Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1889-05-22

hours notice by girl who never seen
line of the part yet.
What are we to do?'
L dom: know groaned johnson,
III come round presently. l believe
this play will drive me mad
An hour later Tom was gong down /
stairs growing and groaning to him
self, when Rose came out of her bou-
doir.
Going out, Tom? Why, you haven't |
had your breakfast
Il can't eat morsel,' said Tom. |
I'm done up, Rose. l wish I'd been |
at Jericho before l became ! dramatic
author
Monday night came, and Tom. IN . !
state of high fever brought on by over
work and anxiety anu late hours,
walked up and down outside the thea
ter, trying to sum up courage to go III.
He had cut out the last act; he had
given Miss Black one hurried rehearsal;
he had quarreled with the leading vii
lain, who had told him before the whole
company that the play was rot; he had
gone home in vile temper, and made
Rose cry her eyes out, and now, in a
state bordering on delirious fever, he
was awaiting the verdi;t on a play
which had cost him months of anxious
thought, and on which the manage
ment had expended thousands of
pounds.
IF it's a failure I'll never write
again, groaned Tom
Just then a man came hurriedly out
of the stage door.
Curtain up yet?' asked Tom, nerv-
ously.
NO, sir; there's something gone
wrong with the scene in the first act,
and the mechanical change won't work
through it. rm just going out to see
| if L can find Mr.. - They say it
will be half an hour before It will be
! put right
Tom rushed into the theater. As he
went upon the stage he could hear the
audience stamping and shouting. II
was then five minutes past the time the
curtain should have gone up.
| Everybody was bustling about, and
there was evidently something wrong
It's all right said the stage mama
! ger, coming up to Tom, and trying to
ease his mind. It's not SO bad as we
thought. Wen ring up directly. We
can get 1t right, dare say, while the
first scene is playing. If not, | must
come on and explain there's been an
accident"
| Tom groaned and rushed out into the
street again. oh, my poor play, my
poor play he cried, it's damned be-
fore it's begun
An hour and a half later Tom, pale,
shivering, clutching his hands together
In nervous excite enent, crept into the
back of the pit. The third act was just
beginning. There was a very powerful
scene in this act. Tom had built upon
its making great impression on the
| audience.
The villain suddenly appears at =
window, and while another villain Is
| writing a letter, shoots him, and the
unfinished letter is left on the table and
found by the hero, who rushes in and
reads the plot against his happiness
The villain has to cautiously open
the window. He does so after strug-
Cling with it five minutes and making
a noise which could be heard all over
the house, but of which the other viii
lain takes no notice.
lie has not heard me- says the vii
lain.
lie must be jolly deaf then, said a
boy in the gallery, and the house litter.
The perspiratlon bursts from every
pore of Toms skin. Ills situation is
going wrong.
But the house is hushed Immediately.
There is 10 fairer audience in the world
than that which assemblies in "A London
theater on the first night
But it is only a &-!-nIn audience, and
so when, the villain crepJ IN at the
window and was just advancing on his
victim, the looking glass, real, fastened
on the scene, came down with crash,
, and the victim, following his author
, exclaimed: NO sound disturbs the
silence of the night, there was roar
The situation was going fast. Ii
went utterly when the villain, discOn,
certed, as well he might be, in creeping
up behind the victims chair, caught
his foot against platform intended
to draw the table off for a change o
) scene, and fell sprawling, his pisto
going off between his unconscious vic.
! 1, TINS feet.
With the roars OF irresistible laughter
which followed this final catastrophe
ringing In his ears, Tom Johnson rushed
: from the theater to the Thames EN-
bankment.
, 1T is ruin. 1t is Disgrace he cried
L can never a.rvive il. Curse the houl
when L gave i'll self up to this life o
Z constant harrIs-, annoyance and disap
l pointmentl How can | lad tile awfu
things that Will be ss1id of me in tn
{ papers tomorrow iIrw can l NEE
: my friends and listen L. their condo
lences. How can 1 ever cutter a theate
againl No, will not live 10 dle in
: lunatic asylum. | will end it all in tn
: peaceful rlver.'
Tom ledPed upon the pdrapet an,
, was about to make the fatal plunge
] ItayIa ha ri g41Er Ny..f.s
behind him.
1t was the China fdiry's
i. With a frantic cry Tom turned t,
her. Can you grant Inc another wishi
he exclaimed.
, Certainly
u Then make me a clerk IA the cit
> again, and at once
y. Tom
1t was Roses voice.
. Tom woke up with a start.
: Breakfasts ready, dear, and it's
= | O'Clock. Aren't you going TO get upi
= Tom shouted for JOY. lie was a clsr
again, and 1t was Sunday morning, til
L happy day of peace ami rest at HON
with his dear, contented little wife.
i Ol, what a happy Sunday it Wa
d How snug and comfortable the sittin
). room looked. And, after breakfast
r, when he sat down and read in the SUI
y day paper an awful "slate" of n
u Three Stars new play, he felt gre;
weight lifted from his heart, and /
a exclaimed: Thank heaven, I'm not
% dramatist, but only happy city cleri
with just enough 10 live on, and on
!; one masterl' And he never wanted
y he dramatist again as long as he live
-
ie A Monument for a Square.
N The monument 10 WashingtC