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THE OPERETTA.
The sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth of February were, for Billy, and for all concerned in the success of the operetta, days of hurry, worry, and feverish excitement, as was to be expected, of course.

Each afternoon and every evening saw rehearsals in whole, or in parts.

A friend of the Club-president's sister-in-law-a woman whose husband was stage manager of a Boston theatre--had consented to come and "coach" the performers.

At her appearance the performers--promptly thrown into nervous spasms by this fearsome nearness to the "real thing"-- forgot half their cues, and conducted themselves generally like frightened school children on "piece day," much to their own and every one else's despair.