Burke's weekly for boys and girls. (Macon, Ga.) 1867-1870, April 30, 1870, Image 1

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hiu.iert.-d ace- .ruing to Act of* micresß, in J unc, IP.- by J. 17. Bueee & Cos., in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the United Bit tea Ur (ho So, District of Georgia Vgl, III— No, 44. OHTJKSS SHADOWS rr Is' aJS . - ’ J . . .* ' ' N the winter time .t is uitneuit twibTA pass through any of the large thoroughfares of London after nightfaii without seeing a crowd admiring the popular fantoeini farces of the 11 Broken Bridge,’' ox 4 4 Billy Button s and although those dramatic exhibitions are not always tree from vulgarity, they are re ceived witl 1 iferous ap plause Ly at least t|xo younger noriicn of the audience. The apparatus for the ex hibition of the fiantoeini is generai iy v ery ollap Is. ihs screen on which they are shewn is genei'diy made of calico rendered seiru-trans parent with copal varnish, and the figures are cut out or card- oon* " r r. m so con ■ tabling landscapes una scenes ct different hinds are also provided, which are cut out in the same material, due drain ai ls personae are gener orally made with moveable limbs, which they throw about in the most unanatomical manner, and the showman is often endowed with ventrilo cjuial' talents of no‘mean or der. This amusement is to be found v r.ii parts of the world, Tom the Strand ar.d Tottenham Court Hoad, London, to die streets of Algiers and Java. A grapnic writer in tho JUlsff-'i-s.it, i\doi cvquc gn. a pleasant description of the fantccin.., as exhibited at the Arnos inealrs in the Mohammedan quarter of the city of Algiers. It was on the occasion of the feast of Bairam, which immediately fol lows the termination of the Kamadan, or Mohammedan Lent. The theatre, which was the only one frequented ,oy the Arab population, consisted simpiy of a long vaulted hall, without seats, boxes, or galleries; but the audience, who had already been there some time, did not seem-to regard the omission as of any consequence, but had seated themselves on the ground with great coolness, chatting in whispers, and waiting patiently until the director .A on lei consider the place full enough to begin tho performance. Half an hour elapsed, and the spectators still chatted on quite unconcernedly: an hour, and yet there was no hissing or ! stamping of feet from the grave and pa- I tient spectators. At last they reached fin- .Lap' f:'.~ • vAI- yAj ”7 ;,p £ li&gj§gg9fai»;; Fia. 61.—Effect of cut paper-work, the maximum, and a boy came forward and blew-out the few lamps with which the theatre was lighted, leaving them to smoulder away with a perfume that was certainly not Oriental in its char acter. First came the legend of the Seven Sleepers • than Scheherazade relating her bewitching stories to the Sultan. These were followed by Aladdin and the Wonderful Lamp, a story that is as popular in Algiers as it is in Lone on or Paris ; the whole culminating in o. kind of burlesque, in which a great deal oi gross fun was mixed up with a number of rebellious allusions. The devil, for instance, who is of course one of the members of the troupe, is portrayed as lACGN, GEORGIA, APRIL 30, 1870. a French soldier, bearing a cross on his breast like an ancient Crusader. 1 After him came Carhageuse, who Is the buffoon of the Eastern stage, and who makes violent but unsuccessful love to a charming young Jewess. Thc-re wa3 a poor barber who was raised to the dignity of grand vizier, his successor’s head being cut off by the yataghan of the Oriental Jack Ketch, to tho great delight of the people. The” v wretched Jew receives the bastinado, amidst vo ciferous applause, whi.h increases still higher when the cars of an unhappy Giaour are cut off and thrown to the dogs. Throughout the piece, it is of course the Mussulman who always tri umphs, like the French guards at the Cirque Imperiale , or the British grena diers at old Astley's. The performance concluded with a grand naval battle between the Moorish and Spanish fleet j. The dramas usual served for cannon, there was a greuo deal*of smoke and confusion, and the. Christian fleet gradually sank under the continuous ' roof the Mussulmans amidst the } I.audits and bravos of the crowd. Whole No. 148. In Java, tho subjects of the f&ntocfhi are generally taken from the native my thology. Theyieroen on which the sha dows are exhibited is tan or twelve feat long, and five -he. high, ar.d the figures are cut of thick leather, their limbs be ing moved by thin pieces of a early transparent horn. In the picture we see another kind of Chinese shadows, in which the lights of ' the figure are cut era. These pictures | «.u ; erfeetly unrecognisable as being evonjhe basest imi tation of any known form ; but when their shadows are thrown on the wall, the cut out portions show usHlghts, whilst those that have been left tom the shadows. On the Boulevard des Ca* pucines. at Paris, there used to be a man who managed to pick in a good living by sell ing these candle shadow's, Os course he used to carry on his trade of an evening, and with a strong lamp he wmld threw the shadows of his figures or. the white walls of the houses, or tho bi nd of a shop-window, or even on the pavement. With a little earo and ingenuity a number of these amusing cards may bo easily designed. In knowing them, cars must be taken to choose He Jess distances between the light and the paper, ar.d between this latter and the wall. If tho card be placed too close to the wall, the result ing shadows will bo too dark and the outlines too sharp; if, on the contrary, the light is placed too far off, the out lines become confused, and the proper effect is lost. TVonders of Optics. , . . Idlaness. A ship’s sails or rigging wear out more in a calm than in a gale. So the mind wears out faster in indolence or inglorious rest than in a well-braced nervous activity and productiveness.