Who can describe a party from beginning to end? It would fill a large book to criticise all the songs and other performances, to chronicle all the jokes, and to tell again all the tales. And how tame on paper are the little stories which are told during a quadrille, when the introduction is given in La Pantelon, and the plot commences at L’Ete, and the incidents increase in interest till Trenise, and the dénouement is galloped over in the Finale. Well, suffice it to say the fun kept up unflaggingly, and as the evening advanced, and everybody was in high spirits, Charlie Stanley collected his “troupe,” and began to make preparations for a charade. While the folding doors were closed for the scenery to be placed in one room, and while the seats were being adjusted in the other, the actors in the charade were in the great excitement of dressing for their parts. The boys had prepared the performances for the evening beforehand, and supplied copies to all who were to appear in the scenes; and, as Charlie was good enough to present Old Merry with complete copies, we will give them for the benefit of our readers, with the condition on which they were given to us, namely, that they should not be too severely criticised from a literary point of view.
A brief overture on the piano, and then Charlie came to the front of the folding doors, and said:—
“Ladies and Gentlemen, I beg to announce that we are about to act a burlesque charade, and you will be good enough to try and find out our word. It is in three syllables; the first act will give two syllables used as one word, the second act will give the remaining syllable, and the third act will bring in the whole word. The charade is entitled—
THE MEANDERING MUSICIAN;
or,
The Vitch!! The Vow!! and the Voucher!!
And will be supported by the following powerful cast:—
| Berlinda | The “star” of the evening | Miss Ada Martin. |
| Roderigo Pipkins | The meandering musician, in love with Berlinda | Master Tom Martin. |
| Banquo Belvidere | A Rival | Master Frank Edwards. |
| Theophilus Balderdash | Another Rival | Master Alec Boyce. |
| Mrs. Thompson | The Witch | Miss Florence Edwards. |
| Berlinda’s Pa | The Stern Parient | Master Walter Stanley. |
| Alonzo Napoleon Smith | An American Showman | Master Charlie Stanley. |
| Police, peasants, wax figures, perambulators, &c. &c. | ||
A burst of applause followed the announcement, and was renewed when the doors were thrown open and Berlinda was discovered leaning out of a window overlooking the room, with a candle burning by her side to assist her in viewing the stars, on which she was supposed to be gazing.
Berlinda (in a rhapsody addressing the stars).
O! beaming beauties of the broad and boundless abyss,