leave the room. It is also a tradition that the members are invariably
successful in later life, amassing fortunes or votes or coupons or
whatever they choose to amass. Therefore, at each performance of "Ha-Ha
Hortense!" half-a-dozen seats were kept from sale and occupied by six of
the worst-looking vagabonds that could be hired from the streets, further
touched up by the Triangle make-up man. At the moment in the show where
Firebrand, the Pirate Chief, pointed at his black flag and said, "I am
a Yale graduate--note my Skull and Bones!"--at this very moment the six
vagabonds were instructed to rise _conspicuously_ and leave the theatre
with looks of deep melancholy and an injured dignity. It was claimed
though never proved that on one occasion the hired Elis were swelled by
one of the real thing.

They played through vacation to the fashionable of eight cities. Amory
liked Louisville and Memphis best: these knew how to meet strangers,
furnished extraordinary punch, and flaunted an astonishing array of
feminine beauty. Chicago he approved for a certain verve that
transcended its loud accent--however, it was a Yale town, and as the
Yale Glee Club was expected in a week the Triangle received only divided
homage. In Baltimore, Princeton was at home, and every one fell in love.
There was a proper consumption of strong waters all along the line;
one man invariably went on the stage highly stimulated, claiming that
his particular interpretation of the part required it. There were three
private cars; however, no one slept except in the third car, which was
called the "animal car," and where were herded the spectacled wind-
jammers of the orchestra. Everything was so hurried that there was no
time to be bored, but when they arrived in Philadelphia, with vacation
nearly over, there was rest in getting out of the heavy atmosphere of
flowers and grease-paint, and the ponies took off their corsets with
abdominal pains and sighs of relief.