The Washington times., 1895-05-12

| thought she wonld fngaRe mans domain
and become q clown There never had
been women clowns.
To be good clown one must be good
acrobat Miss Matthews was that But
| to be good clown one must also be funny
| and noene can define in what that consists.
There is no way TO determine that except
| by actual trial. for no, QUO has yet been
able TO define the subtle eqiality of humor-
| that quality which makes US laugh inn
moderately at story when told by one
man and to- yawn when inflicted with 1t
| by another. Miss Matthews did try it and
! her English auditors voted her funny. One
of Mr.. Balleys foreign agents discovered
her in London, thought her good enough to
! bring to America and engaged her for the
+ present season for the BarMm and Bailey
Show
/ At Madison Square Garden, New York,
her auditors also voted her funny. She
/ made them laugh, and that is the mission
| of the clown-Just to make folks laugh.
Evetta, as she is billed, Tor that is the name
/ the plump little English woman had taken
on with her new woman venture, al first
dressed in the costume she had worn in
! England, a very pretty costume in which
! tights predominated Mr.. Bailey decided,
/ however, that a clown wasn't a clown
without clowns dress, and the costumer of
1 the show was set to work to design a
! feminine edition of the clowns costume,
| that should still be unfefnnine enough to
accord with the advanced ideas of the new
woman refoumer.
! She hit it very aptIy in dress that
! sugg ests bloomers and divided skirt s
| combined, butwhich, whenthe womanclown
digs her hands into her pockets and spreads
/ them out, turns out to be very eXagger-
ated and broad edition Of the clowns
pantaloons, with Union Jacks and other
bits of national emblems plastered over
| the broadest portion of them.
| But the woman clown does not have the
| new woman movement all to herself by
any means. There is also a woman ring
| master. who struts about in high-top
| boots, trousers and long skirted Jacket OF
velvet, that Madame Jenuess Miller herself
| would approve as very convenient health
costume, aud a very pretty one, when show
| ing off the pretty form of one who wears
| 1t well. Mile. Castroni, an accomplished
! horse woman, VINO has been with the show
| several seasons, is the woman rir-s master,
| and even John O'Brien, the equestrian di-
rector, can't crack whip better or louder,
| or make horse mind more promptly The
| woman ring-master, of course, acts as a
| foil for the wit of the woman clown, and
to make the new woman number more com
plete, they go into the ring with Josie
AEhton, who is enough OF a new woman
to assert her right to ride a principal bare
back act that is just as good as the best
male rider can put up, but VINO is enough
of the feminine Kind Of woman to Wear a
dress so arranged that it does not hide two
pretty dimples that adorn two very plump
and shapey shoulders.
| Trilby is surely one of the newest of the
new women, and Trilby appears in the ring
on horseback, the Trilby- OF the circus beiug
Rose Meers, one of WilSse sisters, Ouika,
appears in that new daDe3ng fad of the new
woman, the serpeutine' dance, doing it on
horseback, with a flying finish that may,
or may not, be intended to suggest that
In spite of her invasion-ef masculine prov
inces the new woman SILL regards herself
as quite an angel when compared to men.
The new womanis alsoin the circus band
where Jessfe Milians a( girl of only fif
teen, who is said to be a truly wonderful
musician, appears as a cornet soloist.
And that does not end II, for two women
appear in the big Tebfh acts on the ira
peze, and there is al woman among the
performers in the water carnival.