Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1891-05-14
TALK OF THE TOWN.

4 ihIN VT IHC lUWNs
A Warmer Atmosphere at the Great Festi-
val-Concert Costumes Shrouded, but a
Fine Display of Millinery-The Startling
Trumpet-Mrs. Meilke's Bon Mot-Seidps
Hand-Forest Fires and Our CIouds-A
Man Snubbed.
No unkind currents of air chilled the en-
thusiasm of the audience at the Nav Festival
last night. On Tuesday evening the warmth
of the afternoon persuaded Manager jerks
that If anything the auditorium was likely
to be too warm, SO he ordered the windows
opened, only to find ere the performance be-
gan that he had admitted cold wave which
no subsequent care could subdue. Moreover
there was a laxity about door-clos-
ing and the foremen in their zeal to
protect the audience from q roasting
helped to give them freezing by bringing
hose. from the street hydrant through an
open window. None of these errors oc-
Cured last night and the hall was very toll
erably warm. Still host of handsome
dresses will have to go unsung because they
were hidden under wraps and furs. The
costumes were nearly all out of sight, but
pretty faces were not, and so the parquet
and boxes and the long ascent of the bal
cony were very pleasant to the eye. In the
parquet particularly the glory OF bonnets
and hats was O compensating feature. An
Industrious observer managed to count two
hundred bOnnets in the parquet which
Festival,
Thus are the arts cooperative, and music
gives O helping hand to millinery. The
same observer, woman of course, esti-
mated that all the new head dresses in the
hall must have netted the milliners about
$lO,0OO, or $1Oapiece for 1000 hats, o low esti-
mate when one box contained millinery dis
tllDuted among four women to the value of
certainty Sl5O. Another noticeable feature
In the attire of the audience was the preva-
lence OF the white vest in combination with
masculine full dress. At distance the men
wearing the white waistcoats appeared to
nave nought on but the clawhaminer coat.
A New Turn to an Old Aphorism.
IT is said that as Mrs. Antonia Meilke re-
tired from the stage amid thunders of ap-
plause after her superb performance in the
duo from "The Flying Dutchman," she re-
marked to her colleague, Mr.. Theodore
heichmann, "Apres moi, lie deluge!'
Mi. Reichmann appreciated the wit of the
fair cantatrice when the next number proved
to be Saint-Saens' 'The Deluge."
Playing Upon the Audience.
THE trumpet call announcing the resump-
tion of the concert after the intermission did
not startle so many people last night as it
had done at the opening concert. On Tues
DAY evening when the truInpet's alarum
broke upon the buzz of conversation it was
amusing to notice how many heads were
bent down to see what number it was that
began with such a warlike note.
The admiration for Director Anton Seidl
steadily increases. Aside from his wonder
ful musical talents the personality of the
man is highly picturesque and prepossessing.
oil foIo os,a fo,&
are not all that his admirers love to bring
within the focus of their lorgnettes. His
hands are singularly small and shapely, and
the left hand he is especially fond Of extend
ing toward the orchestra, now pleading with
1t for piano" effects, now gently urging q
crescendo and again tearing the full force
from violins, brass and wood with a gesture of
no doubt, in watching that slight left hand
assist the baton in the right to sway and
modulate or urge to supreme effort the
superb body of players which Mr.. Seidl has
gathered about him.
The Shadow of Forest Fires.
WHEN Signal Service Officer Baldwin was
asked whether the curious haze that hung |
over the city yesterday might be attributed !
to the forest fires which are burning |
at various points on the western slope |
of the Alleghenies, he said: s'There |
is nothing so difficult to decide |
certainly as the cause of atmospheric phe- |
nomena. The clouds which have since noon !
to-day rolled over the heavens, cloudless all |
the morning, may have their origin in the |
forest fires. The conditions of the atmos-
phere to-day are unusual in several respects. |
The humidity to-day is very low, that is to |
say the air is dry to an unusual degree, and |
we might expect the sky to be clear. The |
clouds are singular, and do not think they
5000 and steady. They have been having
heavy rain south of US, but we are not likely |
TO get any for day or two. In May it is not
easy to prognostfcate further ahead than
this. The clouds of smoke from the burn
ing woods may affect the sky here, though
the overcast condition this afternoon can
be accounted for on the theory that the low
pressure area in which Pittsburg is included |
1T present Is feeling the effect of two high
pressure waves, one to the north and one to
The south, which this mornings observa-
ions show"
Travellers on the night trains across the
report extraordinary scenes in
The mountains where the forests are blazing
for mile after mile. The fires light up the
some especially brilliant confiagrations have
scared the hillsides above the Juniata.
Around Johnstownthe sky is darlened by
lay and In made ni red BY night BY numerous
mas not much forest land left, but
small blazes among the pine woods and
brush are as common just now as they are
Usually in September after very hot sum-
ner. Along the railroads sparks from the
locomotives are constantly setting fire to the
yrass, and Emsworth had a warm expert
,nce two days ago when the brush and turf
behind the Fort Wayne station and along
;he creek caught fire and blazed away for
several hours. Many of the small towns in
he county have had Pittsburg's experience
Is to disastrous fires during the last three
weeks At Glenfleld fire has wiped
,ut two big stores and other
valuable buildings and three barns on sepa-
ate farms within q radius of ten miles, and
I'll near Economy have gone up in smoke
ince Monday. The dry weather is blamed
or large percentage of these losses. Farm
rs look very glum at the prospects of the
lay harvest
Benedict as a Shopper.
A MARRIED man went into Horne's yester-
lay to get a pair of gloves for his wife. He
lad tolerably clear instructions, and man
ike, he took the first pais of gloves offered
o him. The young woman who sold the
loves had just shown q dozen pairs to q
ustomer of her own sex. who hadn't the
lightest idea of buying anything, but desired
o see the new shades of tans and grays in
which summer gloves are coming, so she
ighed gratefully when the man-smau
redit to HIM jumped at the first pair taken |
rom its tissue case. Thereupon Benedict, |
lying the hattering unction of his kinds | ,
uperiority to his soul, remarked to q fair
hopper nearby, an acquaintance: "Men may
ot be wonderful shoppers, but they have
ot half the difficulty women have in getting |
uited.''
perhaps, when they are not buyine for l.,
~ reDlied the chnmniou of the |