The Washington critic., 1890-03-22

ness is 50 bad that you can give o the.
atre party any night you please.
IF you ask for dollar seat he takes
iiendish delight in telling you that the
dollar seats are all gone, but that you
can have seat in one of the boxes.
You conceal your dollar in the palm of
your hand and pretend to consider this
last alternative, but you know he is
mocking your poverty, and you know
he knows that you won't take box
seat. But you try to make him believe
that you may, and ask, impressively,
chow much" box seat is, To do this
you have to lean sidewise and peer up
at him through his peep-hole as II you
were supplicating at shrine. He has
you at his mercy at once, and he knows
not mercy. He says Two. an a-half,"
fippantly, and pulls out the box seats
with his left hand while he stares at you
mockingly.
Then you lose your nerve and back
away muttering something about "some
| other night" and retreat down the
steps feeling Insignificant and meanly
indignant, and with a consciousness
that the man in the box office is smiling
after you and at his victory.
You think you will have your re-
venge and that your turn has come
when the star or the manager OF the
man who wrote the play, and whom.
you and great many other people
consider a very distinguished person
age indeed, gives you pass calling
for 1.-TWO good seats.
You stick it through the box office
window with feeling of satisfaction.
You are sure this hired man must APP
preciate the fact that you have rem
dered some service to his superiors
which they are only too anxious to re-
pay. You place your hands at either
side of the window and gaze up at him
and try not to look proud or supercili-
Gus, but merely Indifferent.
The young man picks the pass up
gingerly and turns it over once or twice
and takes long time to read it. Then
he looks up at you searchingly and goes
over the pass again as if il were coun-
terfeit note. He looks at you again as
if to reassure himself, and is apparently
anything but struck with your appear
ance. You begin to feel uncomfortable,
as even the most guiltless man must feel
when he is eyed with suspicion, and
perhaps you get little red You GER
tainly wish you had not stopped down
to note the effect OF the pass, but you
feel that you must see IL through. He
runs his fingers uncertainty over the
rows of tickets as if he were trying to
decide which were the two worst seats
in the house, and feeling this you say
boldly: ''Td like them well down in
front, please-and on the aisle if you
have them" He pays no attention tc
this whatsoever, but finally settles dowr
upon bunch of tickets from which he
selects two briskly, and sticking then
into an envelope shoves them at you
and turns his back.
You are indignant by this time at his
lack Of consideration, and you open the
envelope and grow bold with angel
when you see the seats are in simply
impossible place. That order calls
for two good seats, you shout W
through the air.shaft at his m VI sty
"These are in the circle"
"They are the best | can give you,
he answers with polite smile that il
meant to say, "What are you going t.
do about it ?" as plainly as a smile can
There is nothing for you to do about it
You go away beaten again, and con
scious that he has said something Uitl
laugh to some hidden individual IL
, the back Of his box whom you believe
for the moment, to be the man VIII,
, gave you the order.
: And then you think how you coul'
have crushed the fellow if you ha,
calmly torn the tickets up and throw
+ down $15, saying, Give me a box
=, please"
But you only think of this after yo,
, are four blocks away, and, besides, yo,
, haven't got the $15.