Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-11-29

lie vas the very man 10 captivate
boys fancy at first sight, especially q
boy whose soal was above his surround
inrs, and who could recognize the gen.
t,emsn under that careless, reckless
Bohemian manner Of his. LorimeF
never gave himself any sirs--neyer as
serted his supremacy; in fact. nc was
hail-fcllow-well met with us su'
from Barebones Brotherton. our lead
ing tragedian, 20 little Tommy
Howard. the newest and rawest
of our supers; bat there was
something about him We instinctIyely
recognized as superior to ourselves.
Even the manager, as big a bully as
ever bresthed. found fault with him in
an apologize sort OF way when obliged
70 do so, very different from the tone he
took with the rest of US. He had an
idea, l think. that Lorimer was only
doing q bit Of acting for love Of adyen-
ture. as so many swells do nowadays.
and that at some future time it might
prove advantageous to stand well in
that quarter. 1t would not be polite
to offend q possible Dukes son by
swearing at him for unpunctuality or
for not being well up in his part.
And vet, after all, the poor man S
patience must have been tried many ana
many a time, for a more careless, er-
ratio. unreliable fellow than Lorimer
MAYER existed. liked him better than
any one in the company. but | could
not help wishing he would be steadier.
There were times when it really seemed
,s though the devil entered into him
he could not rest. he could not study,
he must be in some mischief or other.
"what is the use Of you talking to
me?" he would say in answer to my
feeble remonstrances at such times.
"You are only q boy; you've never
lived vet. tell you must have ex-
cjtement Of some kind or I'll 30 mad.
1 must forget"
And what could | say; | was only
. boy, and he was so much older and
more experienced that it seemed pre-
sumption in me to preach prudence.
But still believe ! had good infiu-
encc over him, though it might be mere
" a slight one. was the only one Of
the company he ever talked to about
himself. He flirted desperately with
the women, and he drank freely with
the men, and yet none Of them came
near his real self but me.
Not that he was communicative about
his past life or his belongings only
that he did not seem called upon to
keep me at such distance as the
others. nor did he snub me for any
questions | might ask. To be sure, |
was not vulgar enough to 80 on show
ing curiosity where | saw it hurt; and
besides | was, as | said before, roman
tic. and rather liked an air OF mystery
TO surround my friend and hero.
lie was not, and never would be,
great actor. Better for him in many
ways il would have been if he had pos
sessed that wonderful gift which, for
want Of anything better, we call ge-
Mus. So long a. art is left to true
artist he can never DO wholly and en-
tirely miserable. lie can always escape
from world which bores. or disgusts,
or pains, to a happier, more congenial
one.
Not so poor Lorimer. He was very
good-looking and had a charmingly
sympathetic voice. He had evidently
been well trained for the stage, and
was q useful all.round man for comedy
or farce; but when you said that you
said everything. There was never a
touch Of passion or Of tenderness in his
sctipg-and he knew it. His heart
was not in his work, and never
would be 10 the end Of time. We
were travelling cOmpany-not first
rate one. but still fairly good, and our
last venture was a piece which had a
great run in town, and we had played
now in the provinces until we all knew
our parts by heart, and were beginning
to be rather sick Of them. However, it
gave us a good deal Of leisure, and, as
was very fond Of walking, ! saw a
great deal OF the country 10 the pleasant
springtime. Lorimer joined me very
often in those rambles, and we grew
closer friends than ever.
We had been about three weeks at
very pretty country town in Somerset
shire, and were leaving for large
manufacturing city in the north. II
was lovely weather. aud We were 10th
to leave our pleasant quarters for smoky
b., with its uhirr of machinery and
ugly surroundings; so ! proposed thai
instead Of going on with the rest of The
company on Sunday afternoon we should
walk through Leafham woods and catct
the night train from Fareham, juno
ton some miles away.
We had a very pleasant time OF i
and enjoyed our stolen walk amazingly
Everything combined to make 1t har
monious; the blue sky overhead, will
the sun coming through the Transparent
green Of the young leaves; the joyou
notes of the birds; the flowers at GU
feet, and last, not least, the cheerful
mood Lorirner happened to be in tina
day, which, Of course. fell in with
once.
l never saw him so merry. ii
laughed and he joked and trolled GU
snatches Of student songs in his rich
full baritone voice, and told me som
queer stories Of his college days, unit
we fairly grew tired Of jollity an
trudged along for while in silence.
Suddenly he declared himself tired
and lay down under tree to rest. II
must have q sleep, or he couldn't wal
another step. l was anxious to wal
on fearing to lose the train, KNOWN
that the morning one would land US
b. too late but Lorimer was too ma
terful for me and soon overruled m
weaker will. ltwas growing dusk, b'
the moon would soon be up, and the
II would be pleasanter going on; the
was plenty Of time, and If We didn
catch one train there was always a
other, and life was too short to hurry,&
Well, naturally gave in, and
Ave minutes my companion was IA
asleep. A very imprudent thing to q