San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1888-04-11

lana, anu topics OF melancholy 5Urdlu.
But any disposition of Midget to reverie
or retrospection on this occasion was held
in check by her surroundings.
Between the acts the voice Of Paul
hawking his librettos reached even to
her elevation, and at the close Of the
last act he met her with:
Midget, good news I've spoken to
the chorus-master, and he says you may
come along with me to the trial Of ap-
plicants for the ballet of Les PapillonS
tomorrow afternoon"
This was all the more source Of glad
ness to Midget, for Paul also was to en-
ter into competition for thepart of Lycas,
the shepherd-boy.
The appointed time on the morrow
found both punctual at the theatre. The
training of Father Ludovic and the ap-
titude of his pupils were now to be put
to the test.
Under their windows ran an extension,
the roof Of which Father Ludovic had
transformed into garden, where it had
been his delight to cultivate oleander
and parterres of potted plants, inter
spersed with tall sun-flowers. Here,
away from the squalOr of the street,
in an atmosphere made fragrant by the
blooming oleanders and under the far
reaching shadows of the ever-swaying
suntlOwcrs, the children had been accus-
toned to play, and here, to the strains OF
Father Ludovic's VIOLIN had they been
led by him through the mazes Of dances
little known off the stage.
AS Midgets turn came, the apprehen-
sion of a natural timidity made her first
steps uncertain and incoherent, but this
dif1idence, giving way more and more with
every new step, entirely disappeared by
the time she concluded.
The master, pattng her gently on
the head and smoothing caressingly
her dark luxuriance Of hair, said
every good, little one; we must have
you for our Antopia, the Queen Of the
Butterflies"
Alas for poor Paul! Only few steps,
although given with perfect self-assur-
ance, were sufficient to demonstrate to
even the anxious Midget his startling
awkwardness.
Not a little chagriued at the recon-
rnendation Of the master "to get the
sauerkraut out of mis- heels" which face
tiousness had been hailed with shout of
hilarity by the whole body of candidates,
Paul departed crestfallen and disap-
pointed, but not discouraged.
A severer trial awaited him on the
night of the performance Of Lies
Papillons," following the opera. It was
torture for him to watch his successful
competitor as Lycas, the shepherd boy,
go through the pantomine manPuvres to
capture the Queen of the Butterflies,
the movements of which part Midget
Invested with blending of grace and
agility.
At the point where the shepherd boys
anHna boir II
he clasps the tiny queen in his arms, the
boy, maddened at the sight, rushed from
the theatre and beyond the sound of the
applauding audience, to give vent to his
rage and jealousy in dreadful but im-
possible threatenings.
Midget failed to find Paul at his usual
place that night to escort her home,
although it was an eventful one to her
and proved the opening OF a brilliant
dramatic career.
Ten years have slipped by since the
night Of /" Les Papillons," eventful to
Mid get in struggles to master an art, and
begirt with alternate triumph and failure
in getting a place in public favor.
The Opera House is crowded to its
utmost capacity. Every seat has its oc-
cupant, and the audience await
with impatience the conclusion of the
overture.
AS the curtain rises hush Of expect
ancy pervades the audience.
Their silence shortly gives way be-
fore the melodious numbers Of the youth
full cantatriCe, and as her voice swells
forth into the more difficult ranges ofthe
opera, testing its quality to the full ex-
tent, the applause, at first so cautiously
given, breaks into wild enthusiasm, I'M
til, as the finale is reached, it becomes an
ovation.
A tall commanding figure, with uu-
mlstakable German lineaments. coUr-