Walker Lake bulletin. (Hawthorne, Nev.) 1883-1926, 1894-12-26
A RAT IN OPERA.
Some Acting Not Expected by the
Audience.
A GENTLEMAN'S EMBARRASSMENT
Shrek After Shrek Rent the Air, But
the Woman Would Not Get
on the Chair.

There was a large and elegantly
dressed throng present to see Made
line, or the Magic Kiss" at the Park
Theatre in Brooklyn on Tuesday even
ing. The first and second act of the
opera had been finished without acct
dent or mishap and the heroine, Made
line, whom the programme calls an un-
kissed maid, had received her third kiss
from the hero. The audience was de-
lighted at the hero's luck in getting
the third kiss and as the curtain was
let down they settled themselves back
in their seats to chat about it. The
few rude men who go out between the
acts to get drink Of water had already
left and the air was filled with low con-
ve1sation.
Suddenly there arose above this buzz
zing not one, but a succession OF
shrieks. These shrieks came and con-
tinued to come from the left-hand bal
cony box nearest to the stage. All
eyes were directed to this box. In it
was man and a woman. The man
sat with blanched cheeks staring at
the woman, while she stood upon a
chair Dreaming and shaking her skirts
The audience did not know what to
make of the strange sight. Finally
the cause of it all appeared in the
shape of rat. The poor creature was
more frightened than the woman. 1t
jumped upon the railing of the box and
ran up and down several times. while
the woman kept up her screams.
The face of her companion, when he
saw the rat. changed from white to a
deep red, and, taking hold of the
woman's arm, he tried gently to lift
her from the chair. She wouldn' t
bulge an inch, but kept screaming.
while the poor rat, half frightened to
death, stood still and stared at her.
This made the woman scream all the
more, made the audience laugh and
turned the color on the escorts face to
deeper red.
The man finally let go the woman S
arm, and pulling out his handkerchief
advanced in threatening attitude to-
ward the rat, yelling "Shoo" and
waving his handkerchief at it. The
poor rat let out pitiable squeak. and
made movement as though to jump
on the chair on which stood the woman.
No sooner had this motion been made
than the woman gave ong-continued
shrek. Even the rat couldn't stand it.
So. quickly turning, it gave farewell
squeak and jupmed down in among the
audience. The tables were turned
now, and the women in the orchestra
suddenly turned pale. The rat landed
without harm to himself on the soft
foot of fat, middle-aged and giddily
dressed woman. She leaped up and
stood Oh the seat. For few seconds
she was perfectly still. Then she gave
utterance to scream equal to any that
had come from the box.
Some one yelled that the rat was
dead, while another man rudely yelled:
'For Gods sake, don't let that
woman scream again"
The fat woman gave him a whitening
look. Her escort assured her that the
rat was really dead. Then, picking
up her skirts, she got down from the
seat and walked out of the theatre, her
escort following her and carrying her
wraps. The box where the rat had
first appeared was now also empty.
After the opera was over couple of
the theatre attaches tried to find the
body of the dead art, but couldn' t.
N. S. Sun.