The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1883-07-04
THE BAD BOYS AMBITION.
he RETIREs FROM THE SODA
WATER BUSINESS.
And Obtains n Permanent Position as n
Super in n Theatre, Intending to Become
q Second Booth.

And Obtains n Permanent Position rs n
Super In n Theatre, Intending to Become
n Second Booth.
"You look sleepy" said the grocery
man to the bad boy, a he came in the
store yawning. and stretched himself
out on the counter with his head on a
pile of brown wrapping paper, in reach
of a box Of r~aisins; whats the mat
ter? Been sitting up with your girl
all night"
"Naw! I wish I had. Wakefulne's
with my girl is sweeter and more rest
full than sleep. No, this is the result
of being Il dutiful son, and / am tired.
You see pa and ma have separated.
That is, not for keeps, but pa has got
frightened about burglars, and he goes
up into the attic to sleep. lie says 1t
is to get fresh air, but he knows better.
Ma ha; got so accustomed to pas
snoring that she can't 60 to sleep
without it, and the first night pa lett
she didn't sleep a wink, and yester-
day l was playing on an old a"cor-
dion that | traded a dog collar for
after II dog was poisoned, and when
touched the low notes 1 noticed ma
dozed off to sleep, it sounded so much
like pas snore. and last night ma made
me set up and play for her to sleep.
She rested splendid, but l am all broke
up. and / sold the accordion this morn
ing to the Waterman who watches Il
block. 1t is queer what a different
effect music will have on different peo-
pie. While ma was sleeping the sleep:
of innocence under the influence Of my
counterfeit of pas snore, the night
Waterman was broke Of his rest by it,
and he bought it of me to giveit to the
son of an enemy Of his. Well, l have
quit jerking Soda"
"No, you don't tell me-" said the
grocery man, as he moved the box of
raisins out of reach. you ~ will
amount to anything unless you stick
to one trade or profession. a rolling
hen never catches the early angle
worm.'
ooh. but l am all right now. In the
soda business there is no chance for
genius to rise, unless the soda fountain
exploles. 1t is all wind, and one gets
tired of constant iizZ. lie feels that
he is a fraud, and when he puts a little
syrup in a tumbler and Tires a little
sweetened wind and water in it, until
the soapsuds fill the tumbler, and
charges ten cents for that which only
costs a cent, a sensitive soda jerker,
who has reformed, feels that it is worse
than three.card monte. | couldn't
stand the wear on my conscience, so [
have got a permanent job as a super,
and shall open the first of September"
"Say, what's a super? 1t isn't n
of these free lunch places, that the
mayor closes at midnight, is it?' and
the grocery mai looked sorry.
ooh, thunder, you want salt on you
A super is an adjunct to the stage. A
supe is a fellow that assists the stars
and things, carrying chairs and taking
up carpets, and sweeping the sand off
the Stage after a dancer has danced a
jig, and he brings beer for the actors,
and does anything that he can to add
to the effect of the play. Privately,
now, l have been acting as a supe for
a long time, on the sly. and my folks
didn't know anything about it, but
since 1 reformed and decided to be
good, l felt it my duty to tell ma and
pa about it. The news broke ma all
up, at first, but pa said some of the
best a tors in this country were supes
once, and some of them were now, and
he thought suping would be the making
of me. Ma thought going on the stage
would be my ruination. She said tile
theatre was the hotbed of sin, and
brought more ruin than the church
could head off. But when | told her
that they always gave supe two or
three extra tickets for his family, she
said the theatre had some redeeming:
features. and when I sail my entrance
upon tie stage would give me a splen-:
did opportunity to get the recipe for
face powder from the actresses, for ma,
and | could find out how the actresses
managed to get number four feet into
number one shoes, ma said she wished
I would commence suping right off
Ma says there are some things about
the theatre that are not SO alfred bad,
and she wants me to get seats for the
first comic opera that comes along. Pa
wants il understood with the manager
that a supe's father has a right to 60
behind the scenes to see that no harm
befalls him, but l know what pa wants.
lie may seem pious, and all that, hut he,
likes to look at ballet girls better than;
any meek and lowly follower 1 ever;
see, and some day you will hear music,
in the air. Pa thinks theatres are
very bad, when he has to pay a dollar
for a reserved seat, but when he carl
get in for nothing as a relative OF one
of the 'perfesh,' the theatre has many
redeeming qualities. Pa and ma think
l am going into the business fresh and
green, but l know all aboutit. When
I played with Mccullough here
once"
"Oh, what you giving us" said
the grocery man in Disgust, "when
you played with Mccullough! What
did you do"
What did l do? Why, you old
seed cucumber, the whole play centerea
around me. DO you remember the
scene in the Roman forum, where nc
Cullough addressed the populace of
Rome. l was the populacr. Don't
you remember q small Teller standing
in front of the Roman orator taking
it in; with a night shirt on, with bare
legs and arms? That was me, and
everything depended on me. Sup
pose I had gone off the stage
at the critical moment, or laughed
when I should have looked fierce ut the
inspired words of the Roman senator,
it would have been Il dead give away
on Mccullough. AS the populace of
Rome 1 consider myself Il glittering
success, and Nc took me by the hand
when they carried CGsar's dead body
out, and he said, 'us three did our
selves proud Such praise from Nc
Cul!Ough is seldom accorded to a
supe. But 1 don't consider the pop
ulac. of the imperial city of Rome my
masterpiece. Where l excel is in
coming out before the curtain be-
tween the acts and unlocking the
carpet. Some supes go out and turn
their backs to the audience, showing
patches on their pants, and rip up the
carpet with no style about them, and
the dust flies, and the boys yell 'supe,'
and the supe gets nervous and for
gets his cue, and goes off tumbling
over the carpet, and the orchestra
leader is afraid the supe will fall
on him. But 1 60 out with a quiet
dignity that is only gained by expert.
ence, and l take hold Of the carpet the
way Hamlet takes up the skull Of
Yorick, and the audience is para:yzcd.
I kneel down on the carpet, to UNLOCK
it, in a devotional sort of Il way that
makes the audience bow their hea S
as th0uph they were in church, and