Tony Pastor’s Opera House

“Ladies admitted free on Friday evenings.”

“Little Maggie Benson in her songs and dances evinces a degree of intelligence far beyond her years, and great inherent talent. During responses to numerous recalls she danced a jig and a clog dance, as well as an ‘essence,’ all of which were enthusiastically applauded. Many prodigies perform their specialties in a mechanical sort of way, plainly showing by their manner that they have been ‘parroted’ in their business—but not so with Maggie; the bright ray of intelligence that illuminates her pretty, childish face, and the peculiar glance she gives her auditors, clearly evince that she knows what she is about, and that she is having quite as much fun in her performances as she creates by them. She is indeed a wonderful child.”