Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1901-09-07
DEsERET EVENING NEWS SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 7 1901.

Ing what appear TO be religious rite
much like the burning OF incense.
Behind her Is the orchestra playing
terrifying piece OF Monaghan must
There are half ,ozen musicians. On
plays an instrument resembling a ban
jo another. something like a clarione
There are besides, pair OF cymbals
big as the front wheel OF carriai
and two other instruments which yo
cannot classify by reason of IN
strangeness. Each has his oN
instrument. except one who pla
alternately on the banjo and q
'Clarionet" When YOU can cOncentIu
our attention upon the violin
crude box with only one string an
the keys at the wrong end--you are T.
from being shocked al the sound; yo
sometimes think Il 10 be even pleasing
Nor IL the combina ion inharmoniO-
except, Of course, when those thunder
Gus cymbals threaten you with loss
hearing. After a time, becoming az
oustomed to this deafenlng music, yol
really feel that, contrary to what 20
have often heard, some very beautiful
harmonies proceed from n Chinese or
chestra. You turn to your companion
well 70 whisper In the ear Of the roar
ing Poetic in high tide.
Reconciled at length TO your strange
surroundings--the all but inviting APP
pearance of the house, the nakedness
OF the stage, your own conspicuous
place on II, the frightful volume of
sound from the band-you begin TO en-
Joy the play. You prepare 10 sit there
frw IL h
the audience begins 90 come. a China
man now and then comes struggling in
and takes his place on the back Of a
bench, resting his feet on the seat,
from which position he moves only
when crowded out Of II. BY eleven
O'Clock the house is packed everywhere
there Il not even standing room left
You notice that there are few women,
and that they are OF by themselves
in one side of the gallery. There ~
good sprinkling OF boys and tho
men sit throughout with their hats on.
The play. as far as you can tell. not
being able 60 understand Chinese, ha
a double plot one involving the com
mon folk another the royalty. In
curing OF an intelligent Chinese neigh
Dor about the play, you learn that you
are looking at Chinese life--noble and
ignoble--three thousand years ago, and
that the emperor himself with long,
divided beard, Is before YOU. The 9th
er part, you learn, turns upon lovers
quarrel There is great deal OF
fighting number OF fitting contests
In which there Ia considerable skill ex-
hibited, besides several deaths, with
much pomp and ceremony In royal
courts. Everyone sings his part In a
falsetto.
The charaoters-about twenty In
number-act well, according to Chntl
standards. No women, you learn from
your Mongolian friend, play on Chi
Fese stage, men taking their parts.
You are further informed that there
are three classes Of actors: No. !. who
receive between four and Ave thousand
dollars year No. z, who get from
twenty-five hundred TO three thousand
dollars; and No. 8, who are paid only
seventeen hundred dollars. Every Chi
naman knows which are the star actors
and he watches these with the closest
attention throughout How artificial ev-
erything Is. the dressing. walking, the
tslking--all Is 80 different from the
daily life Of the Chinese. as you have
seen them. And yet there IL natur-
alness In II all, and the actors appear
to feel their parts.
The difference between what China
man Is OF the stage and what he IL on
II, grows out OF the idea which these
strange people have that their drama
demands q speech and dress and acting
different from the speech and dress and
acting Of real lie; somewhat as we
require for verse tone and diction
different from the tone and diction OF
prose. There Is that about It all which