against . wing, nearly dead
with rage and laughter, and the cur.
tain rang down on the tableau amid
. round OF applause Mise had never
listened to before, and / hope never
will aiu."-DyaMaiic NcWs.