The Grange advance. [volume] (Red Wing, Minn.) 1873-1877, 1877-04-25
CHARLOTTE CHAMPION.

CHARLOTTE CHAMPION.
Celia Logan in New York Dispatch.
With her intellect, and rare educa-
tional advantages among the women
OF our country when she was growing up
|-endowed with beauty, and " the sacred
fire" of genius, it was no ones fault but
her own that Charlotte Champion did not
stand as high as Charlotte Cushman as an
actress. Many people think she had more
talent-myself being one of the number;
| but Miss Cushman had none of the weak
| nesscs of her sex, and several of the ser
| vlceable qualities of the other, namely:
an excessively shrewd head for business,
and particularly good eye to the main
| chance; she never threw her money nor
her affections away; and the hot-headed,
warm-hearted little Champion did both,
and was, therefore, one of those misguided
creatures whose life may be summed up
in the lenient phrase, "More sinned against
than SHINING"
Few could resist her destinations who
came within reach of them-a modern
| Helen was she. Her hair was of such ex-
traordinary length and thickness that
| when obliged to wear wig in mans
part, she could not coil her tresses around
her head, as actresses generally do, but
she plated her hair and wore it down her
back, concealing it by her dress.
Notwithstanding her shortness of stat
ure and her pretty feminine face, she sim
ulated boys appearance so we'll that
many time, just for the sake of the
prank, she would dress herself as boy
and scamper through the streets of Gin
cinnati without her sex being suspected.
She looked like a half-grown lad.
Once in her eventful career she was in
| Philadelphia, under an engagement for
the following season in Cincinnati. Be-
| ing without means she was at her wits
| ends for a while as to how to reach her
destination. At length a happy thought
| struck her. She sought and obtained
situation as cabin boy, or steward, on
swift and dashing canal-boat, and arrived
not only in good time to keep her engage
ment, but with snug sum in her hand,
the result of perquisites- canal-boa.s
carried passengers then. She opened with
great success, but, as it happened, gen
tleman who had made the trip with her,
was an inveterate play-goer, and, seeing
her on the stage one evening, was struck
by the resemblance to the girlish-looking
and obliging cabin boy. Night after
night he went to the theatre fascinated by
her acting, and irritated by his suspicious
until they became unbearable, and to de-
eide the question, as she was playing
"Desdemona," he cried out, "Low bridger'
and when she involuntarily ducked her
head, he was convinced of her identity.
| Finding herself out of an engagement,
when her wheel of fortune was whirling
the wrong way, she joined troupe Of fe-
male negro minstrels, and, it is said, dis
tinguished herself in that avocation as in
her own petparts Of "Shylock" and "Ham-
| let"
! She would frequently come to the
theatre at night with roll of material in
her hand, which she had purchased on
the way, would cut it out-skirt, waist,
sleeves and all-and pin it on herself, and
I have heard my mother say it fitted her
as we'll as any dress made by a dressmaker,
and that it was so skillfully arranged that
the pins neither stuck her nor dropped
out.
She was so poor once that she had no
slippers or shoes of any kind to wear in
"The French Spy" but, making a merit
of necessity, she went through the part in
her stocking feet, giving as her excuse
that she could get about more noiselessly
in the scenes, where secresy is supposed
to be required. Zoe, Helen Western, and
other actresses have done the same thing
since, though not for the same reason
Her maiden name was Champion, but
she was we'd frequently, appearing to have
much more respect for the making than
the keeping of marriage VOWS, for it is
said she never waited for so trivial a
ceremony as a divorce before she entered
the holy state Of matrimony again, and
this lead to many amusing stories being
told about her which could have no
foundation in fact, for "These Our
Actors" will have their little joke, no
matter at whose expense. Witness the
anecdote they tell of her to this day of
her sending to Mr.. Forrest for tickets for
"self and husband" to witness his master
ly performance of " King Lear" Having
a great respect for her talent, the TRACE
dian sent her a pass signed by himself
That evening she appeared with no less
than fifteen gentlemen to pass on her
order. The doorkeeper objected saying:
band.'" Exactly" she replied; "these
are my husband-comc on, gentlemen,
come on" and she took them all in as one
man and one husband III ! { "a
She, by -thc-by, was one Of the first reg
ular actresses who appeared in the Nor
mon Territory. The story goes in Cali
fornia that one night she was playing
Macbeth there, and by u strange coinci-
dence, several gentlemen whom she had
sworn to love, honor, and obey, happened