Wessington Springs herald. (Wessington Springs, Aurora County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1883-1891, 1888-02-10

this afternoon?'
Eyes, sir; it is not so very long"
sAm to understand that you will
want POSITION to travel with us from
this on, or only to-night?"
eff am accepted as substitute /
should like to become a member of
your company and receive my wages
as I merit them"
"Then you may count the position
yours. The doctor says Miss Linton
will be unable to resume the stage for
this season, at least. We shall be
pleased to receive you into our COM
pany. To ninety-nine girls who are
anxious to become actresses should
say, avoid the stage-do something else !;
but you are the hundredth one, forI am
satisfied you possess the essential tall
ent, and you say a love for the art, so I
say to you Go on the stage"
Then he learned her name and ar
ranged with her the financial part of
the engagement. As Zepha, with happy,
triumphant heart, was quitting the par
lor, Mr.. Aimard said "NIiss Olney, I
should be pleased to have you return
by o'clock. at least, so that I may
present you to my sisters, Grace and
Stella, who will be your friends and
arrange with you about your costumes. I"
IT shall be punctual, she replied,
and passed out as Mr.. Aimard politely
held the door open for her.
Zepha returned to the store, secured
Susan Grim's groceries, and walked
back to the cabin, which she found
empty, for old Sol and his wife had
gone to the woods and would not be
back till evening.
Zepha's fine memory, which had been
the envy of her schoolmates, now served
her good turn. In what seemed an
incredibly short time she had COM
mitted the part in the drama, and re-
hearsed it over and over again in the
cabin she would soon leave to engage
in an untried career.
The girl had no misgiyings in the
step she was about to take. She was
but obeying o force within herself that
seemed to urge her on. Ever since she
was child that strange force had
seemed to dominate over every other
inclination, and she had always believed
the opportunity would come to her to
become an actress. Now it had. And
she said to herself, "The stage is an
honorable profession if we make it so.
am sure Mr.. Aimard is an honorable
man, and has a respectable company.
Anyway, I shall not forget to ask God
to help me in my new life. I shall go.
"Good-by, old cabin, so long my
home, she said, as she prepared to leave
it. eff success crowns my steps, Sol
Grim will mover regret that he has
been friend to friendless girl"
Little the Grim's dreamed that the
girl in the role of little, artless
mountain maiden, whom tho large au-
dience at the opera house that night
admired SO vastly in her charming
rendition Of the part, was this missin 8
Zepha. Olney. If those who knew Zepha
observed resemblance to the girl who
lived with the Grim's, they made no
comments then. But next day, when
the theatrical company left town, and
Sol, wild with fright to find some clew
to the missing girl, appeared and told
of her disappearance, those parties
mentioned the resemblance, and put.
ting this and that together, they were
not wrong in the conclusion at which
they arrived. "Jist as I 'spected!"
CALCULATED Susan Grim, when she learned
of their conclusion. II allus knowed
that gal i'd disgrace this family" But
old Sol only sighed, for he really loved
the girl, in his rough way, and longed
for her back.
Three years later, the Pacific Slope
was all astir with excitement over star
that had suddenly appeared above the
theatrical horizon. She was lovely
and gifted woman, whose progress
in dramatic career, had been steady
and brilliant AS the curtain assembled
revealing the star in the leading femi.
nine part of one of the most popular
plays of the season, a radiantly beauti
full woman, an elderly gentleman il
one Of the finest boxes the theater af
forded arose and gazed at the actress
as though fascinated.
"Sit down, Crofton; everybody is
ewing you instead of the STAR" spoke
his companion.
"Who is that?" whispered Crofton tc
his friend, pointing toward the stage
as he sank back with u deep drawn
sigh.
"That? Why, man alive, is it possible
you do not know that she is the new
star creating such furore in our Cali.
fornia theaters? That is 'Zepha,' as
she is called, returned the friend.
eff she is Zepha and that be he1
true name. [ see before me my only
sisters child, for whom I have LONG
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