What did it contain?
bystanders inquired of each other. Well, in the comic scenes of
pantomime it is not unusual to see a very small child, dressed perhaps
as a charity-boy, crossing the stage, bearing in his hands a slice of
bread-and-butter. The clown steals this article of food and devours
it; whereupon the child, crying aloud, pursues him hither and thither
about the stage. The incident always excites much amusement; for in
pantomimes the world is turned upside-down, and moral principles have
no existence; cruelty is only comical, and outrageous crime the best
of jokes. The paper parcel borne to the theatre by the clown under
mention enclosed the bread-and-butter that was to figure in the
harlequinade. "You see I'm a particular feeder," the performer
explained. "I can't eat bread-and-butter of anyone's cutting. Besides,
I've tried it, and they only afford salt butter. I can't stand that.
So as I've got to eat it and no mistake, with all the house looking at
me, I cut a slice when I'm having my own tea, at home, and bring it
down with me."
Rather among the refreshments of the side-wings than of the stage must
be counted that reeking tumbler of "very brown, very hot, and very
strong brandy-and-water," which, as Dr.
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