f service.
This terrible discipline has the natural effect of giving him that
steadiness under fire, at which the world marvels. He will stand with
his regiment for hours under the merciless fire of the mitrailleuse with
no thought of flight. What terrors can shot or shell have for him who
has been taught to listen unmoved to the dialogue of "FAUST" and
"MEPHISTOPHELES" in the first thirty-two acts of _Faust_?

We find the theatre full of Germans, wearing that grave and earnest
expression of countenance wherewith the German takes his legitimate
tragedy. Sprinkled among the Germans are several Americans, more grave
and more in earnest than even their Teutonic neighbors, for they are
straining their attention to detect a familiar German word--such as
"Mein Herr," or "Ach." When once they have heard the expected syllables,
they smile a placid smile of contentment, and remark, one to another, "I
can understand pretty nearly everything that is said,--with the
exception, of course, of an occasional word."

We take our seats and wait for the entrance of SEEBACH. The curtain
rises upon "FAUST" pursuing his studies in middle-age, respectability,
and a dressing-gown. To him, after hours of soliloquy, enters
"MEPHISTOPHELES." We observe, with surprise, that those estimable
gentlemen, Col. THOMAS W. KNOX and Hon. ERASTUS BROOKS, have been
engaged to play "FAUST" and "MEPHISTOPHELES" respectively, To be sure
the programme informs us that these parts are taken by two newly
imported German actors, but we prefer the evidence of our senses to the
assertions of the programme. Have KNOX and BROOKS been copied in German?
If not, they are now playing in Fourteenth Street. Don't tell me that it
is merely an accidental resemblance. Haven't I played billiards with the
gallant COLONEL, and gone to sleep when the Honorable EDITOR was
speaking in Congress? And shall I now be told that I don't know them
when I see them? But this is irrelevant.

Hours of dialogue succeed to the previous hours of soliloquy. At
intervals of fifteen minutes the curtain is dropped to enable the actors
to discuss mugs of beer and the audience to discuss the actors. During
these intervals we hear such remarks as these:

1ST GERMAN. "Subjectively considered, _Faust_ is a tragedy. Objectively,
we might regard it as a comedy. To the subjective-objective view, it is
certainly a ballet pantomime. Ach! he was many-sided, our GOETHE. Here
in this drama he has accomplished e