IN FRANCE’S FAMOUS OPERA HOUSE
*
The Free Shows Generally Result in a Riotous
Evening—Character of the Crowd.
o magnificent a palace la the Paris
Opera that the Parisians long ago
•’“ascd to consider whether o;her na
tions have good music or good artists.
5r is a temple for music so surpassing all
others, with such troops of governmen
t»l priests, all decorated with the rib
bon of the Legion of Honor, with such
throngs of worshipers in diamonds,
*.ii*ks and black dress coats, that good
old favorites like "Faust" and “Lea
!(jgiiinots" suffice It. It Is true that
I Rely they have taken up Wagner, so
I'tift the tourists of the summer may
t*jar such novelties as “Tannhauser"
• ad "The Valkyrie;" hut this mus, be
♦ .tfceii as an extraordinary innovation.
The Paris Opera is for French roni
t* isete. And as French composers just
ii >w are not making great successes the
t 'pertolre is made np from the good
•♦Id ordinary. Owned and patronized
the government, the Paris Opera is
'ministered on well-considered civil
service principles. No disloyal rivalry
i .ay mar its decent regularity. No
tarlpe enterprise disturbs IN mild *e
i ntty. It is content to bring out two
»'Cw failures every year, and say that
ud is well.
l iie public of the Opera would not
hive it otherwise. The orchestra and
parquet (hairs, reserved to men in
e Piling dress, make calm digesting
* ools for clubmen, where the well
known arias comfort them and aid
teir calculations for tomorrow's races
md tonight's baccarat. Between the
• cts you stand up, put on your hat. ad
just your opera glasses, and stare upon
'tie ladles in the boxes with prolonged
Mid comprehensive familiarity. "Tlens,
Mine, X." "Her diamonds are Imita
tions!" "The belle Mine. (1. Quelle
d '.'olietage! Why does she keep her
g ize lowered?”
I liey talk aloud now, having whis
ptred through the act. To do otherwise
is to show that you have no acquaint
•uces around you, and to be alone In
* he orchestra indicates that you are an
■ itslder.
\ ia bonne heure! as they say In
French, a great change comes over the
- ene on the afternoon of a "free rep
resentation." Really, these free per
formances at government playhouses,
‘i'.e Opera, Oppra Cotnique, ilie Theater
Fran cals and the Odeon, present one of
the most remarkable spectacles of up
to-date Paris. They take place regu
' ill) on the various grand fete days of ;
’ ■ ■ year, and cost heavily in breakages
.n il cleaning up. They are no newer
. in the idea of socialism Itself. An
• nt Rome offered free spectacles at
•!ie Colosseum to Its citizens. Just as It ■
tv. ide gratuitous distributions of wheat, |
Pinem et clrcenses! was the word—
bread and shows! The "people" pay a
good part of the taxes, and the sub
ventloned playhouses of Paris take a
good slice of the public revenue. There
fore It is Just. It is an attractive sight
to see the riff-raff tumbling Into the
great monument of >■
the Third empire’*
greatest effort—in
dividuals of every
age and troth sexes,
of all conditions,
with their bottles
and their bundles,
eager to enjoy for a
few hours the
splendors and the
luxury belonging to
their betters. Some
of them sit all
night upon the
steps, and all the
morning of the day
Itself, to be In time
to occupy "the
royal box,” or the
logla of the Jockey
Club. Thin they
throw orange peel
upon the floor. The
character of the
e r o w d depends
much on the weath
er. If the long
waiting must be
done ip the wet,
tramps will
abound, poor devils
with enough of the
Ideal still in them
to save half their
brandy bottle to at
tune their nerves
to the sweet strains
of “Samson et Da
llla” anil lire their
Imaginations to the
heights of the bac
ehanalian ballet. If
the day is line the
crowd will he of a
more definite social
situation — clerks,
workingmen and
all thp little bour
geoisie. Hut the
head of the string
will always be com
posed of speculat
ing loafers, with no
music In their
souls. They are
there to sell their
places for threp
franca, or even two
francs. A mother and three daughters
coming late an hour or so before the
opening of the doors will squeeze
their way into the place of one of
them. It Is the custom, ami nobody
protests. But when such customers
are rare the speculators, "threatened
with the performance,” sadly slip away
to pick up pennies elsewhere. The
crowd is good-natured, singing, eating,
drinking, chaffing, four deep all around
the opera house, hedged In by ropes.
