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Show T the blase first-nighters ot city aud-I aud-I lonces may say of the simple little play and lis shortcomings. Its recognized recog-nized money-getting qualities Is a byword by-word with "the profesh " Mrs. Lewis was seen as Sis; also as Sally Ranks. She did both characters satisfactorily, especially the latter. lat-ter. Mrs Lewis has a sweet soprano voice and her rendition ol Comin Thro' the Rye" in the first act drew a good hand. The flower of the company was little lit-tle Arietta, the five-year-old prodigy of tho Lewis family. This precocious youngster has been playing parts for three seasons and her little Bcenes last evening were very commendable. She sang well, too: drew an encore, and assisted Sis in the chorus of "Mary Jane" to tho delight of the audience. aud-ience. James Drearton In the part of RobL Denny is inexperienced but shows some aptness for dramatic work. "Pap" Plunkard was played by the company's property man in the absence of Virgil Vir-gil La Favre, and. considering the circumstances, cir-cumstances, did fairly well. For the others, the less said, the better. "SI PLUNKARD." Held the Boards Last Evening Before a Small and Chilly Audience. "Farmer" J. C. Lewis and his everlasting ever-lasting "SI Plunkard" held the boards at the Grand last evening and drew a small rainy-weather audience. Some of Lewis' support this season Is pretty pret-ty poor, which, with meager stage fittings, the chilly atmosphere, and the absence of the old familiar laces so inseparable with this durable comedy, com-edy, caused the performance to drag. For those of us who, twenty or twenty-five years back, hailed the coming of "Si Plunkard" and his rube band with all tho delight that a school-boy is heir to, the performance of this old rural piece is not without its still interesting in-teresting features. Poor old "Petey" Snyder and hits pal, Farrel, who played play-ed "Scrubby." for so many years, have read their last lines, and the small hoy of the present generation will be denied the ecstacy of following' the weird meanderings of the eccentric bass drummer, who, when located by his ever-watchful partner in the straggling strag-gling street parade, used to drawl out in his peculiar way: "Here I be, Scrubby. Scrub-by. I'm earning." It was back in 1884 that Mr. Lewis, then a young man, wrote the, vehlclo that has carried him back and forth over the country for more than the quarter of a century. He never played any other part In his life, and probably prob-ably never will. Neither has he ever essayed to write anything else in tho play line. "Si Plunknrd" was a winner win-ner from the start, and no matter what |