Willmar tribune., 1899-02-22
SENTIMENT OF THE PUBLIC.
How the National Feeling Is r.
vealed by Patrons of the Con.
|. tinuOus Performances,

1t takes the vaudeville or even the
dime museum TO reveal the real state
OF popular feeling on public questions.
The "auditorium" at the dime museum
the little low tunnel of place where
you get seat for five cents-is the real
spot in which to get the very "age and
body OF the time" If public question
ever touches the thoughts of the peo-
pie at all, it is sure to be referred to
by some songster or mimic on this RI
diculous little stage, and the audience,
which - representative of the masses
to most pronounced extent, expresses
its feelings with regard to the matter
IN manner without equivoca ion.
You can get better idea what the
populace thinks about things in one of
these places in one day than you can
gather in mouths time from any
newspaper published in Boston. In a
day?f@ Why, you need not stay longer
than five minutes in the place-very
likely you won't want to--in order
to get some indication of public senti-
ment on some subject.
l think the Anglo-American alliance
showed its face on the vaudeville stage
with some trepidation. l know it has
been raising it's head from time to time
there, and has received unexpected en-
couragement, showing that the popu-
lace thinks better of Johnny Bull than
the politicians thought. But happen
ing in at the dime museum the other
noon, as sometimes do for not to ex-
ceed ten minutes (the great advantage
of these places over ordinary theaters
is that you don't have 10 stay in them
a second longer than you are amused),
l encountered the first real proof that
l have seen that the Anglo-American
alliance is popular thing. A man
came out whose part it was to exhibit
the uniforms of III different armies
of the world" He was swathed with
clothes. of course. and the outside uni
form of them all was that of an Ameri-
can artillery volunteer. That was ap-
plauded. of course. He stripped that
off and revealed another; and with
every change of uniform he made 4
funny little speech in hifalutin Ian
guage. describing the nation to which
the supposed soldier belonged. and the
orchestra played the national anthem
of that country. if it could. noticed
that when the man exhibited the uni
form of q Polish hussar of 100 years ago
the orchestra played the Russian hymn,
because Poland is now supposed to be q
part of Russia. and little later, when
he did" Russian soldier, it played the
same tune. l saw that he was keeping
the British recruit for the last, and
wondered what the effect would be.
When, finally, he appeared in the uni
form Of British infantryman, and went t
into the wings and got union jack and
began to march up and down the stage
with it. while the orchestra played God
Save the Queen" the audience applaud
ed wildly, heartily and enthusiastically
There were shouts of ''Hooray!" with.
out so much as q dissenting hiss.
This was not all. The actor still had
one uniform more to present. He
planted the union jack on the stage by
driving into the floor spike on the bot
tom of the staff, and then went and ar.
rayed himself in the American cam
paign uniform of Santiago. bringing on
with him the stars and stripes. Wild
applause, of course. After he had
marched up and down little, the or
chestra playing THE Star-Spangled
Banner" he planted the flag on tht
stage close by the British flag. and the1
proceeded to tie their folds together il
q hard knot! Then the audience sim
ply went wild with applause and de
highland the eAnglo-American alliance
was mplete-so far as that house wa'
Observation-Disclosures Transcript. -
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The greatest bay on the face Of th'
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