Now and then a woman faints or a
child gets an arm broken, but the
general cheerfulness Is Irrepressible.
When the doors open the great
wIMm
THE HF3H OF THE PEOPLE IT (ill AND STAIRWAY.
"jniKh" ioll« Into the aristocratic venti
btiie and tip the magnificent escaliel
d'honneur like a tidal wave. Out of
thoughtful delicacy the entrance to the
chenne.it scats of
*
|U|8N>MN A I* MO*K4TnTiMJnT
the Paris opera is
by way of the ureal
stairway. There 1»
no side entrance
for the gallery
Rods, Well, such
is the force of habit
tha; a great part of
the crowd always
starts to rush up
those four flights,
when the best seats
of the orchestra are
waiting for them.
The ordinary
odor of a Paris Op
era nigh; is that of
femininity and per
fumes. But when
the populace has
gained possession
the smell Is of ham,
wine, oranges anil
peppermint. Those
who get into the
boxes - and there
are many boxes at
the Paris Opera —
spread their table.
A quart liotile of
red wine for each
individual, plenty
of cold ham and
c hick e n. with
bread and cheeae
and fruit.is thought
to lie a model
lunch.
The e ii n > i a n I
change in hi
i yd**
lit easy of holtl*
I bin,
Por every lime the
wheels go
round
There | a revo
lution
latbefmnt TImI
rlretn m«n wait be
i fool
\\a><a It W hat's
M be* a dnlii* ’
t^ikefrt ui — W hy.
tt* aal»t«
It to pH! limit*! to
watch animal* eat
Hfcl II HILUHINU MINIkTkHk.
|ti«l lk% flww •• Itw »»••*»«•*»•
**4 l*at W«M l»# lk»».
»>.««• th* N>* Vtwk *<*il *N>i K«
{,•«*« i'aioa*! Hia«k*at w»|»*rlai*a4
• Ml u# »» > <1 kalMlaga h*u I tfr<na4«
h*. (Mr|« n# ilk* • ■*
Mil «*•# «*f IM grwtlMl
Ik# »al«-fcak*a •! Ik* ■*“•>*
M#«l iMk* m »«»ai*a*l a.Ik t* Ik* «ki(*
t*t»« ul Ik#** M’ktMtrial •!•<»« k» r*lk
| «Hl«r* Oa* u# Ik* *ir*u***! iklag* j
I k r#•«>>! It* Ik*#- r-il- knaiarg." Ml4 |
I'uliwtrl la ikr fa* I that |
mm* ibaa >•»* half ut (hr m*n atr*at*.|
fur nkipplkg r*U.*« «t* tlartraak
^ lira III* |Mill * arr*al lk*«* 4#«pui|
•ra aa4 *lari *iik iIwm la lit* autiua
kuna* Ik* wak *111 '•«ia in aak akat
la lk« |* aalijr akii Iff In ht| *•« II*
ta u04 tfcat Ik* Ik* I* a k*a*» ok* bm
Ikal 111 aatatlljr aa tw pm “I* fwf at*
paarakv* Ik ik* poll** mart Th*a ik*
lin«>M«r *»|tlaika tkat k* ta a ntataiai
of Ik* r**k*< «kk oM*aai ko karat a a.I
lk*i k* ' •»'*! k«*t atak>l ik* >li*a*4-« t>t
ap«#*>>»» Ik a p**.i • ««•»*• *1* *k4*,
up by |I« tui up ib« »(t»i
trytMi to «ut m 4<>*u iu |lu.
b. bu« «Htl> *b«i nwoHint • ib
him ‘
W»M lalonuxl
»*<**•*»• Jwhmn ta« )mi n»<«r ih«
i Mi f fl Jiltl III Ib* . U
l*»<U ■ ' lubuu) Ywm rrmlW* ’*
1.11*
III* r*l tWl •nkMoi
I'U* p*f i**i uf Alt Kurnp. >«, «.«
fl*.u« I UMlJuf*
Do Thfy AIT»fl the Character* of Tkoao
Who Dwell AVIlhln?
