The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1884-06-06
A Blt OF Gossip
.S. Y. Letter to r. %.

n. Y. Letter 10 7. D.
You may suppose that no perso1
oppressed by impending doom could
enjoy life ut all; bat there Was Fer.
dinand Ward, fully aware that he
must soon be exposed as swind-
Ter, and yet to all appearances u
keen Ielishrr OF the ffivolltirs OF
city life. He was one Of the most
x-alous ot the lobby -loungrrs at
the Casino, and he delighted in that
precedence which ample wealth
gave him over less munifcently en-.
dowed worshipers Of the pretty &C.
tresses.
IL is impossible to think that his
light heartedness was assumed. Ny
own impression is that be did not
teel weight OF guilt and danger,
which would have utterly crushed
men differently constituted. re-
member how well delighted be Was
with the invention Of what Ia now.
in theatrical parlance, called "The
Belated Bouquet There are sew
eral theatres in town In which no
flowers are permitted to cross the
footlIghts, bat in every case where
the entertainment employs bal
let or u chorus floral tributes are
not discouraged. Now, uext to RS.
ceiving the largest quantity Of
flowers, the burning desire Of an
actress Ia TO get encoreS II she
happens 20 have the last word or
note In an act she does her best TO
please at precisely that Important
juncture, and ii the situation N
such AS to leave no doubt that she
Is the special object OF commsu,la-
tory applause, thus making tho
stage manager allow her 10 respond
by going In front OF the curtain,
her triumph is complete. Twill not
name the girl In whom Ward took
an especial interest, but IL IL esseh.
tial to my story to say that she sang
a bit of solo ut tue end Of comio
opera act, and that she sometimes
tailed to get the coveted call from
the audience. War,l,. therefore,
made study OF the matter, aud
the result was tho belated bouquet
device.
| "Never you mind, p be said to tho
almost fearful singer, as the ap.
plause died away without force
enought to warrant u resronse :
"rll fix this thing tor you. Wait
till 10 morrow night. Then you
: shall not only be called once, bui
they'll have to send you out twice
sce |. they don't.h
On the ensuing evening, the CIR
sang in her most winsomr manner
but not well enough to quite NO
count for the noise OF the applause
aud those who knew the usages o
the house easily discerned that the
ushers had been incited to special
effort. But that was no new thing
The novelty followed. The girI
bowed radiautly and backed on
just before she disappeared from
view, an usher ian wildly down the
middle aisle, with an immense bas.
ket Of roses in his arms. He arri.
we'd at the orchestra rail too late
All eyes were on the flowers, ant
insiinctively all hands were clal,
ped TO bring the girl back. Thi'
had been carefully calculated b,
Ward and every night for weel
the basket was sent forward In pro
cisely the same manner, always en-
suring second call for his protege
But the belated bouquet was no
patented, and is now 10 common
use.
"And suppose, now that War
il down." remarked to an actor a
! the theatre in question, with whou
/ was talking Oh tho subject
"NIiss - forgets aIl about tn
good turn he did her."
J "You're mistaken," he replied
: "not a day has passed since be wen
, to Jail that she hasn't scut him
: bouquet. Hitchesl to the nrst o
them was u card, on which she ha'
!. written Il wish this was belate'
!, bouquet that would bring you out.