St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1898-05-07
Would Give a Show.
The entertainment That Tore SeiectvlIle
... Apart. ...

y
women black their faces and take
TO tambourines and bones and minstrel
Jokes to raise the mortgage from the
Hear old church," said Mr.. Johnson, oi
Selectyille, n. j., ut should not have
surprised me when our club decided te
give q minstrel show. should have
accepted it simply as On evidence that
we were moving along with the times;
but didn't. On the contrary, ] prophe-
sled that there would be trouble, and
there was trouble. You may not know
that our Clubs quite the most exclusive
in town. No butchers or grocers need
apply. 1t numbers among it's members
Representatives of Hill Side Park, Low
Ground Park and the Neck, and in Sc
leetville if you don t live In one of those
three residence portions even the CEN
sus taker will overlook you.
AS a peaceful man was selected by
the club as member of the committee
of arrangements and from that moment
my worries began. First Mrs. johnson
aXd received call from Mr. and Mrs.
Smith, of Low Ground Park. We peo-
pie of Hill Side Par. sometimes say un-
kind things 81 Low Ground Hsrk and
the residents Of the latter place say un-
kind things about Hill Side Park They
do say, you know, that there is malaria
i'm Low Ground Park. AT any rate the
Smiths call surprised us bit. They
are very nice people and Smith is a
promising young physician who takes
himself and life very seriously. Mrs.
Smith harbors the delusion that her
hasband is q great wit and sad wag.
She has an Ignatius Donnelly way of
reading humor between the lines of
Smiths somewhat matter-of-fact re-
marks. During the course OF the even
ing Mrs. Smith said to me:
Now, Mr.. johnson, you really must
persuade Sam to be one of the end men
In your minstrel show. Heis SO funny"
1 we are looking for good men, I
said, innocently.
tThen ask Sam right now, and I will
coax him to accept
II fell into the trap easily, and did
ask Sam Smith on my own responsible
.ity. His wife backed up my request by
telling Sam that she knew he would
look lovely In black face, and Sam
said:
If you are sure that you want me
and that ] can be of any assistance,
am willing to oblige you.1
"That answer convinced me that I
had made no mistake, and when our
- ~ r
announced proudly that had secured
Sam Smith as an end man.
+ IS SIS a.IIs he good p asked the chairman.
One of the very best amateurs in
Selectyille," answered, confidently.
That's good, said the chairman. I
have secured the services of Maj. Puggs-
ley, of the Neck, as an end man, and
with the aid of two professionals to
strengthen us and do q little fancy
dancing, am sure that we can make all
the other amateur shows look like 80
cents
"The gentlemen of the circle were
selected with some difficulty. Feeling
scertain that the show was bCu.ld to be
q success, the committee began by vot-
ing itself in as meRbers of the circle.
That left only eight vacant places,
gand every member Of the club was a
candidate for them. We did select eight
men, and BY doing so we made 164 enc
mics. But let that pass. Each one Of
the three residence parks was repre-
sented, SO that we might be5snre of hav-
ing a big audience, The selections be-
Ing made, we called rehearsal at my
house. Talk about your Holland DANES
and your Revolutionary Daughters.
They are tame. Just organize a
minstrel show II you want ex-
,citement. When the performers
came together each one insist
ed that his pet joke or gag shouldsbe
used. 1t took an hour to bring order
out Of chaos, and then we found that we
were definitely committed to two very
ancient gags that DR.. Smith stood out
for and one that Maj. Puggsley insist
ed on. He knew it was funny, because
when he was q boy he had been amused
by 1t, and he had never. told it since
without receiving shouts OF laughter.
Such lines as were necessary were as
signed, and each man was instructed
to perfect himself in his part. The two
end men did the instruct
ing, and week later another rehearsal
waa called,