Rensselaer Republican, Volume 15, Number 44, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 12 July 1883 — a DISCOMFITED AUDIENCE. [ARTICLE]

a DISCOMFITED AU DIENCE.

A well-known provincial actor in Russia, wishing to fill the theater on hie benefit night at Smolensk, a town 'where the people are too stingy to take any other tickets but free passes, hit upon a dodge of his own for gaining a crowded audience. Obtaining the sanction of the police, he scattered a number of red tickets—the usual color of free passes—about the streets, at the same time arranging with the officials at the theater that the free color that night should be blue. In the evening the entrance to the theater was crowded as it had never been before, and, when the inner door was opened, the public, most of whom had placed their fur cloaks and their warm boots in the cloak-room, surged along the passage toward the seats. “These tickets are of no use,” politely exclaimed the inspector, handing them back to the crowd on its arrival. “How so?” demanded the people in a chorus; “they are red ones.” “We see that,” replied the ticket inspector, “but they ought to be blue. You probably picked them up in the street.” The public turned red with confusion, and retired to get proper tickets at the cashier’s office. The theater was crowded with and M. Petroff was applauded by hundreds who would have torn him to pieces had they been aware at the time of the trick he had played on them. An Indianapolis baby was bitten, In teasing a pet Maltese kitten, Before a day ended, St. Jacobs Oil mended, And with it mothers are smitten. A hunter who lives at Bear Run, Hurt his arm by the kick of a gun, The hunt it did spoil, But St. Jacobs Oil Cured him before swelling begun.