Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1899-04-09

around, and the house was sold ont.
During that afternoon the lecturer re-
ceived telegram advising him OF the
sudden death of his wife's mother.
He explained to me his utter inabil
ity to deliver his lecture under the cir
cumstances. and was Obliged to accept
the inevitable requested him, though.
as special favor to me and the audi
ence, that he would explain the situa-
ton in person before the curtain, after
which / would return the people their
money. He consented and appeared be-
fore his auditors. The thought upper
most in his mind was easily apparent,
as tears we're streaming down his face.
After greeting the audience in the usual
perfunctory manner he said, 1t Is with
deep regret that I shall not be able to
deliver my lecture tonight, as this af-
aernoon l received the sad intelligence
of the death of my mother-in-iaw.
"At the mention of 'mother-in-law'
the audience went into commissions.
The poor fellow endeavored to explain
that he was not joking, but the more
serious he became the more boiSterouS
the audience grew, until l had to finally
relieve the lecturer. l was so angry
for the time being that | threatened to
turn out the lights instantly if the au-
dience did not leave the house without
further demonstration.
Don't attempt to be to funny, my
boy, or people will refuse to take you
seriously, no matter how serious you
wish to be. Mark Twain was COMPEL
ed to write his Joan of Arc anony
mously, else everybody who read it
would have tried to think how really
humorous it was merely because Mark
Twain's name was tackled to it.
The old theatrical man put his beer
mug down on the table with reluc
tant air, and the young newspaper man
Immediately took the hint. Three &C
tors, a manager and two newspaper
men were in the group, and the talk
turned on theatrical terms. The young
newspaper man had asked whence or
iginated the term pit" and the old
theatrical man answered him:
THE term pit" he said, had no
existence in a theatrical sense previous
to the erection of the original Drury
Lane theatre by Killigrew in 1868,
when the ground floor was styled the
pit because it marked the exact site
of the old cockpit where cockfghtS
had regularly taken place during the
reign of James t.
DO you know" said one of the ac-
tors, Il often use the term sock and
buskin' without knowing exactly what
it means. Who in this crowd can tell?'
The old man put on a pedantic air
and said: THE expression sock and
buskin' which literally means comedy
and tragedy, found its origin in the
'soccus,' the Latin name of the low
shoe worn by the ancient comic act
ors, and the buskin is a contraction of
the French word 'brossequin,' remote
ly derived from the Greek word bur-
sa,' the hide or high soled shoe worn
by the ancient tragedians to Increase
their height. The soccus reached to
the ankle only, whereas the buskin eX-
tended to the knee" And then the old
man pulled on his cigar refectively.
Il want to ask one more question"
said the young newspaper man.
where did the term 'deadhead' origi-
nate?"
That's easy" answered the theatre
cal man. Fifty years ago the princi
pal avenue of Detroit had a tollgate
close to the entrance to the Elwood
cemetery road. AS this cemetery had
been laid out some time previous to
the construction of the plank road, it
was arranged that all funeral process
sions should be allowed to pass along
the latter toll free. One day as Dr.