March 20 Tuesday – In New York City, Sam and Livy took Charles and Annie Webster and attended a special matinee performance of Herr Barnay at the Thalia Theater, “to which only members of the profession were invited.”

BARNAY IN FARCE AND TRAGEDY.

A PERFORMANCE FOR THE PLEASURE OF HIS PROFESSIONAL BRETHREN

The house was crowded, and it was not an easy matter to push one’s way along the aisles. Lawrence Barrett and his family occupied the box on the first tier to the right of the stage, and in the box opposite were Lester Wallack and a party of friends. Mrs. Gilbert, of Daly’s Theatre, was in a box on the second tier and the opposite box was occupied by Frank Mayo, Lawrence Hutton and several friends. Among the other actors and well-known people present were Samuel F. [sic] Clemens, John Gilbert, Osmond Tearle, Rose Coghlan, Georgie Cayvan, Agnes Ethel, Sara Jewett, J. H. Ryley, Louise Pallin, Brander Matthews, George Parsons Lathrop, Julian Hawthorne, John Drew, Daniel Frohman, and Frank Murtha. The first character in which Herr Barnay appeared was as Raoul Girard, in the one-act farce, “From the Opera Comique,” the lover of Juliette Santeniss—Miss Wolff. The next representation was King Lear [N.Y. Times Mar. 21, 1883 p 8].

(The opera was referred to in Mar. 23 and Mar. 31 letters to Charles Webster)

George W. Cable wrote from Baltimore: “This community is trying to waltz me off my feet or else I would have had somewhere & somehow a chance to write you a genteel letter. / I have yours of Saturday & one earlier, kindly inviting me…to sojourn within the borders of your tabernacle. Many thanks, Mr. & Mrs. George Warner, however, have rented me…” [MTP].