Nevada County picayune., 1888-08-15
RlSe and Fall of a Star,


 me tateS had decreed it, and .h, very strange y greed with the fatcs. Even her parents, though good. Goo rearing people. were willing that sh, should exhibit her manifold eft. ana charms to the paving public T, sl.30 apiece for orchestra chairs
 The trouble began when she wa. at school Her teacher (himself ar elocn'lonlst of no ordinary gifts. &c. %c.-nla great speciality being the Queen of ths May) advised her to leave school and study for the stage In fact. he himself was so so kind os to coach her some in Lady Macbeth "Queen Catherine" " "Medea" and like parts. Mary Ann-I mean Ma. rlon--Was at that time a hashfuI awkward girl of sixteen years, SC that the wisdom of the teachers SC. IectlonS of parts was beyond ques- tion,
 After that the desire to shine forth ao star was always with her. Hay ing taken few lessons in clocution from q lady teacher of the art she read several times at church enter tainments, and her great success with the critical audiences that are always present at such places en- couraged her in her ambition.
 During this time, too. she improv- ed in her appearance and manners, and by the time she was eighteen years old she had quite q reputation as q beauty in her native city. Any of her friends would have told you at that time that her figure was per feet her carriage, grace itself; her head. Grecian, her voice, the soul of music. These things taught her the folly opening as Lady Macbeth :" she knew now that Juliet" was her forte.
 When she saw various managers take out various ambitious young ladies for starring touTs. .ith elabo- rate printing and wardrohes filling several trunks -- the young ladies generally furnished the cash. but she didn't know ahov that she wish ed that heaven had made her such man. The fact that they usually came tn soon again sometimes mi- nus the trunks-did not bother her in the least, for she knew that she would be more successful with the pubhc.
 The advertisements of the new stars that spring up to fill tn, places of lhe dead "lirgiHi02" qr .liaw- tel ' auGouIce that man is found for every emergency. Though this does not apply to managers, Marion at last found hers. Mark Downes was the son of man that had grown rich in this way: He came to II. (the birthplace of both Marion and Mark when 1t was not yet out of its swaddlng clouts and started q gener- al supply store on small scale, RY attending go nusiuoss CmHCh of what he charged on his books ss 'molass- cs would not have horne inspec- ton by tho prohtbitory officers of that dav). and by investing his prof it's in real estate in the growing city, he was in a position before we make his acquaintance 10 retire from active business life. The father was coarse, vulgar and illitcratc man: the son, though he had profited by liberal educatiQn, showed traces oi his ancestry,
 He had been acquainted with Miss Taylor but short time when 1t was apparent that he had out run all his competitors in the race otNhe lovely ones favor. Whether or not his am ple income had anything to do with this is 2 9 puzzle that does n"' con rvrn this narrative. To be interest ted in Marion waste he interested in her designs on stage, and Mark was soon as enthusiastic over her powers as she herself. But there was more method in his madness, for 1t was not long before he had made arrang mems to lake her ont un for tour, This was quite in his line. as he ar pumented the allowance his father made him by speculation, at which he was highly successtul; ana ne felt that this new venture would far surpass anything he had before un- taken. And it did - but llnt enough iar that
 Being unacquaintod with the n.atrinal hnsinnss himself. he hAO