Los Angeles daily herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1884-1890, 1889-12-25

Calnm0ntb were 30 universal LnaG, hlCoT
her youth had passed into the vocative,
together with her beauty, she was inval-
liable to manager as general utility
woman. Ready to take any role, from
that of figurante to coryphee. with a
good enough voice to be serviceable in
almost any capacity, and with sufficient
terpsichorean skill to take the place Of
the premiere, if that naughty creature
should fall ill, or pretend to be i'll, on a
rainy or otherwise disagreeable night,
Mademoiselle Rosalie held secure if
not exalted position at the theaters.
Although che had seen herself
descend from star to hack
and from a beauty to a creature of
skin and bone, she had her value and
was able to get place and salary when
more pretentious and Younger artists
failed to get either.
Mademoiselle Rosalie soon formed the
acquaintance of the Burlings, and made
valuable and pleasant incident in their
life of contented poverty She had early
taken fancy to the lovely girl with the
golden red tresses, and with her enthusi-
astic southern nature che was not long
in making it apparent. She loaded her.
self with the bouquets that were often
showered on the stage, distributing a
liberal share of them upon the apart
ments of the Burlings. She made Eva
partaker in the pleasure which she
derived from her 1nnumerable parrots
and canaries. Her guitar and her still
tuneful voice were always at hand TO in
fuse an air Of gaiety in the tasteful quar-
ters of the mother and daughter; and
many a dainty feast, in which such
luxuries as pate de foie gras and trufes
figured found its way into the
Burling quarters for their joint con-
as to one of the party
being washed down by small
bottle of Bordeaux, which Mademoiselle
was obliged to dispatch herself, the New
England training of her friends making
them look askance at this indulgence.
She did more than make them partake
of her abundance. for she fairly corus-
Gated with high spirits and good humor,
and diffused an atmosphere of joility
which was most welcome to the sorely
tried widow, and without which many
an hour would have passed very drearily.
Of course, having been admitted to
such an unreserved intimacy with the
family, Mademoiselle saw the coming
affliction long before even Eva dreamed
of it. She had long been revolv wing
scheme in her active Gallo brain bsfore
she ventured to speak of it to either
mother or daughter. Finally one day
she mustered courage and broached the
matter.
"Ma petite is yer beautiful" she said,
encircling Eva with her arms, and
fondly stroking her nair. Madame,
why not Mademoiselle Eva enter ze bal
let. Ze grand success await her. Ze
plaudits and ze enthusiasm superb.
First Mademoiselle ze fgurante. and zen
ze corpyhea, and zen ze premiere. Oh!
re grand future for ma petite. After re
little while Mademoiselle Eva figures as
ze Bonfanti."
This proposition shocked Mrs. Burlipg
at first, but Rosalie contin-
ued to ply her with arguments. She
solemnly bound herself to be Eva's
vigilant guardian, and no promise was
ever made with more sincerity. Visions
of her pets success'f foated in her imagin-
alton, and, indeed, considering Eva's un-
usual graces of person and superb physi-
cal endowments, these were not without
warrant. She saw for her friend the
splendid success which she herself had
just failed to achieve, and determined to
impel her to heights she had not been
able to mount. With the thorough de-
votion to art which characterizss French
women of her class, and which takes no
account of virginia. modesty, she made
light of the scruples that naturally arose
in the minds of both mother and daugh-
ter, maintaining that Eva could be as
pure on the stage as off Of it, and that
the scant skirts of fgurante could
cover a soul as white as snow. In all
this she was perfectly sincere. In truth,
she would have torn the heart from any
one who had meditated an assault on
the virginia. purity of her friend.
We are told that constant dropping
will wear a stone, and at last reluctant
consent was wrung from the widow Bur-
ling that her daughter should figure in a
ballet. Let no one of Puritanic ideas
condemn this poor mother! With Wis.
itation Of an awful calamity impending
over her, with the knowledge that the
joint labors of her daughter and herself
were barely sufficient to maintain them
in the necessaries and the decencies OF
life, and that her own contribution to the
fund must shortly be Withdrawn, what
wonder that she at last yielded to what
she knew was in any event suggestion
of sterling friendship? She felt, with q
mothers instinct, that Rosalie would
guard her daughter rs a lioness her cubs.
There was no difficulty in Eva making
her entree on the stage. In
deed, the mere request OF Ros
lie would have been conclusive with
half dozen managers. In their
long acquaintance, even before the
mothers affiiction had led up to any sug-