"As for me," ventured the man with
the wooden head, "I can’t indorse your
views. You lay claim that our apart
ment-house our flat nomenc’atnre,
as given expression in Chicago, is too
airy, too exalted, too fanciful. On the
contrary it is not the one nor the
other nor the last of these. You say:
"Here; a man llvis In the Santa Marla.
Ho comes home with a Saturday night
tolerance of feeling for all men. He U
willing to sleep on the grass in the in
tier court, lie Is even ready to Indorse
Hie views of the Janitor to rarry the
white man’s burden for the off-scour
ing of our social system. Then, you
my. Into what unhappy contempt does
he bring a name conveying such ten
derness as does Santa Marla? My con
tention is that Is nil wrong with the
decency of the man and all right with
ih<* name of trie apartment-building,
"file Abbotsford,’ you say. ‘Great
Scott! can a man live up to that? Gan
he dwell always upon the pinnacles of
romance while stuffing cheese and heer
In a little hack room? Gan he live up
lo tin* Idea of dwelling in the compan
ionship of fatteil knights, who rescue
distressed maidens when at his dally
business he has to haggle over the sata
Price of a pair of pants and to figure
with the girl who brings him his lunch
upon the relative merits of corned beef
hash and thicken wing puree with
rice?’ While you are right in part, you
ure wrong in most. All of us admit
that the sentimental atmosphere sur
rounding a man makes for much in
h!s daily conduct. I say that it makes
for everything. If j live in the Wash
ington don’t you perceive I am going
to he a higher, decenter, cleaner, more
devoted citizen than I would be If 1
lived In the Aaron llurr?’ There Is a
standard set for me; if | am half hon
est to my environment I must try to
attain it. Don't you suppose that a
resident of tin* 'John H. Gough' (tats
will pay more taxes in the end than
tlie dweller in 'Bacchante' apartments?
Wouldn’t your chest expansion be
greater on the twelfth floor of the
’.Mastodon' than in tbe parlor suite of
the 'l.ittle Jennie?' Some names, of
rnnii>r. hi** in i.hnstn unit rompiralive
ly 111‘iinitiKU'Ms. | it** not mytudf like
io H»*r a iwentv-foot front, Htory and
a-httlf tilt of l>i'i* k nml mortar railed
tl»*» 'Hunt heap,* uor a iient amlil a
world of downtown NtorifH rallrtl tb#
I‘la4a Ur I Mrm» del Vlr|lRlt,' tint, (ten
erullt >.peak Inn. llirrr In a kimmI deal
in a name In a flat name, Hhtkta
|M*ar« ton wit livtandlns ■ "
Now would you prefer to live la tho
ml or the kHUlnaliioV ** m* 1***1 one
• *f the < ui pel a. “l.nl I III* rlminati*
nn II «aitl the original apeaker, "I
Ur. line III lUmi'r t'limr up wiih me
to t h** to 111 111 I'attll ami I Wtlt Her
a hat i an In I 'lie to remote Ikia ilitat *
t'hii mu Chtoaiile
* ItafV Iter* Vet*.
X 4*a. ion* it*** litea at a red totrk
h*>** ■ on Hell* * l* w ateaue, aear Kl»
In hrHiM lilt Me
I* a tall drown pointer It llte <«**
aer nl detenietalk etreel a bio* k aad
t keif from Ike home of tkte dug, la
» dk tel Ala tfet
.1 It *niik m 41 11*. . *1. b I be Irmidd la
•Itit* Inti of water lie leap* iatw
Ike it .t«H aad nna » down till the
* *1* . whn b t* »iore than a foot ta
.*• * ■ ilio u not kl*» 'ml
Veewtr lit* Il«»«r4
tN.ni* die women kata u»n
hah*, t tn Ki>dUad dart** W'****a V|#.
