, 1889-01-24
STAGE SOPERSTITIONS.
coLUmBINE SUCCEEDED IN HOO
DoolNG" EVERYTHING.

pany-Macbeth Must Not Be Quoted,
Nor Open Umbrellas Left in the Hail.
When 1 first went on the stage 1 man
aged TO get myself disliked in more
ways thar an ordinary mortal would
was to ahoodoo" everything. Now, /
didn't know what It meant 70 ffhoodoo"
things, but / was always doing it. /
began In this ways
One night / came to the theater In
high spirits; 1t was raining torrents, but
what cared l for wind or rain? Wasn't
there n swell theatre party made up just
on my account, n wouldn't ! shine In
the eyes of my old school friends as a
bright particular star, even though my
part wns not one of great Importance?
In spite of my wet feet and dripping
umbrella / skipped hilariously into tho
dressing room and greeted my sister
artists with q more than usually cheer
full "good evening" / took off my hat
and ulster and hung them up, then l put
my rubbers in the corner. We had an
unusually large dressing room, and there
were three or four Of US dressing to-
gether. ! looked aroun for q place to
put my umbrella Not seeing any, I
went out In the passage. There was q
kind of sink just opposite our door. /
thought that would be a good place for
1t, 50 l opened my umbrella and set it In
the sink to drain. Then l went into the
dressing room and began to get ready to
make up" Now, ever since l was n
small child l have had a reprehensible
habit Of whistling. l have tried in vain
to break myself of 1t. Whenever l feel
particularly light hearted 1 find myself
whistling away as merrily as If the old
proverb about ''whistling girls and crow
ing hens" Ind never been heard of.
SING, BUT DO NOT WHISTLE.
/ took out my cosmetics and began to
grease paint my face. Just MS | was
about to make an amiable remark to one
Of the girls she startled me by crying out
In a peremptory tone, "Stop thatr'
"Stop WHAT" / said.
THAT whistling."
Don't you like that air2 Well, here's
another for you"-
"Stopr' they all cried, In q chorus.
What Is the matterr' Iasked. What
am l doing7'
"Whnt are you doing3 Why, whistling
Cayie out of the company"
What OF earth do you mean7'' / said,
looking from n to the other in bewil-
derment.
Don't you know that it's the worst
thing you can do to whistle In a dressing
room2 The one next the door will be
whistled out of the company"
"Is that what all this fuss Is about7' 1
said. "Well, I'll stop whistling, but I
don't see where you got such an idea"
you don'ti Well, you get whistled
out of an engagement once or twice and
you'll sec well enough"
May l hump' / asked, meekly, ''or
will that bring down some horrible ca
lamity on our defenseless heads?'
"You may sing all you want to, but
don't whistle"
So l began humming a favorite air,
and went on with my dressing.
! was heating some cosmetic, and held
1t In the flame too long; 1t melted, and a
piece dropped on my lily white hand; 1t
burned my wrist and left q big black
"smooch." l scrubbed and scrubbed,
but 1t would not como off. what shall
l dor l said. l never saw cosmetic
stick sol Take some vaseline," said
Lou. '''It's no use," l groaned. "All
the perfumes in Arabia will not sweeten
this little handr
l was startled by n shrek of horror,
and WINS amazed to see CONSERVATION In
every face. ! was frightened by their
looks, and said in a faint voice, 'FWhat
is itg'
"Do you know what you said?' whis-
pered Carrie in blood curdling accents.
btNAt 81 bAAV GtIlulltS -
STOP" they screamed. "You must
be crayl Don't you know better than to
quote Macbeth In the theatre?''
breathed again. 'Is that alp I
said.
"All-it's enough. I'm not going to
stay in the room with her. She'll Jonah
every one of us before the curtain goes
up. I'm dressed and l shall go upon the
stage and wait" said Carrie.
asnTTErDTNno r-rnrrs, -,~--
She walked t. the door and opened 1t.
Instead of going out she fell back with o
gasp. WHO did thatY' she said. "WhatY'
cried Lou and l together. THAT" point
ing with q rigid forefnger.
L hardly dared to look. 1 feared to
SEQ some ghostly sight. But I screwed
up my courage and followed the dfrec-
ton of her finger. What met my gaze?
Nothing In III world but my harmless
umbrella set up to dryl
Il don't see anything but my UNI
brella," l said. "Is 1t yours?" they ex-
claimed. why, yes; I set it up there
to dry" They looked at each other and
walker away In silence. AS l stood
rooted to the spot n stage hand came
along and said: "You must want to hoo
doc the theatre, putting an open UNI
brella In the nall" l took it down and
shut 1t.
L went SllenIly ABOUT the dressing ROOM.
Ny high spirits were all gone now, and 1
felt sad and depressed. As o as l
could l went upstairs. The overture was
on, and 1 stood listening to tho music and
musing on tho mutability of human
affairs, when l happened to remember
the theatre party. a wonder if they are
here yet" 1 thought. l went up TO the
curtain and looked through the peep
hole. The house was not full. but 1t WINS
not bad for a rainy night. 1 espied my
friends just coming in; how nice they all
looked AS l was thinking how well
Jennie c. looked in her new theatre bon
net some ono touched me on the shout
ger; you want to queer the business
Tor the whole week." said q voicein awful
accents. You must never look through
the peep hole when the orchestra is play
ing Monday night"
l was completely discouraged. Was
there anything l could do that was not
bad luck? This is only a specimen of tho
ways that arc dark" that q poor novice
must learn before she can really be con-
sidered initiated. "-Columbino In Chi
| cage Tribune.