VENTRILOQUISM.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XVI, Issue 229, 26 September 1881, Page 4

VENTRILOQUISM.

■ I "Who were the greatest ventriloquists ? ' Well there was au old Athenian named Eurykles, who is spoken of in history as p. master of the art Then there were Professor Alexacdre and Louis Braboufc of modern times, They were both Frenchmen. Brabout lived in the fourteenth century, I believe a nd was said to bo the best ventriloquist the world ever knew. Alexandre lived at an earlier period, and waa noted more for his mimetic powers than for his ventriloquial powers. Profeesor Love of England was celebrated in the art, and was rivalled by Professor Harrington, Of those living tc-day, Frederick McCabe and E. D. Davies are the greatest. Davies is now retired in Australia, and McCabe has recently signed a contract to go there the present season. Davies was the first ventriloquist to introduce figures as an assistant to the Art in America. "McCabe was a great practical joker. Several years ago be waa on board of a Mississippi river steamboat, and forming an acquaintance with the engineer, was allowed the freedom of the engine-room. He took a seat in a corner, and, pulling hia hat down over his eyes, appeared to be lost in reverie. Presently a certain part of the macbinery began to tqueak. The engineer oiled it and went about hia usual duties. In a course of a few minutes the squeaking was heard again, and the engineer rushed over, oil can in hand, to lubricate the same spindle. Again he returned to his post, but it was only a few minutes until the same old spindle was squeaking louder than ever. 1 Great Jupiter !' he yelled, 'the thing's bewitched.' More oil was administered but the engineer began to smell a rat. Pretty so> n the spindle began to squeak again, and slipping up behind McCabe, the engineer squirted a halfpint of oil down the joker's back. ' There,' said he, ' I guess that spindle won't squeak any mure.' The joke was so good that McCabe could not keep it, and he often tells it with as much relish as his auditors receive it, "At another time McCabe was confronted by a highwayman, ia one of the lonely streets of Cincinnati, as he was returning to his hotel from a moonlight picnic. The robber presented a cocked revolver at the ventriloquist's head, demanding hia money or his life. McCabe's quick wit saved him. He threw his voice behind the robber exclaiming : ' Hold, villain, you ara my prisoner !' The frightened scamp turned his bead, and McCabe dealt him a blow that felled him to the ground. He then secured the revolver and marched the scoundrel to a police station. "Louis Brabout, the great French ventriloquist, was also a great joker. The story is told of him that he fell in love with a beautiful young novitiate who was soon to take the vail. The sentiment was returned, and Brabout arranged for an elopement. Hia innamorata succeeded in getting outside the convent walls, and the two hurried away to the house of a neighbor priest. The holy man was awakened and requested to perform the marriage ceremony. Hia refusal was a thing to D 8 expected, but Brabout was too cunning for the old man. When he said 'no !' most emphatically, and was about to raise a commotion and have the novitiate returned to the cloister, a deep sepulchral voice was heard coming from the bowels of the earth. It said : — "I am thy father, and am still in torment. Marry this eoupie to each other, and my probation in purgatory will be over." "The frightened priest called upon all the saints to protect him, and proceeded to perform that ceremony with greater alacrity than he had ever shown on a similar occasion." " Do you ever play jokes ?" "Not often. I am not given to such sports as a general thing, but occasionally amuse myself at the expense of others. Last year I was travelling with a musical combination. One day while riding on the cars I threw my voice ioto "a covered basket, and set up a furious barking like a dog. The lady beside whom the basket was sitting gave a scream and bounded out of the seat. Then I made a cat join in with the row, and a brakesman came running pell mell to quiet the disturbance. He jerked the lid off the basket, and found nothing but a lot of deiicious peaches the lady was taking home. The crowd was considerably mystified. Then I set a bumble-bee buzzing about the brakeman's ears and he retreated. A gentleman who was standing near heard a wolf growl so ferociously behind him that he jumped about

two feet high. Then the lady was led to believe that a mouse s nest had found lodgment in her pocket, and the circus was complete. But I don't believe much in euch caperß, and generally forego the fun I might have if I felt disposed."