Evening journal., 1889-12-06
A NIGHT AT THE kIRnEss.
The STAFF Poet Goes to Sec the Dance as 8
Dead Beat and Is Surprised.


Homeos had been talking so loud that
thought they could not be beaten, and as
never EXPECT to be sick ! lean towards
that school.
We leave our coat and hat In the |
package room, after removing all valu |
ables, and pay the kind young men fee
for the privilege. The tieket taker
punches another hole in the borrowed |
season ticket and we take seat in the
window.
The Opera House is a very pretty barn
like structure, and seldom suffers from
large crowds or poor ventilation. Its
gallery is the highest in point of altitude,
and lowest in price, and is as dirty as
veteran newsboy. From my window seat
scan the faces of those near me to see
if they are deadheads like myself, and
speculate on the rental price of the full
dress suit of the young man who Just
passed.
The audience is dressed very nicely,
beside an air Of expectancy which makes
| itself apparent as time rushes by.
notice that no one is sitting in the first
ten or a dozen rows of chairs. This is
doubtless because the stage has been
extended and they are boarded in. This
is a full dress affair; consequently | wear
nv overcoat and muller. Most people are
in fun dress, while some wear no
dresses whatever-but they are men,
| and we must make some allowances for
men The orchestra appears from pen
/ on the left and sits down on the corner Of
the stage. There seemed to be little har
monv at first and each man voted on his
own tax receipt, but | understood that
| they were Just getting ready to make
grand rush for goal The music starts
and SO does the curtain. Then everybody
claps their hands. ] thought that some.
| one had announced that we were to have
our money refunded-when l looked to-
wards the stage.
A wonderful display Of colors met my
| paze. and as tried to imagine the object
/ of such a collection Of fancy articles,
/ lol there stepped from the centre of the
stage being very like man. Then all
| the fancy ribbons arose and saw that
they were living persons | am but
plain mau myself, and You must excuse
| my Ignorance of the affairs of other
| climes ooh There's Mr. Curtis, the
lester" heard some one exclaim, and
! suppose he meant the first thing
that got up from the floor. He
looked like he had joke on
himself, and that he had turned seve-
raj colors with laughing at it. I've
almost forgotten just what he had on,
but / know there was lots Of it. He re-
minded me of a devil about the head, and
ballet dancer, elsewhere. tie was very
lively. indeed lie carried q little flag
which he waved constantly, and danced
in front Of the moving column, showing
the path in which to tread All this time
the orchestra was playing, as If it was
afraid the Jester was going to tell joke.
Possibly joke at that stage of the Kir-
r mess might not have taken as well 5
! inoculation for the smallpox.
Mr.. Curtis was followed by a miscel
3 laneons assortment of costumes supported
4 by young men and young women, princi
pally. After parading around the stage
and forming into untangleable tangles
from which they easily untangled, thel
marched off the platform Then every
! body applaused. The auditors took thu
opportunity to look at each other, until
/. the music heralded the approach Of som
people. All eyes were turned toward
. the stage and the 'miRuet" advance
4 and divided into two parts. The
: each part played q game b
itself. never saw sue
i dancing in all my life-such bowling an
j scraping. The minueters comprised tn
VI older inmates | mean the workers, OF u
: hospital They wore XVI Century Co
y TUNES made in 1882 with few exception
Is | talked with one of the exceptions, AL
she said: "Yeu see how old and cost
j this lace is9' replied "Yesl" hope
that the orchestra would play hoe dow
to enliven the dancers, but 1t did no
and they marched off as sedately as
ie superannuated Christmas turkey.
4 a II. .f~l,t ,s.f Aha Ans NJ
at dancers, who were dressed to represel
a forget -me-nots," ''poppies," tulip
he and the like. Each carried bouquet
lg flowers, which she held In her corsag.
40 when not showing the flowers to &
in public. They bowed to the audience an
ed danced with great vigor, and for awhi
d. | bowed and danced twice in the sar
Il. place. laughed heartily and assisted
RS encouraging them. The Swiss dan
Is. followed. It was more Of hop, skip a
nd lump game than the other and vel
ire unique.
". They cleared the platform for t
French maids. who although but six
number, filed the stage from nit
dome These young women were, II
/. mense favorites, and good dancers. VIII
in. they danced they kept their hands
o their heads. Thedancers wore close
B ting garments cut 'most" decollete
re- the neck, and the audience applauded II
A turously so much; so that the maids cal
i. on the stage again and bowed. Yum H
ar was the next performer, The Japan'
,n dances was cute from start to finish. VIII
10 the jap nhad become used to being out ale
,er. three Of their number advanced and sa
ies "Three Little Maids From School, twi
and stood behind their fans each tin
When the Japs had been scared Of t
stage, the curtain was lowered and
II. lights raised. Two small boys in 10
as trousers appeared and danced hornpi
III which pleased the audience and me.
~ applauded.
~ The curtain went up gain and say
- crowd of German boys and girls play
ow in some alfa.dozen stalks of strs
m Some one off the stage hallooed and q
the Delaware S@ngerbund appeared
the custody Of ex Mayor Rhoads an
club. Noticed especially the bass sing
~ 2l2 pounds In weight, with two red bi
~, on his massive chest. The Sengerbu
~ sang in an unknown Ito mel tongue, .
~ ~ thought would take up collectl
ine but Il did not. The b
'en' ~ and girls clasped hands Z
20 romped on all the available space, as
band hustled TO keep up with the (
cession. The scene was animated |
spirited, and the dancers went off al
,ad, the dust Of deafening pedal applause
this This ended the program of dancing.
the saw something in one OF yesterdi