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2
THE DAYS’ DOINGS ILLUSTRATED. |*
Qffiee: 535 Pearl Street, N. ¥-
NEW YORK, APRIL 13, 1872.
ALL communications concerning the business of
the paper, must be addressed to“ Tue Daxs’
Domes Compaxx.”
AJ) literary communications or contributions
muet be addressed to “The Editor of Tae Dars’
Domes”; and must be accompanied by the
e@gnature and eddress of the writer.
All ces must be sent to “Tue Dazs’
Dor ” 535 Pearl Street.
TERMS
n Cents each amber,
One copy, tree mon ths,
One copy, &i
Cne copy, o
Two wo copes, ‘one year, to one address, in one
Four, Stoic one year, ‘to ‘one adaress, none
‘apper, = 15 00
Six copies. ‘one year, - + + - + —
“BELOW THE STAGE.”
THEATRICAL LABOR BY DAY
AND NIGiLT.
Rehearsals and Performances.
A Phase of Night-Life Behind the
* Scenes.
In an article on Rehearsals published in a pre~
vious pusber ot Tue TINGS, We gave our
readers sume intresting Nfoformation regarding
theatricel life behind the scenes, especially con-
cerning the history of rehearsals in this country,
and re are called “full Green” repearssl
We proj iu the present article, to cantiau
our consideration of other Praneen ot this alway-
interesting eubject.
Reneareals are ia reality the foundation of all
dramatic exce.lence, and it is as necessary fora
euccesstul manager or artist of the present day to
be a careful, inguatr rious, thurough rehearser, as
to be augnt el
Conoobuentise we find that the greatest musi-
cians and performers devote time and trouble to
rehears
Male. Nileno, for example, is in her element
at an operatic rebearsal. Daring the rehearsal
of “ Hamlet” she was the central figure, aud the
most indefatigable woman on the stage of the
Academy. She superintended everything : cos-
tume and ecenery alike, and superintonded every-
ad
orchestra severely, aod was as “ thorough” witb
herself as with otbers,
Mr, Edwin Booth, though not a severe re-
. bearver, in the matter of personal careand super-
vision, ie a very liberal one in the way of seeing
that every detail of scenery and costume js fur-
nished as needed,
Mrs. Joho Wood is an afxceltent rebearaery
expecially of the minor me!
She shows them how to ‘os a bing by rst doing
it for them herself, while at the same time she 13
& perfect martinet in all the etiquette of a
rebearsal.
: Lydia Thompson is one of the most paiestaking
of women, especially at a rehearsal, Sbe spares
neither eroolt or anybody else, and by the time
areal ig finished everybody ia tired out,
heveelt included.
In fact, the only great artisiewe know of me
bag always -been indifferent to rehearse
Matiioa Heron. The rehearsals of this celoorated
performer bare been, like her own professional
school of acting, spasmodic, and, luke her own
career, erratic,
It fometimes zeppem tbat Brofoesiona! or per-
sonal ‘1 dislikes how themselves
tumistakeably at rehearsaie.
Two female members of s burlesqne company
“played every night, and rehearsed about every
other day together or about eigbteen montha,
and yet never exchanged one word outside of the
basinesa of their parts, ae cream of ee contrast
mg that the two nemies in private
were generally cast for thet Tonderest of lovers in
p
Again, it has chanced that two actore, engaged
i en CO!
- with the most friendly sentiments a /a protes-
It bas sometimes happened that positive quar-
during rehearsals.
Broadway theatre, one movning, a leading stock
actor reiused point blank to follow the instrac-
he “gtar” of the piece,
‘and was discharged on the epot in consequence,
‘He forthwith cbalenged the star to per onal
eombat, which invitation the star, for prudential
-Feagons, not uncopnected with the posarbility of
- ; Personal haughtiness of manner h
with whom: be is projersinally brought in
comet that his rehears: re simply illustra-
tions of Suakespearo’s lines :—
“ Bubble, bubble,’
il and trouble.”
But these are only exceptions to the genera]
rule, and im the vast majority of hia fiercer re-
THE DAYS’
‘sals, are as decorous, as indus as
characterized by good taste as by good. rattan:
We could pursue this. subject further, but our
space faile at present. -
Apropos of life behind the scenes, however, we
must state that for all concerned in it, and espe-
gely for the ballet-girls, the supers, and the like,
it is a lite of labor—an exiatence of picturesque
bat exhausting ¢otl, not only at cocasional ¥ rehear-
sals but in the performances of every 3:
One of the phases of night-life patina the
scenes is illustrated in oun accompanying
graving, entitled, “ Below the Stage,” etc.
