ent about
the aisles, two palms, one at each side of the proscenium (_real_
palms), and, in addition to a piano, a mustel organ to accompany the
pathetic passages in the films. Moreover, the commissionaire outside,
whose medals prove that he has seen service in the Charge of the Light
Brigade, the Black Hole of Calcutta, and the Great Raid on the House of
Commons in 1910, is not one of those blatant-voiced showmen who clamour
for patronage; he is a quiet and dignified receptionnaire, content to
rely on the fame and good repute of his theatre. Sometimes evening dress
(from "The Laburnums," Meadowsweet Avenue, who are on the Stock
Exchange) is to be seen in the more expensive seats.

It is unquestionably a high-class Picturedrome. True that the local
dentist, who is a stickler for correct English, protests against the
designation. I have pointed out to him that if a "Hippodrome" is a place
where one sees performing hippos, then surely a place where one sees
performing pictures is correctly styled a "Picturedrome."

I am acquiring the cinema habit.

It is very restful. Each film is preceded on the screen by a certificate
showing that its morality has been guaranteed by Mr. REDFORD. I have
complete confidence in Mr. REDFORD'S sense of propriety. If, for
instance, a bedroom scene is shown and a lady is about to change her
gown, one's advance blushes are needless. That film will be arrested at
the loosing of the first hook or button. Virtue will always be plainly
triumphant and vice as plainly vanquished. Even the minor imperfections
of character will be suitably punished. When on the screen we see Daisy,
the flighty college girl, borrowing without permission her friend's hat,
gown, shoes, necklace and curls in order to make a fascinating display
before her young college man, it is certain that she will be publicly
shamed by her friends and discredited in the eyes of her lover whose
affections she seeks to win in this unmoral fashion.

On the screen we shall be sure to meet many old friends. The young
American society nuts, in square-rigged coats, spacious trousers, and
knobbly shoes, will buzz around the pretty girl like flies around a
honey-pot, clamouring for the privilege of presenting her with a
twenty-dollar bouquet of American Beauty roses. The bouquet she accepts
will be the hero's; and the other nuts will then group themselves in the
background while she registers a glad but demure smile full in the eye
of the ca