Page:Charleston • Irwin Faris • (1941).pdf/178

 correctly, that two of the musicians had “performed before the German Emperor.” There cannot be omitted mention of the “Conversation Lozenges” without which no concert was complete. It is said that their sentimental and loving inscriptions were in not a few cases effective—had broken down barriers and overcome reticence, served as straws to show which way the stream ran. The Institute was a boon to the people. After all, life on a goldfield is not packed with diversion; it is a full but, in some respects, an empty life.

This typical programme is taken from the Charleston Herald:—

“Mr. Douglas, Chairman. Schmidt and Beer, Set of Quadrilles. Warmington, Cornish Reading. Miss Gillespie, Song, ‘Beautiful Star.’ Donne, Reading. Holme, Recitation. Mrs. Fries, Song, ‘I See Her Still in My Dreams.’ Delaney, Reading. Bates, Song, ‘That’s Where They Make a Mistake.’” The admittance fee was sixpence. This entertainment ended abruptly because, the night being stormy, some of “the promised performers did not attend.”

A number of showmen brought entertainment to Charleston. There was “The Hairless Horse” without a hair on its body, and “The Dancing Ducks” whose owner was found to have had hot plates for their stage. He was thereafter known as “The Duck.” There were lecturers, conjurers, mesmerists and what not, but few found favour on the Coast. One show, however, was acclaimed by all, the Panorama, a series of alleged scenes from famous battlefields, painted upon calico and moved across the stage in sections, while the showman pointed with a rod to details and explained them. One scene depicted a red-hot cannon-ball apparently hitting a general. When in the next section he reappeared unscathed, the impressionables of the audience cheered. What would be thought of it in these days of movies and talkies can be imagined.

An annual event looked forward to by all was the “welcoming in” of the New Year. One or more “Grand