Audubon County Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Audubon Co., Iowa) 1885-1894, 1888-07-19

broken her heart, for, with the perver
sity OF human nature, she would have
been more sensitive about her appear
ance-which she could not help-than
about her acting.
II had been planned to play Romeo
and Juliet" the first half of the week,
and then to put on new emotional
drama, and dupl cate Marion success
| as Juliet" with her performance of a
modern society belle. So. on Thurs.
day. after two nights of empty benches,
the new play was tried before a we'll.
filed house-a house consisting. like
many a Western "city," of paper,
chiefly. High hopes were entertained
that the young actress would ach:ev
success in tho new part. less exact
ing than the Shakespearean heroine,
and with no predecessor in the role to
be compared with. But her failure
was more complete than before. If that
were possible. She had no idea of the
character of Juliet" and she was no
better now in that respect. while her
artificial delivery sounded worse than
it did in the blank verse. And that's
saying a great deal.
And alas for the style and the ele-
giant costumes from which so mnch
was expected In her personaton OF
the highborn Indy something was at
once seen to be lacking. 1t was the
effort of one not born to the purple,
and not clever enough to rise to it.
The long gowns concealed her feet bet
ter than did the Juliet costumes,
but under the influence of tournure
and draper es she settled into her usual
walk--not a graceful one to critical
observer. 1t was not walk Mt all, but
a manner OF sailing along. induced BY
her vanity and the attention she at
tracted at home.
Mark Downes paid the expenses of
bis venture to the last cent; but in that
week he got enough Of theatrical spec
ulation. He did not like losing his
money very well. either; and. try as
hard as he could to avoid it, he could
not help blaming Marion to great ex-
tent for his misfortune. His eyes had
been opened. too to the fact that she
was not by any means the beauty he
had thought her, while her lack of feel
ing was manifest in the way she took
the result of the week s experiment
regarding it simply as it affected her.
self, seeming 10 caro- nothing for his
losses, and showing no signs of graft
tude for the efforts he had made IN her
behalf
II she had treated him differently he
might have married her. despite OF her
failure as an actress; but, confident in
the power of her beauty to make for
her an even better match, she let him
20 his way. Aud that way led him
great deal into the society of Miss Dora
May. the orphaned daughter of brew
err Dora-l beg your pardon; on such
short acquantance-Mlss May was
plain. pedantic, pious and prejudiccd.
She regarded theaters rs the invention
of them fact. she thought they were
no better than they ought to be-and
she was worth half million. So Mark
married Miss May.
IL Marion Taylor had been content to
begin in the ranks she would have de-
veloped into q tolerable actress. but
after her fiasco as star she had no
ambition left Not that she was crush.
ed by her failure-her nature was not
strong enough for that-but she sim
ply dropped the whole matter and went
home to be the bell of her circle again.
When Mark married. she d ID not care;
but az years passed and no wealthy
husband came she wished him back
again. But no deeper feeling than this
stirred her nature. and after while
she married mechanic in comfortable
circumstances. She makes him good
wife. because she is at her proper level
and her nature is too weak for what
Neutrality-suspicious. to trouble her She
is phlegmatic and happy aud she gets
fatter and fatter every year -NeW
York Clipper.