The Helena independent. [volume] (Helena, Mont.) 1875-1943, 1891-03-18
CONSERVATION When It Was Discov-
cred the Maid Had Left Gyppy
Behind.
So Little and Too Young to be
Left at Home AL
Alone.
Curious Things Left in Playhouses--Stcnl'
Ing Lost Articles, With One Case
In Point.

Square theater. She was young, ana hau
an abundance of golden hair knotted i'll a
coil behind her head. She wore a natty
black cloth hat, and had a boa of glossy
black feathers around her neck concealing
the collar of a handsome sealskin cloak.
She was accompanied by a colored maid.
did any, Que ind a little pug dog i'll the
theater last night?" she asked the man in
the box office in the hearing of a New York
Sun reporter.
"A pug dog?' asked Treasurer John Cox
in affected surprise.
Yes said the woman, her voice rising
to a trembling treble. "a tiny little dog. He
was only a few days old. My maid here
left him under the seat. Oh, did you find
him, sir?"
At this the colored maid approached the
window and said that she had unwittingly
left the dog under the seat when she and
her mistress left the theatre, and neither
one had discovered the loss till they
reached home. Then it WAS too late to hope
to find the theatre still open.
EYES, put in the girl, land l hardly
slept all night for thinking of poor little
doggy"
"But how did you happen to bring a dog
to the theatre?" asked Treasurer Cox,
frowning darby. 'Of curse you know
that dogs are not allowed here"
''Oh, but my little doggy was so little and
SO young" reslied the young woman, land
/ couldn't leave him at home all alone, You
know. So 1 told Dotty here to put him i'll
a cigar box and bring him along. And he
was asleep in the cotton, you know. and we
were both so pleased with the play. you
know" (glancing ap%pealinaly at the treas
urer.) that We both forgot all about nm:
You see, | thought she had him, but it
seems she had put the box under the seat
and forgot all about it. Oh, do tell me, did
you find him?"
The young wemangazed 40 earnestly in
to the treasurer's face that he relented. and
asked what the dogs name was.
"Gyppy." she replied, drying a stray tear
with a tiny handkerchief. Treasurer Cox
then produced a cigar box from under the
desk, lifted the lid, and disclosed a tiny
dog curled up in a mass OF cotton anu
sleeping peacefullJ. The young woman
and, with profuse thanks to everybody IL
sight that seemed to be connected with the
theater. tripped happily out with the COL
ored maid following behind.
"Well,' said Mr.. Cox, with all my
fence, l never knew such a curious article
left in the theater before. Women are al
ways leaving things behind them in their
chairs and boxes, but who would ever think
of their leaving dogs behind them? Now,
we don't allow dogs in the theater, ond she
had to smuggle that little fellow in. Why,
do you know. she had that cigar box neatly
tied up in brown paper, as If 1t were some
package she had got at the store. OF had for
gotten to send by express"
All the theaters have rooms in the cellars
where lost articles, which are unclaimed
after a reasonable time. are stored away.
The general custom is to hold found arti-
o1ec,s in tho hoy pfH 90 for a walk Or mora
according to their value, and If then I'M
claimed to send them down to the cellar.
Here they accumulate sometimes for years.
They herd with the dust and theatrical
traprings and effects long since abandoned
and stored for possible but not probable
future use, till some of these cellar rooms
are veritable curiosity shops. Little of real
value is unclaimed, and these subterranean
collections ale usually far more curious
than valuable.
81 have had people come back for their
hats said a theatrical man the other day.
"In warm weather even women occasion
ally walk out of the tonse in blissful for
getfulness of the fact that they have re-
moved their hats for greater comfort and
hung them on the back of their chairs.
Oyershoes. umbrellas, canes, opera glasses,
overcoats, clocks, wraps furs, handker-
chiefs-these are the articles more COM
monty lett behind. But purses are fire.
quentiy lost, and these little reticules that
women carry, often containing valuable ar
ticles. Then ladies very frequently leave
packages containing purchases behind
them, after the matinee. They come back
in great haste and often il great alarm.
! remember a lady coming rushing
into the theater about Z O'Clock one even
ing and sobbing out that she had lost n
costly diamond necklace, and must have
dropped it in the theater after the matinee.
We the entire staff Of the thea
ter, even to the sweeps and gas lighters, but
every man and woman of them swore that
no such thing had been found. We searched
the chair she had occupied and the aisles
in vain. Then we gave it up. She started
away sobbing. After a while she came
bach and told US the necklace was done up
in a small package.
"'Oh,' said 1. why didn't you say so in
the first place? We supposed it was on
your neck"
"'Why, l didn't think to tell you that
$50 we brought out several packages that
had been found, and she selected one that
looked like her package. Before opening il
she described the necklace accurately
Then l opened the package, and there was
the necklace, indeed a costly thing of the
most superb workmanship. She said she
had bought it for a wedding present and
handed me a card containing the name of a
very we'll known woman.
"a man once came back after a perform.
ance, and said with a white face, that he
had left $500 in the theater. We went &c
his seat and found the roll of bills caught
in the joint. The sweepers had overlooked
it. But people do not often give back
money or pocketbooks. You can't contro
the honesty of the theater employees, you
know. We have the most stringent rules
governing this matter. An employe is in.
stantly dismissed if he fails to return Il
found article, and, if it is of any value, and
he is caught retaining it, the theater be.
comes the prosecutor and sees that he
catches all the penalty the law will enforce.
people in the audience, | believe, in
very many cases, steal lost articles. | have
observed audiences leaving the theatre
many times and have good reason for say
ing so. 1t IS very easy. in passing down an
aisle with a crowd, to place a land on the
head of an umbrella or cane standing uI
against a chair where somebody has left it.
or upon a wrap carelessly left over the bach
anything up which has fallen to the floor
tracts attention. So it is that money anC
small articles dropped on the floor are sell
dom stolen by thieves in the audience
though l have known thieves to drop al
umbrella or hat in order to make an excus,
for STOPPING down. If you see any on,
stop down and openly pick a lost bill o.
article from the floor, you can nearly al
ways take it for granted that the Under il
an honest man and means to leave it at tn,
box Office.
"Onse, however, l saw an honest maj
overcome by temptation and yield while OF
his way out of the theater. 1t was an in
teresting study in human nature. l wa
standing where | could see all the chang