The angels ot the ballet eameepa inet to pacoend,
and have, in obedieace to the call bo signal,
“‘gone down ” that they may go
The slider has been rolled eway and the trap is
ready, avd the girls are, preparing to pose them-
selves in fact, one of the nymphs is posed airesdy
in & corner, under the covered light, and
cbinist, nto awaits the signal to elevate his
light-spirited dears to the upper regions.of the
stage, where applause and work await them.
A Jockey Club -in Washington.
Tur talk of having a Jockey Club in Washing-
on. We mean Washington, Terrifory of Colum-
bias which, correctly speaking, is ihe Capital of
this great and glorious count
As though there weren’t enough Jockey Ciube
there already! Why, you can't walk a square
witbout meeting a Jockey, or a Club, only the
club 1s generally in the bands of the policeman,
and the jockeys are on the hands of the women.
Pretty women some of them are, toot
Bat about the Jockey Club. in
embryo yet, and bas been, and pobebiy wilt Me
Certain sporting gentlemen get up a scrub
race in Wasbington-occasionally, and, when full
of wine, firmly and colemnuly resolve to organize
a Jockey Club; bart, when the wine weara off,
they seem to forget all aboat it, They ought to
have Driver at the head of it, There is noth ng
like having » good man with s good name at the
head of anything. And what could be m
brilitant then a Driver. to start a Jockey ‘Gb
with?
But some on ibe main features have been
talked over. lady who drives the white
se is spoken of for President, and tke fair
maid witb the golden locks, tor Vice. So faras
ire otber effices are concerned they are to be bid
me a matter of conse they must have some
wowen init. No use trying to get along without
the female element in everything now-a-days.
It is Proposed, too, to make the Board of Pub-
tic Works s member, and to get that majestic
body os sweep and water Pennsylvapia Avenue
twice a dag on both sides, in the middle, and at
either end; for the avenue is to be the principal
wolting ground. Grant be @ member, of
Two or three, perbaps wore, fast horses
are to be imported from New York. Mares are
anite plenty, and the supply exceeds the de-
and,
the Circle will also be Srequentiy used, and
lively times are expected when the imported
quadrapeds get up a race with the horse-car ani-
mals. From the circle up and through the semi-
circle m front of the White House, sud then paat
e Treasury, just about three o’clock, when the
jovely syrens who serve Gnele Samuel in that
department, are making their
Ob} but won't it be jolly in Hanh ington when
thoy doget up that Jockey Club? If they would
only organize before the Carnival comes off, they
might superintend the mole races, which are ex-
pected to take place about that “time, for in
Washington mule races and such like, are con-
sidered to be a nocessary part of a
as the daily papers say, we will wait with
impatience for farther developmente,
oe
The Fair Kieptomaniac.
An Incident in a Broadway Dry
Goods Palace.
Some Kleptomaniacal Anecdotes,
Loxorztrow, though & poet, speaks the truth
mben he telis ns that ‘things are not what they
“Theft, for instance, is not always theft.
By which we mean to say that Thine what does
not belong to one, is not always stealing.
We have no sympathy with the distinction
‘between theft by the rich snd theft by the poor,
but then, on tbe ober hand, there is auch 8 dis
ease 88 ke tomal
And fr m the very natare of this disease it is
mach more likely to attack tbe rich than the
00
kleptomania can readily be distinguished
trom’ Tost by one sample indication—abvence of
mote thier takes what he or ehe needa—but the
kleptowaniac seldom or never needa what Le or
she takes—or at least subjects herself or bicselt
to infinitely more troable “tthe taking”
thereof, than there is the slightest necessity for,
© Thus, one well-known and wealthy kl¢eptoma-
niac, although she has no children, is alweys
taking Women’s shoes,
DOINGS.
