The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1909-04-21

| wondered how he could have SO mderrated hm-
self to have made the barter
u UT that conversation kept me thinking of Dora
- fora and Sddons all the afternoon, and when
had dropped into the club for dinner and glance
at papers, what should be the first to greet me
from the pages of a journal but the word Dora
floral" 1t to be given weeks life by sum
mer company, and this its opening night
fell to wondering if the old lyrics held their charm
after five years of road work and the descent to
such prices those advertised And that night
stroed to the place of its rencarnaton chaft-
ing myself at the thought OF paying to hear de-
crepit opera when four new shows were on at the
roof gardens l had taken quite little time over
dinner and so the first act past recalling when
Slipped through the green baize doors to near
the comedian utter withered joke. 1t was like
meeting aged friend and hearing the hopeless
but such "Dorafora" such ptiful "Dorafora!
From a box seat could see all and too much OF
it's senility. Gone was the gorgeous bloom OF the
tropics and the golden sunlight, and the imagined
odors of eastern bossoms-a vanished, all lost
in the worn and battered setting brought back
from exile in the provinces. Whole properties
tiles and make-shifts. The depleted grove of palms
showed a thin and starved looking lot having
moth-eaten appearance, and the once brllllant
southern seas had lost all cleaning in the dingy
effect of a backdrop that did not quite match the
wings. The performance was lame, notwithstand-
ing few of the od-timers in the cast, for Dora
fora" favorite is without a summer engage
ment unless he has pride. They had persuaded
Melvale that his voice had not quit him, and sup.
pose he needed the salary, for he sang and proved
his original impression correct Hargrove walked
through his part-he could not dance-and MS
every hating step apologized for lack OF grace and
vim; while little Miss Carmack, having success
fully made the second matrimonial break referred
to by Johnson had gone back to the ingenue part
of Priscilla and her makeup could not hide the
ravages of romance. l noted all this win RANT
commissioning sorrow, and half regretted tnat
had come to such mournful exhibition OF wasted
talent, when-there sounded the old swinging mel
ody of the Sextette, and with it's opening strains
,rh do1in
imagined that the lotus OF the past would bloom
once again And then, 1 rubbed my eyes; it seemed
that time had slipped cog and tnat this was the
first night, for was that not-yes! 1T was Slddons;
Siddons of the SeXtette, big, bluff, and smiling,
contented failure, secure from fame and infamy,
with very dainty girl swishing her skirts and
clingng to his arm just as had seen him on that
first night five years before
A ND just on that expectant first night, rustic
and stir could be heard in the house. Was 1T pos
sible that the Sextette of Dorafora" still made an
appeal, enough to catching sigh OF interest
and enthusiasm? Then the swing OF the orchestra
perceptiby loitered, although the baton tried to
whip it into line and rhythm and it seemed that
the maidens fatered while the better boys you
knew" stammered through the greeting that
in the old days rang out as the brazen blast OF SO
many trumpets. The futering sigh of the audi
ence increased to murlnuring confusion and
noise lived in the first rows OF the gallery.
glanced up and most OF the gods standing
quiverng, half-poised in terror. Something had
; gone wrong. Then soft Kissing sound brought
my attention to the stage and its frayed set
tings and | saw somethn g-somethng that ap
peared to be huge glow-worm creeping along the
ragged edges of an aged palm. Suddenly the plume
twisted cured into writing, burning streamel
that dropped to the stage. rising protest from
: the people burst into feeble clamor, and they
made ready for the stampede.
''Fre!" some one half enuncated but in whs
per audible enough to spread terror throughout the
place. There sounded the nervous movement o
many feet preparing for the mad drive to the
, stairways and the frenzed struggle to the doors.
And in that one moment, when they hung
> swollen wave upon the edge of the leap into tn,
/ Whirlpool came voice, laundering verbal bias
from the stage having in it's tones all of command
O and menace 1t bounded one into momentar!
J., shrinking submission into order, into child-kt
;, obedience for the instant.
a "Sit down, you fools! You damned whitelivere
d towards. Sit down! SIT DOWN!"
e That Siddons