Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1892-02-13

| now common sense has prevailed over illusion
within forty years in matters OF amusement
| An exact counterpart Of the Poe chess player
has been for several seasons an ordinary
| exhibit IN one of our museums and only
| the most unsophisticatcd of visitors is fooled
| by 1t Indeed, the expert who sits inside the
wooden man and guides his hsr d is well-known
| In chess circles. The illusions, which COM
| mand much attention in this fifty-cent museum.
must be far more difficult to solve and more
pleasurabie to look at than the contrivance that
| piqued the curiosity of Poe and his public.
An interesting conjurer has come to this es-
thing else but . sleight-of-hand man. He
bears strong resemblance TO Lord Salisbury.
| the English premier. The secret of his illu-
| sions lies in the possession by him OF q gentle
and plausible manner. He is like the refined
pickpocket; you don't suspect him, and you
lose your watch. This magician, upon going
to work, unbuttons his cuffs and lays bare to
above the elbow u pair of fat white arms, ex-
cusing himself, in his curious broken English,
Tor undressing in publeek" His greatest
culture Of silk from feeding the worms to the
nnished material, dyed in rich colors. The
girls who personate the Chinese in these pic
lures are unfortunately, with one exception.
| what is known as British blondes, while their
hair should be Chinese black. and this part Of
the illusion may be justly termed delusion. if
| not . snare.
The magician's trick Is, Of itself, one that has
oeen shown by two Of our American showmen,
VINO bought 1t from him, but he presents il
, more. elaoorateiy In the final tableau he APP
pears IN q monks garb. He has as the well
Anown legend runs. struggled some silk
| worm eggs out of China, and he taps his pill
grim stat with q knowing look 6for it is all
pantomlme) as much as to say: II have the
eggs inside" In the center of the stage
he suspends . silk cord loosely across
two thin uprights az high as his head
lhen, walking to the back Of the stage he
PICKS up what seems to be q small wooden
frame about two feet square, over which is
| stretched white paper. 1t is just such thing
as Is used Tor cheap show carus This he turns
over and over, to show that there is nothing
hidden at the back Of it, and then hangs it on
the line. Next he outlines upon the suspended
paper the figure OF a silk worm, enclosed in an
oval outline Suddenly You are simply
hind 1t, hanging apparently from the same
cora, large yellow silk egg, looking like q
Dig Chinese lantern. Something is stirring in
side. The next instant the shell is broken and
forth issues none other than charming woman,
clad In white silk and with white wings Oh her
shoulders. It ise wonderful trick How did
that egg get there without your seeing it? How
was that one hundred and thirty pound chick
suspended by that frail line. which was not
even tied at the ends, but merely laid across the
pegs! As we are sensible observers and don't
look with the blind eyes of those travellers who
see miracles in East Indian jugglery, we know
that the big egg and its contents are, OF course,
placed there by some very simple trick, but the
secret has not yet been discovered.
TIE DEoLISE OF cARMENcrrA.
Our faddists have had enough of Carmencita.
The pleasure-seekers went stark mad over her
last winter, and everybody has read how the
women and girls Of the Four Hundred were
taken in box parties to the disreputable con-
cert hall where the Spanish danseuse danced.
IA Yatr an1 xoS hno 81 H.
umph, and now she is Q fasco. All efforts to
boom ner fail. Recourse was had to the fiction
that she was sufferer from heart disease and
was likely to drop dead in one of her gyrations,
put people won't even 60 to see her death kicks.
She dances as well as ever, bu. the spectators
are confined to the more or less tough FOUNDERS
who ordinarily frequent this gilded dive. There
are few loyal admirers of Carmencita left,
however, and last night, as one of them sat
watching het, he enunciated the theory of high
art expressiveness that some folks find only abb
| surd and grotesque in Carmencita
There is no doubt that dancing has speech
OF Its own that discourses eloquently to the
human heart" he said, land the fact that
dancing Is quite as old as speech is proof that
it is of equal dignity, the only difference being
the other TO the eye. The latter has the
advantage of being far greater in quickness,
just as sight is many thousand times Quicker
than sound. Now, the speech spoken by the
dancer may vary, but when it comes to the
hery speech OF attitude, to the fervor and
passion of the poetry of motion, the Spanish
dancer leads all the rest. This is the charm of
Carmencita's dancing. We like it because of
Its ardor, its intensity, its warmth; it speaks to
US In the tongue OF vehemence born OF life in q
land OF sunshine, in land of the wine press and
the olive, where people WOO passionately an for
get qulckle. Carmencita is thoroughly Spanish,
and that's the secret OF her wonderful success.
Her motions have the sway, and the rock, and
the bend, but that ia only to emphasize the
whirlwind which will soon burst upon YOU.
With lightning rapidity her slender body and
limbs will strike out her thoughts as the
| orchestra with its quick staccato portrays a
sudden emotion. You try at first to follow her
flying feet, then her wonderfully graceful
arms, then the motions of her head then the
culver Of her body, but you are dazed and
disappointed. fou begin to fear that her fame
has been exaggerated"
Exaggerated! That has been the verdict in
every city visited by Carmencita except New
York. Her American tour was q failure in a
popular and money sense. But q mention of
her iasco did not silence the adulatory man.
lie went on: ''Oh, 1t is gradually that you learn
to understand the language she is speaking;
you give over trying TO put the letters to-
gether, to make up words, or even to put words
together to make up sentiment You wait
until she has finished her sign picture and then
you are charmed with its tone and coloring and
70
very glow OF the Spanish sunset to 1t, the very
odor OF the orange grove, the very golden
sparkle OF tine old Xeres. Its favor is almost
appreciable to the taste"
len minutes later, in the room under the
stage, Carmencita sat for brief time. Car
mencita smiled on no stranger until after he
was introduced by mutual acquaintance and
even then the smile was not meant to encourage
unconventional treatment
Il don't know why New Workers were raptur-
Gus over me, she said in Spanish, ''and don't
wonder that they've got over it."
Further conversation revealed the fact that
she didn't mean, by her dancing, any Of the
subtieties which my friend had ascribed to her:
that she couldn't even comprehend his fine
theories as to the silent language spoken by
her contortions, and, fnally-yes-shs would
drink little champagne.
Taxing Department Clerks.
To the Editor of The Evening Star:
Please allow me space enough in your valus-
bic paper TO express my opinion in regard to
taxing departmental clerks for the transforming