The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-05-02
THE TICKET BUYER.
How Long It Takes Young Lady t
Pick Out the Seats She Wants.


Tt is very amusing to watch some peo-
pie buy opera tickets The other day
about four hundred people filled the
Academy of Music lobby in Milwaukee.
and crowded the steps and sidewalk in
front OF the building. eagerly elbowing
/ and pushing their way toward the ticket
window, where the treasurer was deal
ing ont the little bits of paste-board.
An elegantly dressed, refined appear
ing, and very pretty young lady. who
lives in palatial home in the Seventh
ward. worked her way to theticket win
dow, and, spreading out the diagram,
with one hand on each side to make sure
| of it. asked the ticlket-seller the price OF
reserved seats.
The general admission down stairs
is SO cents, replied the seller, 'sre-
served seats IS cents. Up stairs %
cents admission and reserved seats 80
cents.
..What is the opera for this after
noon?f asked the young lady, rs she
carefully scrutinized the badly disfigar-
ed diagram, SO many OF. the seats having
been marked off in advance.
:. .iolanthe, mn am. y
..Oh. I'm SO sorry, ! thought it was
Martha, she remarked. and then CON
tinued;
swell want four seats, anyhow
They must all be together. Let me see.
| guess / will take four in this row, .
pointing to section of the dress circle
where every seat was marked off
Those seats are sold
lis that SO? / am SO sorry. We want
ed to sit along there. Where are some
good seats, pleaae?''
By actual time the young lady had
clutched the diagram for eight minutes
at this point. The crowd was swelling
and the people were fast becoming very
impatient. The treasurer said:
Here are three very good seats to-
gether and one right back of them, that
will make you four.
same row, and | don't want seats way
down in the parquette.
Then she took the diagram ont Of the
window and holding it up before her
ran her eyes over aud over it for two
minutes. The red. red blood began
rushing toward the sellers face as he
heard people claInorln@ for tickets. But
he uttered not a word
Finally, after asking ten more ques-
tionS of about the same nature as those
mentioned. she pointed to fom. seats and
said she would take them, handing him
a s. bin. In an instant he returned
four tickets and 91-2 in change.
This isn't right, she said, taking up
the money!. chose seats | wanted are
only SO cents, amt tbeyP''
Everything. madam, down stairs,
have told you seventeen times, is 10
cents, was the somewhat short reply,
and getting the. diagram out of the
young lady's hands, he passed it over
her shoulders 10 some ladies' who had
been patiently waiting. and the fair
opera ticket purchaser reluctantly pass
cd from in front OF the window. She
stood there for full fifteen minutes, and
that is awful long time when three or
four hundred people are waiting to he
served. There were other instances just
as amusing. The most of theyoung la
dies who bought tickets carried hand
bags. in the depths of which were three
or four small purses containing their
money. 1t would take from one to live
Minutes for everyone OF them to find the
right purse before they could pay for
their tickets 4RtEWaat!ae Rs, ming H'ts-
cO11Sfn