Article on the audiences at Niblo's Garden

The article is referring to the audiences at the performances of Mr. and Mrs. Barney Williams throughout December 1864; it is part of a larger review. “The lobbies, stalls, dress-circle, upper tier, and gallery were filled to overflowing with admirers of the ‘couple.’ Every one wore a smiling face, and whole families could be seen there, from the child in arms up to the gray-haired grandfather of seventy. The people, though tightly packed together, were not at all disorderly, but good humor was everywhere prevalent. It must be very trying for a stout man to find himself suddenly jammed against the back of a seat, and to have two or three individuals seize him by the arm and, raising themselves on tip-toe, gaze calmly over his shoulders. Yet, we beheld one so situated, and could not help but pity him for ‘he was stirr’d with such agony, he sweat extremely.’ We hardly think it is right and proper to bring children to places of amusement, for in spite of all the coaxing and lavish distribution of candy, they will occasionally howl. Music is at all times preferable to the cry of an infant, and when we go to hear an orchestra under the able direction of Dodworth, we do not care to put up with something inferior. A baby, in our humble opinion, especially in the evening, is a great deal better off when its little head, with its wealth of flaxon curls, is calmly reposing on its little pillow at home. Mothers, place yourselves in the position of your children, and think how you would like to be scared out of your wits by the glare of gas-lights and the noise of a multitude. Mothers, do not let your children howl! Have pity on the bachelors, for they are not accustomed to it; have pity, also, on the fathers, for they have enough of it in their own abode.”