, 1890-06-15

man bowed | did 50, and we talked on
pleasantly. he asked me all about Buff
falo Bill and Herbert Spencer and steve
Brodie and President Carnot and Marshall
Wilder and Neil Vanderbilt and all of
our folks, SO l knew that he moved in
our set. Then he asked me to excuse
him, but there looked TO him to be a for
eign substance in among the leaves of my
salad. 1 paved over the lettuce and dis
covered in il a new dollar bill. | thanked
the gentleman for his kindness, and said
| was getting 30 absent minded now that
| was liable TO 20 away some time and
leave a whole fortune in the hotel sugar
bowl. He said he way that was too.
Now, for instance, l left something or
other over there in that finger bowl, l
believe. VIII you be kind enough to look
in it and see" l examined the 6ngsr
bowl and found his diamond ring IN the
bottom OF it. When l got through m
meal | decided to go aud see some sort of
show. L went to see Hermann When
he came on the stage | remembered who
It was that ate dinner with me.
The performance did not run very
smoothly, owing to the orchestra which
was a local affair. In one place the per
former is quite dependent on the orches-
TIA v ~ Cut, a. lhG NhOic AAluk "OfCo
along with the music. 1t is a part of the
programme called Black Art, wherein
various skeletons come out OF their damp
i'll ventilated graves at a late hour of the
night and dance the ~bornpipe OF remove
their skulls and blow the dust out of
them, keeling time to the music all the
while, Hermann had endeavored to i'm
press upon him that the. members OF the
orchestra must pay strict attention TO
their business, tor he depended on the
mus'c-
When it got to this part Of the pro
gramme the magician discovered that the
leader had loaded his etruscan jaw with a
giant jag of tutti frutti gum and was
keenly enjoying the show. Hermann
motioned him to flow on with the music,
and be spread out his wings as q signal
for the orchestra to sail in. As one
CHASTITY gentleman after another got out
OF bis malarial grave and shook out the
kinks in his skeleton, the orchestra began
to play more and more piano. The man
who administers the clarionet to himself
every evening swallowed the first Joint of
his instrument, and then seemed to freeze
with horror at the picture on the stage.
All at once a slim little ghost crawled out
of his grave, and taking out a CARPET tack
which had been in the bottom OF bis cof-
I'm no doubt for years and jabbing him in
the back, he seemed to breathe a sigh OF
relief, and turning a handspring lit on top
of a tall monument worth $3.50.
Then the man who plays the adjust
able brass pulled the instrument out to
its fullest extent and forgot to put 1t
back again. More and more the or
chestra seemed to get interested in the
show and less in its music. The drum
mer made a fox pass, as the French say.
and then paused with an unborn mite
still trembling on his lips. Finally as the
CHASTITY funniest went on, the orchestra
got so diminuendo that an oil blind
man with the croupv base tuba. was the
only musician who seemed to be earning
his salary,
Then Professor Hermann came out on
the stage and made a few desultory re-
to the orchestra personally. He
to remove gum from the jaws OF
the orchestra, and some said he got eight
but / think that is putting il too
Between six and seven would, /
think. be big enough. At this moment
the drummer sought to reply. A little
discussion arose between him and the
professor. and when 1t closed the drum
ner was not there. The next day, / am
iold, he was found inside the base drum.