is profession. Moreover, in regard to the play
in which he takes part he is generally but dimly informed. Its plot
and purpose are mysteries to him. He never sees it represented or
rehearsed as an entirety. His own simple duties accomplished, he is
hurried to the rear of the stage to be out of the way of the actors.
Why he bends his knee to one performer and loads another with fetters;
why there is banning in this scene and blessing in that; why the
heroine in white adores the gallant in blue and abominates her suitor
in red, are to him inexplicable matters. The dramas in which he
figures only impress his mind in relation to the dresses he is
constrained to assume during their representation, the dresses being
never of his own choosing, rarely fitting him, and their significance
being always outside his comprehension. To him the tragedy of "King
John" is but the occasion on which he and his fellows "wore them
tin-pots on our 'eads;" "Julius Caesar" the play in which "we went on
in sheets." "What are we supposed to be?" a curious "super" once
inquired of a more experienced comrade. "Blessed if I know!" was the
answer. "Demons, I expect." They were clothing themselves in
chain-mail, and were "supposed to be"--Crusaders.

The "super's" dress is, indeed, his prime consideration, and out of it
arises his greatest grievance. He must surrender himself
unconditionally to the costumier, and obey implicitly his behests.
Summer or winter he has no voice in the question; he must clothe
himself warmly or scantily, just as he is bidden. "Always fleshings
when there's a frost," a "super" was once heard to grumble, who
conceived the classical system of dress or undress--and for that
matter, perhaps, the classical drama also--to be invented solely for
his inconvenience and discomfort. But more trying than this antique
garb is the demoniac mask of pantomime, which is as a diver's helmet
ill provided with appliances for admitting air or permitting outlook.
The group of panting "supers," with their mimic heads under their
arms--their faces smeared with red or blue, in accordance with
direction, not of their own choice--to be discovered behind the scenes
during the performance of a Christmas piece, is an impressive portion
of the spectacle, although it is withheld from the contemplation of
the audience. There have been "supers" who have approached very near
to death by suffocation, from the hurtful nature of their attire,
rather than fail