MODJESKA'S PALACE CAR.

THOSE who attended the performances of Modjeska when she was here, a short time ago, will doubtless remember reading on their programmes an account of the palace car in which this gifted artist and her company travel. The most glowing descriptions of the Arabian Nights pale before it. Even the Prince of the Black Isles, who had so many charming young ladies devoted to him, never enjoyed the luxury of hanging up his clothes on a silver-plated hook, nor are we told that Aladdin's famous lamp was nickel-plated. The movements of genius are at all times interesting, but when those movements are made on six wheels of the most approved model, with twelve elliptic and four spiral springs and a Westinghouse air-brake, they are enough to captivate the imagination of the coldest.

As the newspapers say, let us now enter. "The interior is sumptuous in its richness. The arched ceiling is frescoed in bright and happy coloring. Silver-plated hooks for clothing are along the sides, and nine improved lamps hang from the ceiling, while as many nickel-plated, portable lamps are distributed - throughout the car. If necessity requires, movable slides in the ceiling can be opened, giving plenty of air to each and every occupant of the car." When the eighteen nickel-plated lamps are all going at once, the top of the car must present the appearance of being upholstered with buttons when the unhappy artists stretch their heads out of their respective panels.

The elastic nature of the company fits them admirably for travelling, as may be seen in the account of the arrangement of the "reception-room." This room is twenty-eight feet long, and contains sleeping accommodations for forty. Thus each artist must rest from his professional labors in a space about eight inches in breadth by eight and one half feet in length. They must be very unlike the dog in the riddle, who was let out at night and taken in in the morning.

This company must be intending to leave the legitimate drama for pantomime, for nearly every article turns into something else, - generally into a bed. The fascinating columbine, Modjeska, sits during the daytime on a sofa which, with a wave of her wand, turns into a four-poster, while the noted harlequin, Manager H. H. Sargent, with a blow of his sword, turns some one of his numerous nickel-plated conveniences into a trundle-bed.

The architect of Sever Hall might well get some hints for fitting up the professors' retiring-rooms from the arrangements of this car. A silver-plated hook for the professor to hang his hat on would be the first requisite. A nickel-plated lamp would also be very convenient at the four-to-five recitations in winter. Some who now find it hard to get to a nine-o'clock recitation might be accommodated with a secretary that would change into a bed, and this would assure their being on the spot in time the next morning. A silver-plated bath-tub would al o be extremely agreeable on a hot day.