uddenly sank and gave place to
an imposing body of water, wet and ready to receive the plunging
horses and riders, as they swam across in the pursuit of their
dramatic story.

Two young men, Messrs. Thompson and Dundy, newcomers among the jaded
and throttled amusement purveyors of the big city, were responsible
for all this, and the greatest credit is due to their "nerve" as well
as to their astonishing executive ability. The enterprise at first
seemed like some amazing "pipe-dream," from which there must be a rude
awakening, but the opening of the Hippodrome was such a bewildering
success, and so unanimously acclaimed, that the croakers were
silenced. One of these was exceedingly amusing. He had declared that
the Hippodrome must fail. Its colossal results, however, so
overwhelmed him that he forthwith announced his belief that New York
would patronize two Hippodromes, and his intention of building a
second.

The promise that Mr. Kellett Chalmers held out to us in his play of
"Abigail," with Miss Grace George, evaporated in a sad farce, or
comedy, entitled "A Case of Frenzied Finance." We had been flattering
ourselves that we had discovered a new "outlook," and we came a bad
cropper. The simian antics of an impossible bell boy, in an impossible
hotel, and his maneuvers in the arena of finance, were the "motive" of
this extremely invertebrate contribution. There was an "Arizona Copper
King"; there was his daughter; there was a gentleman from "Tombstone,
Ariz.," and there were some tourists drawn after the Clyde Fitch
style, but with none of his lightness of touch.

It was almost impossible to follow the grotesque proceedings, and
utterly impossible to find a gleam of interest in them. One of the
characters drank incessantly through two acts, and indulged in the
luxury of what is politely called a "jag." We might have been pardoned
for envying it. There are worse conditions, when it comes to the
contemplation of such a "comedy" as "A Case of Frenzied Finance." One
suspected satire occasionally, but it was mere suspicion. One was
anxious to suspect anything, but I always hold--and I may be
wrong--that the best thing to look for, when one goes to the theater,
is a play. Perhaps that is an old-fashioned notion.

This strange affair took us back to old times, when we were less
sophisticated, but it is not at all likely that "A Case of Frenzied
Finance" would have passed muster in the days when we approved and
laughed at