11 ti ida
J.SM1T1I.MILLIONAIRE
It was a typical autumn London
night, the streets (lowing with greasy
mud. the air yellow with smoky fog.
anil a ro)«l, sleety drizzle falling, as
Hilda Smith arrived at Paddington sta
tion.
If was Ler drat experience of the
great metropolis, but she had received
her instruetlons.and selecting her port
manteau she had It removed to a cab,
and. jumping in, ordered the man to
drive to the Ballarat mansions In Vic
toria street, Westminster.
Hilda was not a little anxloiH be
cause she had arrived In town a day
ahead of her invitation, and she was
not certain whether her bachelor
brother, with whom she was going to
alay for a month or six weeks, would
be ready to receive her.
The door was opened by a hard-faced
looking woman of the charwoman type,
who atood gazing at her without mov
ing away from the entrance.
"la ibis Mr. Smith's?” asked Hilda.
‘‘Yea, miss," replied the woman,with
out. offering to let her In, however,
“la he at home?"
"No, he ain't, and I don’t know when
he will be.”
"Hof did he not expect me? lie Is
my brother, and ] have come to stay
with him.”
"Oh, indeed, miss. Well, he didn't
say nothing to me about it,” answered
the woman. "But I suppose you'd bet
ter have the spare room.” and she ..tep
peri aside with a grudging air as she al
lowed the fair girl to enter.
Turning on the electric light, she
showed Hilda into a handsomely fur
nlahed bedroom, whose white and gold
paint and blue satin, furniture caused
her to open her eyes in wonder, for her
brother was not supposed at home to
be in luxurious circnmstances, and by
the time ahe had washed her face and
hands the housekeeper brought her ,i
eup of tea and some bread and butter,
after which she retired to rpst, and did
not wake until late the following morn
ing.
"Mr. Smith came home late lust
night, miss,” oald the housekeeper,
when she sroused her with the hot
water, "and told me to say that he
would Join you at breakfast.”
The breakfast tab’e was a picture to
the eyes of the frugally brought up
country girl, for it was covered with
•very delicacy in or out of season, and
would moit probably find "the other
Mr. Smith" at home to lunch.
Hilda hurried away to put her hat
on, and the more site looked at the ex
quisitely furnished room, with Its cut
glass perfume bottles, chased silver
powder bones, and all the hundred and
one little additions that go toward
making a woman happy, the more she
wondered who it had been prepared
for.
Fortunately, when they arrived at 8
Ballarat mansions, they found "the
other Mr. Smith at homo on the top
floor, and Hilda could not help noticing
how wonderfully civil he was to her
host, and how eagerly he accepted his
offer to dine on the following evening
for himself and sister.
After he hud gone, however, the mat
ter was explained,
"That is John Smith, the millionaire,
said her brother. Impressively, "and ha
i; tl»e managing director of the com
pany I work for."
The dinner was followed by 3 thea
ter and a supper, and so it went on.
until the night before she should have
gone home Mr. Smith asked her If she
would change her appellation from
Miss to Mrs. Smith.
111! (la lias always had an overwhelm
ing desire to penetrate the mystery of
the spare room, but ail the information
she could obtain from her husband was,
that be kept it fitted up In that man
ner in order that he might be able to
entertain an angel if one called upon
him unuwares, and lie always added:
"And if It bad nor been for that pre
caution, my dear, 1 should not have
had tlic dearest and sweetest little wife
in the world." Aliy Sloper.
BANK CLERKS.
Are MprrlalUl* In llandwrttlnr. I>at Are
Not Kipetl*.
New Orleans Times Democrat: "1
am free to say I don't repose much
confidence In hank clerks as experts lu
handwriting," said an experienced pay
ing teller of this city. “I mean, of
course, experts in the broad acceptance
of the term. The average teller be
comes familiar with the signatures of
tlie customers of his bank and in time
he acquires a remarkable facility for
memorizing the characteristics of any
autograph on sight, that doesn’t make
him a scientific expert in chirograpby
In nine cases out of ten his opinion as
t.i whether two documents,for instance.
