THE CHALLENGE.
THE Tacon Theatre is one of the largest in the world, and is
situated in the Paseo, just outside the city walls. You enter the
parquet and first row of boxes from the level of the street, and
above this are four ranges of boxes, besides seats in the parquet
for six hundred persons. The gildings are elaborate and beautiful,
and the frescoes are done by the first Italian artists; the whole
being brilliantly lighted by an immense chandelier in the centre,
and lesser ones pendant from the half moon of boxes, and supplied
with gas. It is a superb establishment, and when it is filled with
the beauty and fashion of the city, it is a brilliant sight indeed.
It is nearly a month subsequent to the scene that closed the last
chapter of our story, that we would carry the reader with us within
the brilliantly lighted walls of the Tacon Theatre. How lively and
gay is the prospect that presents itself to the eye-the glittering
jewelry and diamonds of the fair senor's and senoritas, casting back
the brilliant light, and rivalled in lustre by the sparkle of a
thousand eyes of jet. The gilded and jewelled fans rustle audibly
(what would a Spanish or Creole lady do without a fan?)-the
orchestra dashes off in a gay and thrilling overture, intermingled
by the voices, here and there, of merry groups of the audience,
while the stately figures of the soldiers on duty are seen, with
their many-colored dresses and caps, amid the throng and at the rear
of the boxes.
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