Another nafartanate, though she has unlimited
eredit and plenty. of ready money, always takes
the commor est’ of laces and muslin and hosiery,
things which she never wears,”
A third takes whatever she can tay her hands |: '
on—although the article abstracted i is never ased
—but given away ss soon as possi
Sioitar examples cou'd be vortipiied-—but then
‘A. recont case of kleptomanis occurred at a’| Sp:
Jeading
passover week. /
A beautiful young lady, belonging to one of
our first families, the only child of a Madison
Avenue merchant, whore personal allowance from
her indulgent papa exceeded $4.000 per annum,
was detected by one of the “‘ walkers,” in the act
of stealing § a strip of dry goods, valued at about
thirty-five cents,
She was undoubtedly a maniac when she took
the trifle, but she was sane enough to realize the
full shame of ber posi.ion, when detected, and
falling upon her knees, on the floc r of the crowd-
ed establishinent, plead for mere:
It was granted—but the young lady, it is eup-
posed, has left New York for ever, and ber mar-
Tiage, which was soon to be, bas been indefinitely
Postpone:
Surely, she has been ‘ punished.”
is store on Broadway, dusing
THEN AND NOW.
A STORY OF CITY SIN AND
CITY soRROW. -
\
THE CONTRASTS OF A LIFE.
The Five Points and the Fifth
Avenue.
THERE are some true stcries which are ever
old—yset ever new—as new ae the latest phase
of ever varying and startling humanity—as old
as the human beart itself.
There are some life-dramas which, though never
acted on the stage, far surpass in pathos and
emotional intensity sll the modern five act tra-
gedies by our modern first-class playwrights.
And such a true story—such 1 life-drama, was
brought to our notice during the couree of our
jourualistic and personal experience during the
Jast year, and has culminated during the last
fortnight,
We were sauntering one wild March morning
through the region that was formerly known as
the Five Points, and being in a somewhat reflec-
tive wood, looked around us curiously.
We were on the way from the Bowery to onr
office, in no epecial hurry, and well protected
against the weather ; and as we stood in the viein-
ity of the Old Brewery, or where the Old Brewery
once* stood, where there had been a marder in
every room, and not far from the classic vicinity
f the formerly noted Jac-b’s Ladder,” we
cast an inqui Jance about us, as though
asking of oursclves the question;
“What misery in human shape ia to be seen
here now ?”
Ont interrogatory waa answered as soon as
as
Tow: ward us ane or rather toward us stag-
red, a bein; uman being; a creature, a
Fomalo crentures 8 woman, atill youog, bat ob,
God! bow fadea, how wo! ‘w wretched! a
mere moving bundle of regged clothes and pain-
fal sevsation
She said not a word to us—and we said cot a
word to her. We glanced but once in ber direc-
tion, and she glanced but once in ours—but it
was enon sh.
ugh for us to understand this much of her
lite-story at least: that she had not been always
what she then was.
expericnce of Jife bas taught us, among
other things, this:
tue people who tell you all the time ‘hat
they have scen better days, are very seldom those
who have ever seen anything of the kiad; wh le
in the case of most of those unfortunates who
really have seen these “better days,” there is a
look which cannot be described but can be in-
stantly recognized, which informs you of the
fagt without tho need of a single part of speech.
And such s look as this we saw upon the face
nd in the sad eyes of the pour young woman
whom we met in tke Pointa tuat morning,
“She uttered vot a word.”
Her eyes spoke for her—they were historial
eyes; eyes that were _Bistarioo—of bett
gone never to come
assed us vepilly | the alth, squalor and
degradation of the place seemed to swailow her
up. We walked to our office, and for the time
forgot ber.
me nine months after, it was during holiday
eek, and we were cogiteting upon our
Year's calls as we walked down Broadway, under
an umbrella, when we passed a pocr femal
creature, a womar-wretch, shivering under her
cbeap umbrella and in ber insufficient clothing.
Involuvtarily we turned and looked at the
creature ag be went bye Avery poor young wo-
an, Heaven knows, is a familiar spectacle in
New York but then this woman had eyes, such
eyea, eyes inexpreesibly ead, yet which told us at
a glance that their owner had scen better days,
and in an instant *e recognized her as the
woman #e had met on tLat wild March morning—
Ee
in the Five Points.
simply charity—impelled the writer to turn
[Aur 18,1872.
Some impulse—we, know not exactly what; it
was not impertinenco, certainly, nor yet was it
and
‘to speak to this poor relic of the past.
But—whether for good or for evil, we cannot
tell—the impulse was resisted, and the writer
passed on one way, and the sad woman passed on
in a contrary directi
The holidays and the writer itself rolled by, and
ring had come, according to the calendar;
1t was more bitterly cold than ever, the wind was
more piercing, and tho heaviest snow-storm of
the season was falling.
We stood uader such cover as we could get at
the corner of —— Sti treet, conversing with one of
the policemen of the precinct ona matter relative
to the present condition of bis rict, with a
view to the publication of certain points of in-
terest, when, in the cone or me dialogue, te
officer remarked that
suffering near at hand ti oquatled anything
be had ever read of.
