The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1867-05-22

i to dne. SiSuliy euEOuSh ua1huhIHj wiz
had wlitten5fo for bis rtheatre: He recolls
I,lected me, and We dined together. He
confirmed the porter's, account of the Oh
ject OF his visit, and asked me to, so with;
'I.him to. the theatre. accepted, forth
was something intensely amusing TO me
in the lively talk Of the manager, his an
scdotes and knowledge of the world.
The rain. bad ceased and 1t was now
Ilove!y afternoon, but still so wet under
footgthat L,thought would stop at D
I another night; so we sat over our @lnei .!1i
; Ehe talking, listening and laughing I'LL
Fit was time to be off.
Fl was not the fact Of the theatre bern9g5
a wretched one that so much surprised
me as that D. should have one at all.
EOf all the unhappy investments in brick
and mortar which have ever come under
: my observation, that was decidedly one
of the very worst. Nevertheless, travel
ing companies did occasionally take it TOR
"a while, though should not like to affirm
that any of them ever got d living out
of it.
T The performance had begun before our
arrival. and it was with some difficulty
that we found any one who would con-
sent to take our money and admit us.
THE ili.lielted, empty look of the house,
with its tawdry decorations, all faded and
zmonldered, was wretched in the extreme.
NY attention was far too much occupied
by the chit-chat of Potts to allow Of my
noticing particularly what was passing
an the stage but the acting knew was
Eludicr6usiy bad, fol it excited in us so
much merriment that an irruption into
our box of the D population was at
one time threatened But after a while
appeared the young actress, whom Potts
account. had made me anxious to see.
I Certainly l had rarely beheld more eX-
quisite beauty of face and figure, or more
| intelligent action. Her dress, too, was
simple and even poor, yet it gave evi-
dence of refined taste, which surprised
me in a girl SO situated. The managerial
eye OF Potts saw her capabilities at a
/ glance, and for while our merriment
was restrained, only to be re.awakened,
however, by the entrance of the sup
| posed vampire.
r"Her father" said Potts; adecayed
gentleman, poor old fellow won't let his
daughter act without him."
1t required all my sympathy to refrain
from laughing outright at the absurd all
tics of the poor old man, who had had
TO sacrifice many a prejudice before he
could consent to allow his daughter to
employ her talents as means of liveli-
! hood
! l have almost forgotten the plot of the
piece, but it was in the, final act, if | re-
collectcrghtly, that the lovely girl was to
| become the vampires victim. When the
curtain rose, She was discovered alone.
After short soliloquy she rcclined on a
couch. and the plot Of the piece required
the entrance OF her father after a short
pause.
He came, and never to my dying day
shall forget tie fearful i'm preston. caus-
eddy his appearance. My professional Il
studies had made me acquainted with all
but the hue of the face which was before
me- / had never met with. l had not
dreamed that it was in the actors art to
produce so awful an appearance, whic!
seemed the result rather of the absolute
acdhdraudl of all color-I hardly know
how to express my meaning-thnn the
|production of any external application.
No words Of mine could describe the ter
ror Of his deeply sunken, heavy eyes, and
his. stealthy, noiseless tread. A habit Of
observation, which had become second
nature to me; compelled me for an instant
to withdraw my gaze from the ghastly
figure stealing along the stage, and to
/ glance round the theatre.
The effect of the apparition was ap-
/ palling. Children, wild with terror, clung
to their mothers, scarcely less terrified
than they; while strong men hid their
faces in their hands looked at Potts.
the cool man of the world. His sefpos-
session prevented him from beGraying
what the firmly set mouth told me be
could not wholly suppress. Every sound
in the theatre was hushed, and it was
i amid a silence as that Of death, in which
I could hear the rapid beating of my own
| heart, that the vampire stole to the couch
of the recumbcnt girl What vague FORE
bodng deepened the terror with which l
watched his approach to the girl, I know
not; but felt that to turn my head for
, an instant, or to open my lips, would be
utterly impossible.
Iwould have given worlds for the pow
cr to cry. out; but every muscle was
/ powerless, as if. under the domination of
!, spell. and ~nHy gaze was fixed uncon-
trollably on the actor, as he bent his head
toward the neck of the seemingly sleep
ing girl. An instant later, and with a
cry like that Of Il death-strickcn creature,
she sprang from the couch, tottered to-
wards the tootlights, and fell huddled to-
] gether.on the stage. Had she, too, be-.
come suddenly endoM ed with some won
drous faculty which gave TO the acting OF
q novice n .nOwer beyond that of the