Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1882-12-24
CINCINNATI
A GrumbIiag Correspondent Raises 0biee-
tons About the Order Of Things
Ne is Fornenst Presents. and
Down on Mercantile Hogs.
DRAMATIC mO MUSICAL GOSSIP.

SpeeSai correpondencs Of ne Ssnday Regsssev.
CIScfSSArL December 23.-Cincinnati
has the holiday affection in almost pesti-
lential form. At the risk Of being charged
With cyniciSm, proclaim myself opposed
to the holiday tomioolery. The merchants
and shop-keepers cultivate the idea that
everybody must make somebody else q
Christmas present, and every person who
has anything to sell. from an elephant to a
tin rattle, announces that he has goods
suitable for holiday presents. The idiotic
people-of whom, l blush to say, am one
respond to the gaudy proclamations Of
those who must unload their stocks or
sink. The result is that for about six
weeks in the year the stores are uncomfor-
tably crowded, and for about forty-six
weeks the statesmen have little to do but
attindinize before the professional shop
pers who look over things but only buy in
the holiday season. AS Christmas aD-
prOaches, there is q grand rush, and those
who have children climb over each other
to pay robbery lices for tin railroad trains
and wooden wagons that will not hold to-
gether till they can be carried home.
People who are scarcely abe to keep them
selves in the necessaries OF life,
buy Christmas presents that are Of no use
to those TO whom they are presented, and
which serve only to represent the intoler-
able lunacy Of the donors. The practice Of
giving Christmas presents should be sbol-
ished as q relic OF barbarism. IL is save
agery of piece with the custom Of paying
for drink for somebody else every time
YOU smile" yourself, expecting to be treat
ed back by the bibulous imbecile who has
Joined you. IL is the blackmail Of the
sharks who have goods 10 sell, and who
know they can dispose Of them at extraya-
CANT prices when everybody is at the pur-
chasing fever heat. The merchant who has
q good holiday trade at big prices can afford
to do q small business for the remainder OF
the year at small profits. The holiday trade
in Cincinnati this year develops remark
able tendency toward
A Monopoly
as perniCiOus in its effects us the mOuOpO-
lies Of the VandPrbuiltS and GUulds. In the
city of Cincinnati. with its two hundred
and fifty thousand of inhabitants, and i'm
mediate suburbs, embracing one hundred
thousand more, nearly every buyer in
retail way finds his or her way to one GER
tain store before the end of the expedition.
estimated the number OF people in this
store the other afternoon at five hundred,
and the figures are probably low. This
store is ostensibly a dry goods establish
ment, but its line of goods embraces nearly
everything that one could think OF TO buy
on a holiday shopping tour. You can find
in this building d'y goods, notions, gentle
mems furnishing goods, toys of every de-
ture and curtains, clothing, and so on,
without end. There is a rumor that
saloon is to be started in the
basement This monopoly has crushed out
several small establishments, and has been
like a cyclone in the old established toy
stores The capitalized cormorantS are de-
moralizing the small tradeSmen, and busi-
ness is taking ar illegitimate shoot. The
people have been gradually worked up to
paying tribute to berated capital in nearly
every department in life. The men who
have grown enormously wealthy in trade
can not bear to see the man Of limited
means get modest profit out Of penny
whistle. He inyades every line, and hogs
all the persimmons. But you cam stop it.
The tendency of the people is to go to the
place which makes the biggest spread.
Entertainments.
There is nothing unusually notable in
holiday entertainment in Cincinnati this
year. There will be the usual Messiah mu.
sic Christmas week, by the MAY Festival
Chimes, at Music Hall The theatres will
be crowded, of course, whatever may be
presented. The week before Christmas is
usually looked upon with apprehension by
theatrical managers. About that time the
people are throwing away their money on
Christmas presents; or rather, | should
say, filling the pockets Of dealers who work
a fool sentiment for all it is worth. After
the presents have been made there is
general rush for entertainment. There is
a tremendous class of people who only go
to the theatre on Thanksgiving day and
during holiday week. During the bal.
ance OF the year the theatres are supported
by guests of the hotels and a com Dartively
small percentage of the permanent popu-
lation. This week Josephine Gallmeyer,
said to be NiennaS fayOrite comediene, is
PLAYING to small business at the Grand
epera House, the downtown theatre.
This is the first time in my knowledge
that the Grand has been given up tp the
German drama. presume it will be the
last time. The Grand il tsO far away from
the precints of the sacred Rhine. Besides,
Gallmeyer, in the estimation of good
many Cincinnati plsy.goers, lis not what
she has been cracked up to be-" One OF
our leading dramatic critics stopped in the
long enough to see the star in two or
three scenes, so IS to be able to write some.
thing about her. He remained for about an
hour, and then asked some official who
happened TO be near him when Gallmeyer
would come en-" Why she has been on
a dozen times already, and she is on now"
was the answer. HI" calculated the
critic, al thought that vas the walking
woman, and mighty poor one At that"
OliYetie and nRscotte.
by the Wilbur Opera Company, have been
the attractions at Robinson's Opera House
this week The chorus embraces a number
of pretty girls. | may remark, en- PEASANT,
that good many young men have been
anxious 20 embrace them also. The COM
pany has not made much of hit in
MaScette, but are rather fsyorably regarded
in Olivette. In the later opera, Miss Susie
EerwiD. who carries the title role, kicks
quite as high in the Farandole dance as did
Catharine Lewis last winter, and makes
quite as engaging display of rufiles aud EN-
broidery in the performance. But her kick
is not ss artistic as that of Lewis. Kerwin
comes down the stage with a rythmic
motion, swinging her body as though
gathering impetus for the su.
preme effort When within about five
feet of the footlights, and when the Or
chestra Is within about bar OF the crisis,
you can distinguish q certain pendulum
swing, and then her left leg goes up and
her toe points for one brief moment at the
picture Of old John Robinson, the circus
man, which ornaments the highest point
in the proscepi um arch. Then she,retreats
by the can-can step, in company with the
chorus to the back part of the stage, and
coming down sgain repeats the display of
undergarments, Then the audience de-
mands the spectacle again, and sometimes
still sgsin. Ii Is remarked that Susie only
throws her left leg. don't know what is
the matter with the other member.
The Perennial Maggie Mitchell
will be at the Grand Opera House next
week. She and L0tta always draw in Gin
einnati, and guess in nearly every other
city. Maggie is one of the few women
we'll advanced in years who can play girl
parts, and considered either as an actress
or in private life she is an admirable wo-
man. Maggie is so old that many people
have forgotten that she used to play the
French Spy. So far back as in 1857 or IS,
i saw in Peoria, Illinois, picture OF Mag
gle Mitchell, in the characterize the French
Spy. My recollection is that she was
quite shspely young woman.
The EosIsn Ideal Opera Company
will have possession of RobinSon's next