Describes going to a performance of Dexter's Dancing Hats. Transcription: down some three or four times, the first with [Jesse] Haney, and the thing is equally amusing and marvellous. A man with a rather good-looking intelligent face, evidently a down-east Yankee, plays on an accordion, to the lively music of which, hats sometimes singly, sometimes by fives and sixes, oscillate about on the sawdust-covered floor. He also causes them to 'dance' at the direction of a visitor's stick, pointing alternately or irregularly at the hats. Sometimes they oscillate being placed on the top of each other.
Describes going to a performance of Dexter's Dancing Hats. Transcription: down some three or four times, the first with [Jesse] Haney, and the thing is equally amusing and marvellous. A man with a rather good-looking intelligent face, evidently a down-east Yankee, plays on an accordion, to the lively music of which, hats sometimes singly, sometimes by fives and sixes, oscillate about on the sawdust-covered floor. He also causes them to 'dance' at the direction of a visitor's stick, pointing alternately or irregularly at the hats. Sometimes they oscillate being placed on the top of each other. Furthermore at a given signal, the removal of a man ?s hat from his head or the scratching of the latter, he obliges a hat to fall from the counter to the floor. Moreover he makes a table 'dance,' even with a corpulent man sitting upon it, produces sounds from a violin, placed in an otherwise empty box, on the floor, with more tricks of similar sort. How they are performed no one can detect. He talks a good deal of intentional nonsense about 'getting a bite out of the hats,' 'odic force' electrical affinities and 'the peppergram (!) being in full force &c' & indeed does his fooling admirably. An honest rogue, altogether! What these lying and pretentous mediums assume high spiritual airs of mysticism on, is here done as an accompaniment to six-penny mugs of lager and shilling stews. By the appearance of the place I should judge its landlord hadn't money enough to pay for a monts rent Title: Thomas Butler Gunn Diaries: Volume 10, page 170, March 29-April 5, 1859 . 5 April 1859. Gunn, Thomas Butler, 1826-1903
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