Page:The plastic age, (IA plasticage00mark).pdf/38

26 *tion, five hundred men stamped in time with their steps.

No sooner were the girls seated than there was a scramble in one corner, an excited scuffling of feet. “I Ve got it!” a boy screamed. He stood on his chair and held up a live mouse by its tail. There was a shout of applause and then—“Play catch!”

The boy dropped the writhing mouse into a pea¬ nut bag, screwed the open end tight-closed, and then threw the bag far across the room. Another boy caught it and threw it, this time over the girls’ heads. They screamed and jumped upon their chairs, holding their skirts, and dancing up and down in assumed terror. Back over their heads, back and over, again and again the bagged mouse was thrown while the girls screamed and the boys roared with delight. Suddenly one of the girls threw up her arm, caught the bag deftly, held it for a second, and then tossed it into the rear of the theater.

Cheers of terrifying violence broke loose: “Ray! Ray! Atta girl! Hot dog! .Ray, ray!” And then the lights went out. “Moosick! Moosick! Moo -sick!” The au¬ dience stamped and roared, whistled and howled. “Moosick! We want moosick!”

The pianist, an undergraduate, calmly strolled down the aisle.