The Orpheus C. Kerr Papers, Series 2Newell, R. H. (Robert Henry)
History
The Orpheus C. Kerr Papers, Series 2
Newell, R. H. (Robert Henry)
United States -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865 -- Fiction
When my fren had cut the damp grass away from one of the orchestra
seats with his jack-knife, we sat down and put up an umbrella to keep
off the dew. Being a little nervous, I asked the manager if there was
any snakes about; and he said he see a couple in the parroquet last
night, but didn't think they had got down to the orkestra yet. The
vetrun, which was the audience, stoppd chasing a bull-frog in the
vestibule when the manager struck up "Days of Abstinence" on his comb,
and immediately took his seat on chair No. 1, with which he always
commenced. The curting was then unpinned, and disclosed a scene in a
lumber-yard, with a heavy mortgage on it. The Count de Mahoginy is
discovered in the ak of leaving his young wife, who is seated on a pile
of shavings, for the purpose of obtaining immediate relief from the
Union Defence Committee. The vetrun received him with great applause,
and moved from seat to seat as though he was in a hurry to reach the
gallery. When the artik spoke, there was so much empty stomik in his
tones, that my fren said he seemed like a bean from another world. My
fren is a spiritualist. The artik then went off at the left entrance,
and immediately returned in the character of his own uncle, which had
come home from California with two millions of dollars, and wished to
give it to his affectionate nephew and niece. He found his niece in the
lumber-yard, and having heard her sad story, divulged his intention to
her and she immediately danced a Spanish _par_ (which is French), and
sung four songs in honor of the sixty-ninth regiment. Then the uncle
danced a hornpipe, which he learned on the hocean; and so they kept
agoin till about nine o'clock, when the countess said she heard her
husband coming. The uncle was so taken aback by this, that he
immediately made himself into a tableau representing the last charge of
the Fire Zouaves at Bull Run: and as the comb struck up "I'm a loan,
all a loan," the curtain was pinned up again. Just as the performance
ended, the manager explained that he could only aford to keep two
artiks--a male and female, and _they_ only stayed because he had a
mortgage on their wardrobes for over-drawed celery. "I'll light you to
the door," says he, taking up one of the foot-lights, which was a
turnip with a candle in it; "and I hope you'll come again when we
projooce our new play. It's called 'The gas man's last charge,' and
introjoces a real gas-meter and the sheriff."
My fren and I made no reply, but walked sadly from the ruins with tears
in our eyes.
The regular Drama, my boy, cannot hope to succeed, while the war which
now monopolizes all attention is believed by some critics to be a
regular farce.
Yours, tragically,
ORPHEUS C. KERR.
LETTER LVIII.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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