Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1891-01-20

the window to open the shade. It es-
capes from his clutches and sooots to the
top OF the house with loud snort. Nero
jumps on the window sill to reach it.
cursing softly to the low wall Of the
clarionet and forgetting that he cannot
reach the shade, also that he has not yet
donned his toga
Still purple with rage the young en-
peror hangs up comforter at the win
dow, and taking a hurried bath begins
to dress for the day by wrapping him.
self in the folds of purple Turkish
towel of cunning workmanship to the
soft music of the bass drum and the
''dance corners" and ''chasse all" of the
ballet. Even though we cannot see
Nero we read his home life in the panto-
mime of ballet. Any one can do it
who will make study of it and go every
evening.
Now Nero has morning prayers to .
large sycamore god which has been
carved out with jacklnife by man
condemned to death by Tberius. Next to
the lascivious blessings of the xylophone
we read from the ballet that Nero has
gone to his mother to obtain funds for
the day and a largess or two for the
voters of the Ninth ward.
And now the music becomes more
fortissimo, and the elderly ballet girl on
the extreme right begins to brace up and
dance with more vigor, seeking to earn
her salary as conscientiously as though
she really expected to receive it. This
means that Agrippina, the mother of
Nero, Is putting some more thickening
in the plot, and that in little while
Nero's stepfather will be ready for the
embalmer. One can almost hear the
protest of Octavius as he murmurs and
kicks at the idea of taking poison Just as
he Is feeling comfortable on the throne.
And now we follow the strange story
as the front row of yellow headed dan
GERS In DR.. Jaeger costumes and with
putty IN the crevices of their counte-
nances begin to circle to the right, and
we gather from the Terpsichorean re-
marks made by the premiere with the
brawny hook that Octavius has croaked
TO the low sad wall of the ophicleide and
the shrill wall of the piccolo.
Thus Nero becomes emperor of Rome,
with chance at the surplus and an in
vltatlon out to dinner almost every day.
All now forward and back; the premiere
danseuse turns eight cartwheels across
the stage and picks a torch out of the
hand of vestal virgin from Hunters
Point. This means that flush times have
again returned to Rome, and on the Rue
de Seneca there is strong bull move
ment in stocks.
Nero now gets married to plain but
well connected girl whose father owns
the leading paper there. He does not
really love her, and so the alto horn gives
an air of pain and the bass fiddle is seen
to shudder as the walk-around on the
stage indicates that Nero has fallen in
love with Acte, a freedwoman who
1resses plainly but looks first rate. 1t is
plain now from the ddctiOn de ballet
that d'Nero is leading a double life at
least, and that he is out nights a good
deal. d'carrying on at great rate.
Oh, why will men. especially en-
perors, do that way? They must know
that some day the populace will drop on
~ otietLIic SofOt tilSlI OlutIW WISE
minous careers. Acte of course knows
that her parents would not approve of
this style of cuttings up on her part; but
there is sort of romance about living in
a pleasant flat overlooking the Campagna
without paying rent for it, and so she
goes on, knowing that Nero's wife is at
home alone sewing carpet rags or up
holste1ing the throne while Acte is at
routs and balls almost continually.
Finally we discover by the antics of
the ballet that Nero has shaken Acte, and
now looks with amorous glances upon
PoppRa Sabina, very able woman, who
gets the entire control of the admins
tration. Nero does not even dare COM
mission notary public without asking
PoppRa or Pop Sabina, as she is called.
lAndsBA it goes on from bad to worse,
until Eero's mother is ariven out of
;house and - She IS 1ewa to sleep
S Isl s; + sss '1 sa'
The ships so made that it will fall to
pieces about the second day out. But
she is a resolute woman, with broad
feet, so she treads water till she can re-
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