Hide Article Text (OCR)
atre,without any scenery at all,across the end of the hall. We sat on stools in with a lot of almond eyes. The pit was filled with male celestials, the lajority with their soft black felt hats q. The gallery was graced by the lakes, but I really am unable to tell how on can distinguish in appearance or dress a Chinese lady from a Chinese gentleman in Chinatown.The stage had two ordianary doors for entrances and between these, facing the audience, was stationed the orches-• ▼ 1 « i 1pieces.MANhow to describe what they called theust imagine it from theHetusic. You instruments. There were cymbals, gongs and instruments, which sounded_!___1 __ ‘ pipes. Theyplayed all the time, especially when they ought not to, in what I j udged, were the exciting parts of the play,and they never got as far as the second verse. But the play. It was a tragedy,vedofa aingsvasconuremo,Checis-ire;JanBadrouler-ils.Liesills,rns-erepti-ith.inaneokin.ealteirris-rs-'hei aso I heard. Remember, no scenery andslambang music continously. There is but one Chinese actress in Chinatown, and in fact in this country, so female parts are taken by the men. Players scream at the top of their voices, but m a sort of jerky, singsong tone. A Chinaman near by kindly tried to interpret the play to us, but I caught only enough to learn this was a divorce case and nowand then a murder was taking place.This latter was occasionally clear, forthere were sword fights, and with an appropriate jab and jabber an actor would fall on his back. Then a supernumerary would walk leisurely out and place a little stool under his head so that he might die comfortably. At the proper moment, however, thedead actor would get up as thoughnothing had happened, walk off thestage to reappear later and in the samecharacter. This seemed a little incongruous to us, but John Chinaman was apparently satisfied for he nodded and jabbered. Many of th^ acton? wore “hideous masks but the remainder of their costumes were very elegant and rich, with silk and gold trimmings. In their stage dress nothing is, artificial, blit as costly as for the drawing room. I wish I might tell you the plot—perhaps it was comedy, perhaps tragedy. Ido not know. The actress, with highly tinted cheeks, entered ever now and then, in short mincing steps, her stubby shoes clattering, and her—well, troiis-fluttering, so that reallyvns»ass of chi-Aters ^ i pishe was hardly distinguishable from the actors. I don’t know whether the story of the play was continued the next night. It is said the Chinese plays often last for weeks. As for us, inabout 20 minutes our tympanum gavete-heiarlieanofndBd.i aac-wlitsvl,sd,isat.inheinNext, we visitedONE OF THE BICH RESTAURANTSof Chinatown. We passd through the ordinary rooms below to the banquet hall above where a crowd of merchants were feasting. The gilded carvings in the salon are said to have cost $20,000, and all the other apartments were in keeping. The feasters sat in ^groups of about 20 around large circular tables, while the belles of the demi-monde accompanying them sat back of them apparently satisfied “with even thecrumbs, etc.” The chop sticks vied with the jabbering for possession of thesurrounding space and all sorts of soggy cakes and hashed meats, disappeared, washed down by tea in tiny cups, and by strong rice, wine and cognac and incensed with clouds from cigarettes. We were politely asked to partake; and we partook and thanked Heaven for even the remembrance of Boston bakedbeans and New England squash pie.We left the banquet at its height andwent out through the narrow streets back to our hotel.8. S. “Ancon.” on board, July 14, 1886.Filtee%The ^ Her* *•Nevnight lt;the wc thick isurrot Randa Fifty ishops,hundrmen f iLitchl army \tols, S'able vitheir f houseThis r the pa In seal find! men’s in skii whereers weupon! ten lie up by from J of focx boys£Misi years near fc noon,By heSuspilt;wood,pany,longecemploDeathFflRFIGN AFFAIRRNe^excite of theThomdemocgraphtions.LaiconfirHul in hisSquarHis rc his ptsleptThom No. d% Mr. Tmornitime.of a facause*der m Thom right The pbloodilivid.was clt;mer,wprobaHubenr»rl at
Newspaper Details
Terre Haute Weekly Gazette
Terre Haute, Indiana, US
Thu, Jul 29, 1886
Page 2
Full Page
Clipped by
Anonymous
USA 15 Nov 2018
Other Publications Near Terre Haute, Indiana
Western Register and Terre Haute Advertiser
Terre Haute Wabash Courier
Terre Haute Tribune Star
Terre Haute Tribune
Terre Haute Star
