When the Curtain Fell

When the curtain fell on the last performance of _Parsifal_, at Bayreuth, which, on the 30th of July, 1883, brought the celebration month to a close, the enthusiasm of the audience found full vent in applause. The curtain was once lifted, but no calls would induce the performers to appear a second time or receive any individual homage.

This is entirely in accordance with the tone of these exceptional representations. On each occasion the only applause permitted was at the end of the drama, and throughout not a single actor answered to a call or received any personal tribute.

Behind the scenes occurred a touching incident. The banker Gross led Wagner's children up to the a.s.sembled actors, and in the name of their dead father thanked the a.s.sembly for the care and labor of love expended by each and all in producing the last work of the great dead master.

Siegfried, Wagner's son, thirteen years old, then, in a few simple words, stifled with sobs, thanked the actors personally, and all the children shook hands with them. The King of Bavaria charged himself upon Wagner's death with the education of his son.

The Hour-Gla.s.s Stories

_A Series of Entertaining Novelettes Ill.u.s.trated and Issued in Dainty Dress.

FIRST SEVEN NOW READY Price,[Transcriber's Note: Missing text] net, each By Mail [Transcriber's Note: Missing text]_

I.

SWEET ANNE PAGE

BY ELLEN V. TALBOT

A brisk little love story full of fun and frolic and telling of the courtship of Sweet Anne Page by her three lovers.

II.

THE HERR DOCTOR

BY ROBERT MACDONALD

A crisp, dainty story of the schemes and pretty wiles by which a traveling American heiress wins and is won by a German n.o.bleman.--_Minneapolis Times_.

III.

THE TRANSFIGURATION OF MISS PHILURA

BY FLORENCE MORSE KINGSLEY

_Author of_ "_t.i.tus_," "_Prisoners of the Sea," etc_.

This clever story is based on the theory that every physical need and every desire of the human heart can be claimed and received from the "Encircling Good" by the true believer. Miss Philura is enchanted with this creed, adopts it literally, and obtains thereby various blessings of particular value to a timid spinster, including a husband.

"It is a dainty little story, and quite out of the common."--_Philadelphia Daily Evening Telegraph_.

IV.

THE SANDALS

BY REV. ZELOTES GRENELL

A beautiful little idyl of Palestine concerning the sandals of Christ.

It tells of their wanderings and who were their wearers, from the time that they fell to the lot of a Roman soldier when Christ's garments were parted among his crucifiers to the day when they came back to Mary, the Mother of Jesus.

V.

PARSIFAL

BY H. R. HAWEIS

An intimate and appreciative description and consideration of Wagner's great opera. Ill.u.s.trated with portrait of composer and scenes from the opera.

VI.

ESARHADDON KING OF a.s.sYRIA

BY LEO TOLSTOY

Three short stories, allegorical in style, ill.u.s.trating with homely simplicity, yet with cla.s.sic charm, Tolstoy's theories of non-resistance and the essential unity of all forms of life.

Written for the benefit of the Kishinef sufferers. Publisher's and author's profits go to Kishinef Relief Fund.

VII.

THE TROUBLE WOMAN

BY CLARA MORRIS

A pathetic, even tragic tale, but one which carries the most optimistic of messages. The un.o.btrusive moral of the story is that the way to find consolation for one's own trouble is to consider those of others and to lend a helping hand.

FUNK & WAGNALLS COMPANY, Publishers NEW YORK & LONDON