VSA^^AAAArfVVVWVVWSAAi^VVIA#Wr
HILDA HURRIED AWAY TO PUT HER HAT OS.
Hilda was admiring the priceless china
when she heard footsteps approaching,
and turned around to welcome her
brother.
•'Oh. Jack!" she exclaimed, dancing
toward the door with her arms out*
stretched. "I'm so glad —"
Then she stopped suddenly as thouga
she had been shot, for a tall, dark,
handsome man. quite the opposite of
her brother In appearance, entered the
room.
"I am afraid that somebody has made
a mistake," he said, in a sjft. kind, re- !
assuring voice "But I rii not •• suf
ficiently grateful to whoever lc t*<
blame fur rending me eu.h a charming
guiat tu breakfast."
“I eipr.tcd to meet m> brother Mr.
Smith." oh-etvrd Hilda, nearly rhok*
Ing with run fusion * John Htulih
"My name Is John Smith," said the
stranger, with an amused smile
Of Nu H lUllarat manilotva," • >n* ;
tinned Hilda
“Ah! Now I Mr* how ihe mut Ike oe
curved. ' eaclalmed Mr Hmllh “This
la No I, bnl there In another John
Hmllh at No > and Mf letters fre
quently gel mtsed »»g l 1 *h
that I am aorry It la the irther John
dmtih ska la th* lucky man wa tht»
uecaaloa And now. iuv dear young
lady, let wn go tt» breakfast
at tret Hilda roo d neither aal n»r
•peak, hot her haul in a short time had
mo cor-led In potting her o» much at
her am* that »he wa* r hit taring **ay
lo him a Soot her family, her h«»a.
all he* lit I to domeei* alfeirs
Thai kieahfaat must have lasted au
am nwi vsmahly long period hoi Mr
Mmilh 4*4 n«» appear to he 4“*l»«os of
harry tan It, and evei viking was so de
tighlfo.tr at rang# ahd novel to illids
that she 4M *< n■»»><# il» lap- of
lime vsntd har , oupoal.a suggee'vd
that If they »<»’ *' ‘**4 v* •* lh**
were written by the earne man, wuulil
have no special value, umi far that rea
son a great deal of the so-called expert
evidence received in court is really
worthless. A bank teller or faultier
is a specialist in signatures, but ex
actly how he identifies them and de
tects forgeries with almost unfailing
accuracy Is something that very few of
them are able to explain. It Is very
difficult. In fact, to put It Into words. As
nearly as t can express It, a teller rec
ognises a signature in much the mm*
way that he recognizes a friend on the
Street not by any single feature, hut
by the ensemble, by a general summing
up of all his charactsrlidlci. lie would
know him in spite of cnanges in attire
and even changes in the manner of
wearing hla tour or Itcarifc and by a
similar process he recognises signa
tures written under varying conditions
they are dlestiullar. hut they have the
old familiar look A forgery on ihe
other hand is almost certain to luiprvaa
hint as at range u, can't toll egaetly
why. perhaps, but he knows it doesn’t
look right ‘ t modern espart In hand
writing basis hla opinion on certain
ettart rnlns and cions, detailed analysis,
but with a banking man the thing tn
half instinctive it* has to decide un
the Spa I of the Muiueat and has au
< •* f'o measurement* and mieru
icopes '! ••» tellers hnow nothing
whatever shout the science of 'tying,
repit> “
Mf* UU4*um* «Mm* #| la# |m4
old man, U a viiMsk of wonderful
strength and endurance Not lung agu
the »a* driving in a puny carriage,
when tits animal started tn run and
overturned the vehteln. Though Mu< h
ihahen «p and ah >« h i at the time \ge
ssnerahie tntv vst re-uvervd and
*h t%f| go ttt nH*( ta of he* a te tt.
