Page:"Round the world." - Letters from Japan, China, India, and Egypt (IA roundworldletter00fogg 0).pdf/28

 wives and daughters of the prophet. They were all well and even fashionably dressed, one of the wives decidedly good looking, the daughters haying healthy, ruddy complexions, none of them handsome, however, and in the dim light of coal oil chandeliers I could not detect any family likeness. Several of them had opera glasses, which they handled as gracefully as any habitue of the opera; all were neatly gloved, and they formed an attractive group. Returning to the charge I quietly asked my friend in front whether any other distinguished persons were in the house. “Oh, yes, those two young ladies directly behind us with light hair are Elder Smith’s daughters, one of the two associate presidents of the church with Brigham, and yonder is Bishop So and So, and there is Elder Brown and his family. A little to the right of them is Elder Jones and two of his wives,” etc. My communicative friend, who saw that I was a stranger in pursuit of knowledge, kindly pointed out a dozen or more family groups, all of whom were paying such close attention to the p ayplay [sic] as to scarcely notice that our eyes w rewere [sic] directed towards them. Up to this timtime [sic] I had hardly glanced toward the stage, but when I was told that one of the actresses was the daughter of a high dignitary in the church, I looked at my bill and found they were playing the comedy of the “Wonderful Woman.” All were amateurs, and the soting [sic] was decidedly good. Noticing quite a number of small children in the audience, I asked my Mormon friend whether it was customary for so many young people to attend the theater, “Yes,” he replied, “we never put on the stage those immoral plays so common in other theaters”a good hit at the Gentiles, thought I. The orchestra consisted of nine musicians, all amateurs, After the comedy came the “Essence of Ole Virginny,” in the shape of a negro dance, which set the young people half crazy. The performance then closed with a laughable farce called the “Young Widow.”

A survey of the audience convinced me that the female portion were decidedly superior in intelligence and refinement of manners and dress to the males. Many of the latter were rough and coarse in looks and dress, and they especially enjoyed the negro dance, which they loudly encored. They did not look rowdyish, nor were there any cat calls or other such demonstrations not uncommon in Eastern theaters, but they seemed to be