The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1901-05-24

the west. where it attains an elevation
of half mile over the eastern end, so
that a spectator from Ohio looking west
ward can see almost the whole floor or
the state. In the parquet before US the
great states of Indiana, Illinois, Ken
lucky, Tennessee and others. down in
the pit are Pennsylvania, New York and
others; in the dress circle we see South
Carolina and Vermont. Virginia and
Massachusetts have private boxes, while
in the front, near the orchestra, is the
baldheaded row which I am now ad-
dressing in Kansas City.
The first play that was given in Kan
sas was by a StrOlling band Of Missouri
players. Then comes a change and in
the twinkling of an eye, as the curtain
rolls away, we see a vast prOScenium of
fire dashed with blood and across the
stage with gigantic strides marches
man with a pike. We hear the grow
ing puisations of distant cannon, and
We hear the shouting of the captains. 1t
is the hired fighting for the unhired; it
is the greatest labor movement that the
world has ever seen; the Wage-earner
is breaking down the competition of
the non-wag e- Garner it had to be; it
had to come; it had to win. All great
labor movements win.
Then across the stage marches a man
with the voice of an orator. and the face
of a bitter and melancholy genius. He
is billed as the grim chieftain of Kan
sas." He wears the tOga of a senator
and the sash of a general. He is loudly
applauded, but he gives no heed-he
seems wrapped up in 1.-The pale cast of
thought" We see him in the White
House, with a detachment of Kansas
troops in the basement of the mansion
acting as the body guard of President
Lincoln. The curtain falls upon a sui
eide.
Then some eastern players give US
''YOrI-PomerOy, or $1,000 in Cash. in
one act while we shift the scenery
Then we stage Julius Caesar" and
lean and hungry looking Brutus walks
the boards for is years and finally in
stead of BrutuS Stabbing Caesar, Caesar
stabs Brutus, and bloody treason tri-
umphs over all. And in the place where
brains did once inhabit, there Weue
crept as 'twere in scorn of brains,
rejecting bricks of thinly plated gold.
that wooed the Shiny bottom Of the
deep and Knocked the dead bones that lay
scattered by.
1 viii not dwell on the stage effects;
the grasshopper-they were from Wy
oming; the hot winds were from New
Mexico;the billiards We're from Dakota;
the socialism was from Brussels.
Across the stage next marches a man
of hair, through whose West Virginia
whiszers blow the hot winds of the Pan
handle. He looks like a sage and talks
like an Usage. The boys throw peanuts
al him from the galleries and he drops
through the trap door, and there is great
applause in the pit
But I call your attention to the fact
that none of these men-none of the
players, We're born in Kansas. that they
came from abroad and that they all LETT
the stage when they had played their
parts.
Ne study to please-we keep the show
going-the world expects it. Our recent
pieces are some of our best. There is
THE Wichita Boy, or the First to Scale
the Walls of Pekin." and there is Fun
ston and Aguinaldo, or -'All is Fair in
Love or War" There is the piece ir
which occurs that very celebrated SEN
tence by AguinaldO: I'm glad he lied
about it. which has aroused such eth
ical difficulties in Boston Among our
other recent plays is the woman from
Texas with a. Ratchet, or "A Forenoon
in Ten Barrooms-" We ran it for a
hundred nights with great success. The
play was a very catchy one, and in it is
a scene in which a woman is convicted
of being sane by jury 1t is part of
the play. There has been much ap-
plause in the bald-headed row.
1t is a surprising fact that Missouri
has not furnished perform er on this
stage for forty years 1t is also a sur
prising fact that the audience is as
much amused and interested in the play
as at any time in forty years. We
study to please. We do our best to get
first-class talent and while we are not
very gifted ourselves we know what
viii draw. We hope not to be judged
by the idiosyncrasies of those whom We
bill on the boards. No place on the
earth's surface of equal area and pop
ulation has a brighter average lot of
people.
Those who are born in Kansas are
all right and always will be. and if you
will pardon me will close with a. verse:
Each second a sucker is born
In the world outside of Kansas;
Each second sucker IS horn
But we laugh the fact to scorn.
And we don't care where it lands US,
Each second a sucker is born,
But he is not born in Kansas.