58

AMUSEMENTS.
Buffalo Bill.

Hon. Wm. F. Cody and his company,
together with Dr. Powell, medicine chief
of the Winnebagos, and his band of Sioux
Indians, appeared to a crowded house
last evening in "The Prairie Waif." The
play is from the pen of the well-known
John Stevens, former manager of Tootle's
opera house, and avoids as much as possible
the sensational element which
has heretofore characterized Indian
dramas. There are plenty of
sensational situations in the
play, of course, but throughout there is
an interspersion of scenes which would
be a credit to a production with a title
less suggestive of bowie knives and Indian
scalps. The scene of the second
act, representing the happy home of the
buffalo hunter in Utah, is a charming
picture of western home life which appeals
to every heart. The play on the
whole is a decided improvement on modern
frontier literature, and we think Mr.
Cody deserves credit for thus encouraging
an author's innovation on a field
which has heretofore been sacred to the
pen of the blood and thunderwriter.
Mr. Cody of course
assumes the leading part, but the rest
of the company are given plenty of opportunity,
and, some really meritorious
acting was done; among others by Mr.
Bally who, as Stanley, was exceptionally
good, by Mr. Jule Keen as Hans, Mr.
Conklin as Lone Deer, and Miss Gilbert
and Nellie Lingard. The laughter was incessant
and at times the actors were
compelled to desist for the uproarious
applause that greeted the quickly-varying
scenes. The Indian encampment and the
dance in the last act constituted a novel
and realistic feature and formed a fitting
close to a stirring frontier drama.