away from the front in silent
convulsions, but not a soul in the house was the wiser.

This is a horrible subject and I might enlarge upon it endlessly,
recalling for example, the pleasures of being folded in the embrace of a
large, warm, damp tenor smelling at best of onions; or still worse the
large drops which rain upon you during the most touching love scene from
his manly brow, while you, though shuddering with disgust, daren't try
to dodge them, or even change the wistfully adoring expression of your
countenance. It may be honest sweat, but it is a demned moist unpleasant
kind of honesty in my opinion. Goritz told me that he once, as
_Kurwenal_, in the last act of "Tristan," dripped on a prostrate
_Tristan's_ eye so long that the poor tenor was blind for days after.
This is German efficiency!

Some of the colleagues at Metz were a great contrast to others in their
scrupulous care of their personal appearance. The lyric baritone, a
youngster from the Rhineland making his debut in opera, attracted me at
the very first rehearsal by his groomed look and beautifully manicured
finger-nails. He came from quite ordinary people, and had been brought
up to be a "Tapizierer," curtain hanger, upholsterer, etc. He had never
met any Americans before and we grew to like him very much, and used to
let him go for walks with us, and come to us for tea. He was always
wanting to _tapizieren_ for us and criticizing the hang of the curtains,
etc., in our rooms. We taught him to play Canfield, more to keep him
from talking than for any other reason, for my sister and I used to play
patience for hours, so that we should not be tempted to talk when I was
resting my voice in the brief intervals between rehearsals and
performances. We used to play with pretty little German patience cards
in a pocket size, and he was simply infatuated with the game. He showed
all his friends how to play, and dozens of packs of these cards were
imported from Frankfort where they are made.

The craze spread rapidly; all the officers began to play in their
Casinos, and the principals in the theatre were always being roared at
for keeping the stage waiting during rehearsals, when they missed their
cues by being absorbed in the game of Canfield. It became the great
resource of those who had small parts in the first act of an opera, and
then had to wait in costume and make-up until the very end like the
_Meister_ in "Meistersinger," or _Mary_ in "Fliegender Hol