The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-12-07

ing was exclusively a religious cere,
mony. The dancing of David before
the ark has frequently been quoted, and
many commentators express the opln-
ion that each psalm was accompanied
by a distinct dance. st. Vitus, also,
danced. Our American Indians have
their ghost dances which consist of a
wild, grotesque series of leaps and con-
tortions to the weird music of dirge-
like mournful chant. 1t is not at all
like the dance described by an old Eng
lish poet:
"A fine sweet earthquake gently moved
By the soft wind OF whispering silks
These preliminary remarks on dane.
ing are caused by my having been to
see the great and only Lottie Collins.
For months the atmosphere Of Man.
haitian island has been saturated, SO to
speak, with ''Ta-ra-ra-boom-de-aye.' y
With the possible exception of those
who are so fortunate as to be deaf the
residents of New York have been
obliged to listen to the dreadful re-
frain. It is whistled by boys on the
streets. twisted by the tail, as it were,
out of hand organs, pounded on innum-
cradle pianos, to say nothing of brass
bands When balmy sleep seeks to WOO
the drowsy eyelids the aforesaid balmy
sleep is disturbed by some belated re.
veler trying, with whislzy-laden breath,
to MARBLE the familiar strain. This has
been going on ever since Miss Lottie
Collins, and her husband, Mr.. Cooney,
were injudiciously released from quar-
rantine. At last my curiosity was
aroused, SO l went to the Standard
theater where Miss Collins was adver-
tised to Ta-ra-ra- boom-de-aye between
the second and third acts of Jane"
AS she fippantly asserts in the song
she is mot too young" although she
has quite youthful appearance. She
wears long dress that comes down to
the tops of her shoes. She has a
wealth of long curls and hat that is
immense. I think the curls and hat
must be fastened to her head by some
new kind of adhesive cement, other
wise they would be shaken off, SO
violent are the wriggles and contor-
tions.
She sings the well-known song in a
very fair voice, tossing her head and
smiling. Then the band, and particu-
larly the drum, strikes up ta-ra-ra- boom
de-aye, and she makes a circuit of the
stage She does not dance at all. She
wriggles and cavorts around the stage.
Every once in while she leaps into tho
air and kicks. She bends forward until
her curls are on the floor, and the audi
ence is filed with dread that she is 60
ing to stand on her head. At times the
audience sees confused mass of curls
and black stockings. The impression
that she must have four feet and that
at times they are higher than her head
is a cleverly- managed optical delusion.
Her gloves, which extend above her
elbows, are black and SO are her stock
ings. Her movements are very rapid,
something like those of a man putting
down hot plate.
These gyrations are repeated with va
riations after each verse, and, like the
famous ballad of the Battle of the
Nile,'' there are twenty-four verses, all
pretty much alike. The dance, if dance
it can be called, reminds me very much
of the antics of Texas broncho with q
long name, when he undertakes to buck.
The broncho shakes his head, snorts,
Jumps up into the air, and comes down
hard on all four feet. Then he takes a
couple of jumps and tries to turn som.
ersault. Then he shakes himself all
over, rears up on his hind legs, and
paws the air.
feel morally certain that Miss Col
Inns must have made bucking Texas
mustang an object of exhaustive study
before she invented this remarkable
song and dance movement, and it is
only fair to say that she has improved
on the model.
In letter published about year
ago called attention to the brutality
of certain members of the New York
police force, particularly in the reckless
use, or rather abuse, of the club.
Pound sociables'' were matter of al
most daily occurrence. In the item OF
unprovoked assaults the police took the
cake-the pound cake, presumably. The
crack club of New York was not the
Manhattan club, or the Fifth Avenue
club, or any other social organization,
but the policeman's billy.
OF course, the local papers COM
planned, but in time these complaints
were very weak and fiabby. The
worst feature of these outrages, and
the one which was the cause of most OF
them, was the almost utter failure o1
the courts to punish as they deserved
the guilty parties. In many cases the
injured parties failed to prosecute, and
some of them had the best of reasons
for failing to do SO. just now the
New York papers have been thrown in.
to spasm of delight by an order from
superintendent Byrnes. He has abol-
ished the night-stick, which as dead
" weapon can cause the blush OF envy
to mantle the cheek of a sandbag or a
pair of brass knuckles.
The congratulations of the press on
this concession to law and order re-
mind me Of the remark of the little boy