The Indiana State sentinel., 1891-05-27
ALWAYS SOMETHING TO SAY
"BAB'S" WEEKLY YORK CHATTER
De Wolf Hopper's New 0pera-A Little
Woman Who Is Sweetness Personihsd-
The Story OF n Prude-How WO-
mems CompiexiOns Deceive.

New YoRK, May 2l.-[Special. Every
spring New York gets wildly excited about
the comic opera that is going to be put on
for the summer months. New Workers.
taken in the mass, like a tuneful opera
one where there are pretty girls, pretty
gowns and pretty dancing. The average
man or woman doesn't care in the least
whether the music is suggestive of some
thing else or not, provided it is pleasing.
The average man or woman doesn't care
in the least If an actress is sixty, provided
she looks sixteen, and in this they show
their sense.
The other night the theater-gOing popu-
lation of New York crowded to see the
opera that rejoices in the meliifluous name
of Wang" 1t rhymes with "sang" and
it also rhymes with "pang," and nobody
knew which would suit it best. / have
always regarded De Wolf Hopper as a
kindly disposed gentleman, with long legs
and an inclination to believe the greatest
amount of amusement was gotten out of
an artificial stomach and q seltzer bottle.
However, | went to see the opera more In
sorrow than in anger, but before the sec
ond song was sung, was immensely
glad that was there, and at the end Of
the first act | wanted to apologize person
ally to Mr.. Hopper, because | hadn't real
lied how funny he could be before, and
later on i had to confess there was no
artificial stomach, no huge buckle and no
seltzer bottle. Instead, there was the best
property elephant / ever saw in my
life and prettier girls than have been
in any comic opera here for many a long
| dav.
There were twenty dark-haired beauties
/ who wore blue and white yachting gowns,
and who looked as smart as do the young
women in the swell London shops, where
Prerequisites aret that they must have pref
| ty faces, good figures and agreeable voices.
| But oh! oh! the sweetest thing in
| "Wang" was little Della Fox. Between
you and me, wanted to buy her, and
/ put her on a brides cake. She was the
| dearest thing in dress clothes you ever
saw in your life, but she wouldn't have
/ been a woman if she hadn't put her hands
| in her pockets. AS she is woman, | can
speak plainly about her belongings, and
| say that if any OF the men in the audience
had better fitting trousers l didn't see
them; and if any OF them managed to
keep their shirt fronts smoother they Were
not visible; and that il a single one among
them could have danced as shedid and still
had his high collar in good shape, he ha d
better 20 as an advertisement for some
laundry. have always liked little women,
and now l am convinced, alter seeing this
edition de luxe of sweetness and smali
size, that ] am right. There is a funny little
g ~ Ii
prologue, in which Mr.. Hopper asks the
audience to please let them know whether
they have made a success or whether they
have an elephant on their hands, and
though don't know Mr.. Hopper, though
feel j owe him an apology for the past,
still, do want to cay right here, in black
and white. that it's one OF the prettiest
and one of the most amusing little operas
| that New York has seen for a long time
1t may sound vain, but / think | know a
good thing when L see it, and don't mind
telling about it.
Not long ago woman said: ~ don't
| care to go with that woman. Who is she
Are YOU sure she is all right?" Another
woman said to me: "lhat woman is q
| prude," and then she said Listen, while
90 over and lead her on" She asked
| her if she had seen Miss Grey. llv Lady
| Prude announced that there had been
some talk about Miss Grey, andshe hadn't
kept up an acquaintance with her. She
then asked her how Mrs. Black was, and
she was told that Mrs. Black was very
| well. but added TO this came the state.
ment that, though like Mrs. Black very
much, l am told there is something queer
about her marriage, and you know, really
one has 20 be very careful with whom one
associates nowadays. | wouldn't have the
name of woman who was the least bit
off color connected with mine for worlds p
My friend came back to me and asked
"What do you think of that?'
And l said, Suppose Christ had
ielt that way toward Mary Mag
daline. Suppose every one OF US
were ready to push the other woman down
down, until SHE hadn't even the ladder o.
hope to climb up On?" 1t set me think
ing and / wondered if, when my Lady
Prude went to church, there wasn't some
danger OF her getting near woman who
was what she called ''off color" and | won
dered, too, if she ever entered the gates o
heaven, which l doubted, whether she
mightn't find some poor soul whose sins
had been as scarlet, and who yet had hac
them washed as white assnow. And ther
] wondered by what right this woman
Judged all other women. To decide this
went to one OF those old ladies who know
everybody in New York and all about
them, and l said to her: "Who and what
is my Lady Prude? And why is she
counted the censor of morals"
The old gentlewoman put up her
glasses, looked at me and answered: "Has
she constituted herself that? Well, my
dear, when you come across a woman who
finds no good in anybody else you can
nearly always conclude that her own lie
and her own heart are black. Now,
happen to know the story of this woman's
life, and / will tell it to you TO point my
moral She came, l think, from Boston
she was pretty, healthy-looking gir., and
her great ambition was TO go on the stage
She got there, and during her very first
season, with her eyes quite wide open and
understanding perfectly we'll what she
was doing, she became more than the
close friend of the manager of the COM
peny, and che became notorious for hel
depravity. / can always forgive woman
who sins for love or through ignorance
have nothing whatever else 10 say about
the one who sins from motives of policy
This woman came to New York, made &C.
euaintances among lot of fast men and
became the mistress OF the semi-idiotit
son of rich family. He was given nc
money, consequently, while she went