Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1889-01-30
REFORM SCHOOL BOYS.
Gave an Exceedingly Agreeable Enter
tatnment Last Night.

's- NSSSuAhSty aSTtedpte E<utcTe
tafnment Last Night.
REGULATIONS, SONGS, DANCES AND cHARApEs
MAKE UP THE PROGRAM. AND ALL TIE PARTIci-
PANTS AcoUIr THEMsELvEs VERY cRKpITABLY-
PRESIDENT FALLS ENCOURAGING ADDRESS.
The entertainment given annually by the
boys OF the reform school was presented last
night to an audience largely made up of friends
and relatives of the inmates. The spacious
school-room was decorated with evergreens.
and when the boys and the visitors were all
seated there were but few vacant places. The
stage was set with landscape background and
the scene was altogether a very attractive one.
At few minutes past Col. Shallenberger,
the superintendent, opened the proceedings
with a brief address and then the couple of
hundred boys sang the anvil chorus, while Mr..
Will Cohen played the organ and Mr.. W. s.
Gibson encouraged them with his presence and
cornet. The anvils were also there and in
full working order. When the applause had
died away
TALL LIGHT-TINTED CoLoRED BOY
walked on to the stage, bowed gracefully to
the audience and retold the story of The exc
cution of Montrose" It was a very satisfactory
piece Of defamation. and the audience was
not stingy with its applause. A young white
man, with good voice and possessed of
pretty fair idea as to how the hired butchers of
old Roma talked to each other gave the ad-
dress OF ''Spartacus to the Gladiators." The
effort was applauded, as it deserved. and then
the entire school sang song to which was at
good enough, but the whistling caught the
audience. and the noisy recall knew no ces-
sation until the boys repeated the last verse OF
their novel selection.
The noyelty.-the feature of the program was
that number denominated ''Song Waves with
floral decorations" When the curtain arose it
disclosed canvas screen on which eight
painted sunhowers were arranged as notes on
huge musical staff. In the center of each
flower was the face of a colored boy. In
obedience to Mr.. Cohens directions the SUM-
flowers sang; sang solos and choruses, and
went up and down the scale with the precision
of an organ. When the eight voices burst into
song, and the eight crimson orifces displayed
eight very red tongues and sixteen rows of If
reproachably white teeth the effect was
LUDIcRoUs IN THE EXTREME,
and the audience appreciated it fully. There
was an encore. of course. After another song
by the school Literary contest" was inaugu-
rated, participated in by an Irishman, a Ger
man. a Yankee, anegro, an English dude. and
couple of girls. 1t was very funny throughout,
all the characters sustaining their parts admir-
ably, with dialect limitations that were simply
perfect The school then sang .The One
Horse Open Sleigh" and when the glee was
finished the curtain rose a minstrel show.
The performers needed no burnt cork. They
were naturally black and naturally funny.
Songs. mouth-organ music, Gathering bones,
and rafting tambourines all contributed to the
pleasure of the assembly. An effective piece
of realism was the Song of the Iron Horse"
The sounds of the locomotive, the bell. the
whistle, were remarkable for their fidelity.
To the strains of sprightly march ten little
white boys, clad in white shirts, black velvet
trunks, and white slippers, marched on the
stage and performed a number of foot move
ments. Each boy carried
A PAIR OF eILDED DUMB-BELLs,
and when they had paraded around the stage
for a sufficient length of time they gave a calls
thenc drill, with an organ accompaniment
that was as accurate and as attractive as any,
thing could be. 1t was the prettiest stage scene
of the evening, and the audience expressed its
delight forcibly. An inventor, with a new
foot-warmer. was the next character to ap-
pear, but his description Of how to keep feet
warm was cut short, and an od-fashioned foot
warmer-a dance-was INDUCED in by six en-
thusiastic colored boys, three of them in fe-
male costume. The white boys gazed envi-
ously at the rapidly moving feet of one espe-
cially expert performer, and almost wished
they were colored also, If they could only
dance like that. The crowd became very en-
thusiastic over the saltatorial exhibition, and
the artist had to crafty it a second time.
BRIEF OLD FOLKS CONCERT
was the last number on the program. Eleven
boys, appropriately costumed, sang "Auld Lang
Syne," Revolutionary Tea" and Cousin Jede-
diah." while two of them as male and female
convulsed the audience with their antics in the
duet, Reuben and Rachel"
verse Of the benediction song, ''God be
with you till we meet again. was sung by the
school, and then President Falls, of the board
of trustees, thanked the boys for the entertain
ment they had furnished, and as they had done
well on the mimic stage, so might they succeed
on the real stage of life. The visitors expressed
themselves as being very much pleased with
the efforts of the boys. and they paid
many compliments to the efficiency of the Off
GERS and teachers of the institution who had SO
carefully trained the youngsters.
A sumptuous collation. was served to num-
Der of guests after the entertainment Col
and Mrs. Shallenberger and their two daugh-
tiers did the honors and crowned the success of
the occasion with their hospitality. Among
those present were Mr.. and Mrs. A. J. Falls
Col. and Mrs. Clay, daughter and son; Dr. ].
Z. Carpenter and Mrs Carpenter, DR.. and Mrs.
Campbell Mr.. s. W. Curriden. Mr.. and Mrs. A.
L. Stuart, Representative L. E. Atkinson, of
Pennsylvania; Major Morgan. Mr.. Rob't Cohen
and family, Rev. Mr.. Markham, Rev. and F. d.
Power, Mrs Hunt. Mrs. Brockway. Miss Rath-
burn, Miss Snyder and Mr.. Levin, of Hyatts-
vile.