We asked—in our journalistic, our professional
capacity—to be shown the case, and our
complied with, Never ehall we forget the & sight!
It was the uppermost story of one of the
meanest, and lowest, and dirtiest houses in ——
Street. room was simply a garret, without
carpet, paper, paint, or even plaster. The snow
came down threugh a hole in the roof, the wind
whistied in tbrough chinks in the walls, and the
rats ran over the floor—aye, and for that matter,
they ran over the bed, too, if bed you could call
a ricketty, three-leggod affair in a corner, pa:-
tially covered with an imperfect attempt at a
mattress, or zathér » with a perfect attempt at a
bundle of rags, in this corner, on. these
TB ley ®& half ikea woman, too cold to shivor,
u'gry to eat even it she had a chance—
which she had not—too sick to baye any maternal
desires save one insatiable craving, which wat
soon, thank God, to be satisfied—the longing for
Sbe was ragged and dirty, and naked; she
hollow-cheeked, bony, gaunt; she was deplray
disgusting, as ‘she lay there, dying, wi ‘bh wind,
ly companions; but, spite of all, oh,
ber head, (that poor, wretched part of ber, where
head-ache had become as chronic as the heart-
ache,) there still looked forth in anguish a pair
of beautifal eyes, historical eyes, eyes that told
me as plainty a though they had spokon. Wo
have seen better
We recogpized those € eyes at once—and we re-
membered thes woman thay belonged to—the poor
creature we had passed in Broadway during t
‘bristmas holi@ays—and met in the very mae
rhood some months before. There wi
torgetting those eyes, ana their story,
And their story mas we had to remember—
jor ebe spoke never a word she only looked at
us with those historieal eyes, those “better day ”
eyes of bers, until et last, just as the day faded
irto night, and the besutital snow turned
into bleak rain, in this garret hole of
g2
throw, as it were, of the down-towa pales of the
ry Goods King, who counts his wealta by mil-
Jions, and ‘closed ‘one gad historical exes of hers
for ever—on earth—
‘o ope nm them, let us trust, in better days in
He:
The “history of this poor creature we learned
fally, afterw
Itis only anorber version of the old, old story
of man’s taitblessness and woman’s foolish trust ;
of treachery and despair, of social sir, and social
contrast. .
sad heroine of our sketch was boin in Weat.
Twenty-third Street, near Fifth Avenue, in a
Lrown stone front, and was reared iu sfiluence,
Tbe very winds of Heaven were not allowed to
visit her cheek too rovghly,.and all that a fond,
doting father (her mother, alas! died in child-
birth), could do to render her bappy was done
eagerly, gladly. But "twas aliof no avail, Fate
was aguinst her—and ber own self and man,
She graduated at s fashionable mas ary 7 and
shonro in society. Sbe was notanly d to
equestriennelsms. avd one day while ric ing in in che
park, sbe met ber fate. A gentleman, | whose
tace was fomiliar to her, bowed to Ler as he
passed on horseback, and ehe half returned the
salutation, The nex’ day they met in the Park
once more, end the next day became frienda,
a
same people, tl ad never been for.
mally ear Finally they Lecame lovers,
though the gentlrman was @ bocby and frowned
upon bs her father.
At Jast the drama of unwise love culminated,
ag such drawias culminate, in a trage y.
‘The roué became the betrayer, and. the lady’s
shame was discovered by her fathe-.
banisbe d foi Tr, and
the seducer hied tim ts Europe, until the father
died of a broken beart.
hen be return ‘ned to New York, and one after-
while driving down Broadway in one ot his
equipaves witha* Tiger,’ "he nase overt aken by a
madsen shower, and, am’ , drove past
ins victim, now'a faded, alt aera aying gir
shiverin, gz along under a broken umbrell: ,
Th again on earth, but it is
some satiotaction to tee] tuat the villain will lave
o meet big prey sooner or later at the bar ol
all ast
Tho rest of the woman's story is soon told.
Lower and lower in the ecale o social de; a=
tion and poverty she eank, till she could sink no
omer and fnally she crawled to the garret in the
Five Points t
She made no moan, She would not send for
any pbys‘cian, . She would not sybmit to be taken
care a as S Pau er, Sbe simply died,
poor body carted off to Pot-
tere “ald” “we thought of man aud woman—of
folly and crime—of life and death, of then and
now.
7
