Grand Rapids morning telegram., 1884-12-29
SOME OBSERVATIONS
~ A peRlpATErlc OBSERVER
At the Theatre, About the Festivities
OF the Holiday Season and
Various Other Matters.

and the theatre IA the evening. While IN the
theatre be entered into a sort Of comparative
analysis OF what he saw, aud wondered.
The largest audience he ever saw IN Powers
Opera House. the best orchestra be ever
heard in any place of amusement, barring
the orchestras in Her Majesty's Opera
and the Alhambra London aud the Academy
OF Music, New York, and considering Ian
guage aud plot il was one OF the worst plays
he ever saw; not the worst, mind You, but
one of the worst, and so he pondered and
wondered more. as he gazed upon the par
quette, then the dress circle and two CALLER
les above and saw them iammed with hu-
manity, many OF whom were Obliged
To stand up. Where did they all
come froms The regular theatre goers
of the city were not there. Ii
was holiday crowd, class of people who
hardly ever 20 to the theater unless 1t is
legal holiday. The Peripatetic was not the
only individual who could not elucidate the
enigma, for the manager of the theater him
self was puzzled. With retrospective glance
at the many meritorious attractions that
of the present season, to slim business, it Is
impossible To explain the spasmodic rush for
the thea{er Christmas night, particularly
when the fact is considered that ii was a day
peculiarly notable for family gatherings and
reunions, decidedly social and day when
the head of the family and all belong to it
feel it .intuitively sacred obligation al
most, to remain at the fireside. An equally
large audience will probably be at the theater
tonight, but the parquette will reveal
the faces of a good majority of the intelli-
gent and regular patrons of the drama.
The Observer must allude to Christmas
again, but only as prelude to refer to an
incident which took place in a Monroe street
barber-shop on that day. In referring to the
barber-shop, the peripatetic crank has
noticed that one of tie most
eminent and widely known journalists in
the city has ignored his barber for the past
few weeks, and is able ''to part the whis
kers.n Though a giant in his peculiar field
of thought, it is sincerely hoped that the
hirsute appendage will be the means of
adding Samsonian vigor, to his present pur
suit. To cease DEPRESSING, a porter in a
Monroe street barber-shop placed a contri-
button box on the cigar case situated in said
shop, indicating that the donations were for
| himself alone. The first man to contribute
was the proprietor who showed ga
| five-dollar bill into the box-but there was
| a string tied to it, and every customer that
entered the shop grasped at it, held it
momentarily, then recoiled as if there was
galvanic battery at the end of it. In other
words every patron was charged fifteen cents
| for shave, and as it is estimated that over
one hundred persons submitted themselves
/ to scraping, the generous CD proprietor
got back his five dollars, through the extra
five cents, with twenty-five or fifty cents net
profit. Had the genial Teuton placed
another box with the understanding that it
| was to be for his own benefit the Peripatetic
would not have been so observing.
The rich have been especially noticed dur
| ing the past three days, but where have been
| the poor? Monroe and Canal streets have
been thronged with well-dressed ladies and
men and double seighs and cutters until the
occupation of earnestly watching the crowd
/ and listening to the constant jingljng of the
| different toned sleigh bells drives ones
1 optic faculties almost into a delir1um. But
the thoughts of the poor, while viewing these
seal-skin sacques and happy contented faces,
/ has not been dissipated. Some of them are
hungry, without sufficient clothing, possibly
sick, with emaciated- d-faced children who
have not nourishment enough to ossify the
cartilage in their infant bodies into the
standard assignment of bone. This is no
myth; for many child and many father
and mother right here in the city of Grand
/ Rapids did not have merry Christmas. Even
/ to some, n stick of wood would have strength
/ ened their faith in the sentiment expressed
/ by the greatest man the world has yet pro-
duced zone touch of nature makes the whole
world kim yet the case of destitution dis
covered in the northern part of the city by a
prominent wholesale merchant battles the
| imagInat. .on OF the boldest idealist, and it is
/ fair to presume that this is but an index to a
4
ony e~cr.s were made % trace its where
abouts And the benevolent gentleman who
/ discovered the case above noted. and re-
lestd their wants, by stopping up the
crncks in their humble dwelling
and who warmed their stomachs with food
and their bodies with fuel will. according to
the pfohibisionist's idea, 20 TO a resort
where icsberxs and frosts are strangers and
as improbable as tlie three Coionels getting
a slice II the Democratic spells or Chancel.
Tor White enduring sorty days fast. The
thou-st se-gtsted shis; that II every chafit-
able 6iseosed person in this city who has
dollars 70 e5afrihufe f3r charch benefits and
fof - ms ssf0aagice world donate II Is sIe
rel s ~ ihe aoeerin~ among poos people.
1 who e.il have r bard road 10 travel this eia.
Ter the benefseieF woold End himself Fe-
wae'esl - = realization og the fact that It "a