Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1890-03-14
THE TOPICAL TALKER.

| The Observance of Lent-How to Draw the
Line ms TO Play -Going-Prohibifion OF
| the Mirror-Miss CoghIan's Penance-A
Supper That is Served in Vain.
| THE observance of Lent is about as usual this
year. No particular change has come over
the community in this regard. Lent is OBJ.
served principally by Pittsburg without alarm,
| or not observed at all. The devout of the
| churches which pay strict regard to Lent are
| of course not included in this category.
Yetwho can doubt without considering the re-
ligious meaning of the institution, that season
of fasting and physical abstinence would be a
wonderful help to the world? But men are
nearly as careless about their bodies as about
their souls, and they cannot spare time to think
how they might spare themselves
-
A NICE distinction in the observance of Lent
was made by man of business yesterday.
1--WE are good enough Episcopalians to stay
away from the theater in Lent" said he, tex
cept when such attractions as Jefferson and
Florence or Gilbert and Sullivan opera come
along.
A PENANCE self-imposed by an Allegheny
belle consists OF a strict abstinence from
gazing upon her fair features in the looking
glass.
The penapce is telling upon the devotee ter
ribly. She looks anxious always now, and the
steady gaze of any vis-Guis is enough to make
her cheeks match her coral earrings. The
cause of this perturbation of spirit she explained
to friend of her own sex thus: II am afraid
continually that my toilet may be glaringly in
complete-disarrange or disordered; or that
my bang may have curled itself up in a ridicu-
lous way it has of doing, or that somehow or
other the loss of the review in the glass may
have made me in some way q fit object for
laughter"
And yet the prohibition of a mirror seems
trifing-untiI you, providing you're woman,
take the pledge.
MISS ROSE CoGHLAN must be playing in
'tJocelyn" as penance. 1t is a very cruel
one at that-to the peniteDt and the public.
Such a gloomy, lachrymose play I have not
seen for long while. Of course Miss Coghlan
makes something of it, but she is bowed down
with the bitter woe of the character.
On Wednesday afternoon 1 dropped in and
just caught the most powerful act of the play.
the third. A conspiracy of creepiness and
crime; of moans and sneers, and groans and
jeers, winding up with crash Of firearms and
fine situation. The cyear-old baby in the
seat in front of me showed good sense in cover
ing her face with her chubby palms from the
curtains rise to its fall.
What induces Miss Coghlan to prefer
"Joceyn" when she has Peg W ellington" and
"Forget-Me-Not" in her repertoire surpasseth
the knowledge Of man. Last night in her own
version of Charles Reade's charming story
Miss Coghlan made a graceful, gracious and
winning Peg.
BY the way, staid and industrious lawyer
who visited the Grand Opera House on
Wednesday afternoon to refresh his memory,
presume, upon practice in murder cases, is
desirous of knowing why nobody tasted that
elaborately- supper in act Ill. That
marble adventures Nine de Montatgne did
not lift a cover or kiss goblet-although the
waiting maid was careful to tell her that the
supper was daisy from the White Horse Inn;
and Miss Bancroft looked as if she had good
appetite. When Prince Sdpidni came in he
made some remarks about the timeliness of the
spread, and threw off his coat laid by his sword,
was rude to his mistress, and in fact showed in
every way that he was ready for meal. He
even drew up his chair TO the table, but he
arose without touching meat or drink, took his
coat and hat, his sword and his leave. Perhaps
the tablecloth wasn't clean. I have known
smaller thing to turn mans stomach.
When Jocelyn came in, looking wan and
weary, the odds against the supper being eaten
dropped. The betting veered clear around
when Jocelyn came to the conclusion that she
might just as well eat supper with Nine. de
Montdigne as pull her hair. No sooner had
she seated herself than the horrid clash of
swords without spoiled her appetite. And so
the curtain fell upon supper served on silver
and untouched. '..'
My friend. the attorney, would like to take
this case to the Supreme Court, in the interest
OF the people who are tantalized by the sight
of the dish covers which are never lifted, and
the fagons that stand as Mrs. Mataprop says:
Like Patience on a mantelpiece."